In 1999, British filmmaker Gurinder Chadha bought a new pair of
sneakers in a Los Angeles shoe store. Through an ongoing
promotional deal, the shoes came with a free ticket to the
Women’s World Cup.
Since professional women’s soccer doesn’t exist in
England on the large scale it does in the United States, she
decided to go. In fact, she had never seen a professional
women’s soccer game.
“The Rose Bowl was filled with 90,000 young girls, and all
their faces were filled with self-esteem,” she said.
Now, four years later, Chadha is coming to UCLA to introduce a
screening of “Bend It Like Beckham,” her new family
comedy about female soccer players, at the James Bridges Theater
tonight. Chadha not only directed the film, but co-wrote and
co-produced it as well.
“I wanted to make a British movie that would be popular
and play in the multiplexes across Britain,” Chadha said.
Popular could be considered an understatement, as the $5.5
million budget film has already grossed about $50 million, and will
officially be released in the United States next week. Chadha
expects the film to repeat its success in America, since it has
been especially successful in countries with diverse
populations.
The story of “Bend It Like Beckham” revolves around
an Indian girl in England who wants to play soccer while her
parents want her to behave according to traditional Indian customs.
But as with “My Big Fat Greek Wedding,” some universal
themes are meant to transcend specific cultural identity.
“You don’t have to be Indian to understand the
cultural context,” Chadha said.
The United States also provides an especially ripe audience for
“Bend It Like Beckham” because of the growing influence
of women’s soccer. The U.S. team won the first ever
Women’s World Cup in 1991 as well as the most recent cup in
1999. Female soccer players in the film aspire to play the sport in
America one day.
“In Britain, it became a big family film, and what
I’ve seen in the United States is a big following among
soccer girls and audiences that enjoyed “˜Monsoon
Wedding’ and “˜My Big Fat Greek Wedding,'”
Chadha said.
In addition to its box office success, the film has also been
well received critically. However, Chadha was consciously making
this film for the masses, not for the art-house crowd.
“In terms of genre, I set out to make a teen movie,”
Chadha said.
After her first two films, “Bhaji On the Beach” and
“What’s Cooking” were limited to art-house
releases, Chadha wanted her third project to reach a younger
audience. While “Bend It Like Beckham” achieved just
that in Britain, the film also garnered the admiration of her
art-house fans, which she attributes to the protagonist’s
cultural dilemma driving the film as much as the soccer scenes.
Even though women’s soccer is flourishing here, the sport
as a whole has not yet permeated the national identity of the
United States in comparison with much of the world. Regardless,
Chadha thinks younger American audiences will still be able to
relate to and enjoy the cultural issues in the film.
“Bend It Like Beckham” screens tonight at 7:30 p.m.
for free. Gurinder Chadha will be present to introduce the film.
For more information, call (310) 206-FILM.