"Don't worry, with one of our designs even these mosquito bites will look like juicy, juicy mangoes!" "Anyone can cook aloo gobi but who can bend a ball like Beckham?" The Bend It Like Beckham quotes are legendary. It's the same when Jules bends the 'rules' of what it means to be a woman - rejecting her mum's demand to dress in a more "feminine" way to embrace her tomboy identity.Īnd, eventually, Jess has the rules bent for her as her father allows her to sneak out of her sister's wedding to play a game for Hounslow Harriers in front of an American scout. She never rejects her culture, she finds ways of adapting. In nearly every scene of the film, we see Jess bend rules from her family and community so she can live out her dreams. "We can see our goal but instead of going straight there, we too have to twist and bend the rules sometimes to get what we want - no matter where 'we' reside, no matter what group 'we' claim or do not embrace as part of 'our' ethnic lineage," she added. In a 2003 interview, Chadha explained Bend It Like Beckham was actually a "great metaphor for a lot of us, especially girls". You might think bending a ball like David Beckham is a one-dimensional concept, but there's much more to the film's title than that. Jess' hybrid identity helps remind us sport is a universal language with the power to aid integration. You think they will let our girls?"īut when Jess leaves after receiving a life-changing football scholarship from a US university, her father starts playing cricket again. When Jess' coach Joe tries to persuade her parents things have changed, her dad says: "None of our boys are in any of the football leagues. We also see the power sport can have in integration.Ī talented cricketer, Jess' father stopped playing when he emigrated to London because English teams wouldn't let him play, and he was racially abused. All the time we see her intertwining her love for football with her identity and culture. When doing chores, she bends a football around the washing line. ![]() She lets her mum teach her how to cook traditional Indian food, but does knee-ups with the cabbage. Jess creates and chooses her own cultural identity, and sport is a huge part of that. ![]() She is also among the characters we see navigating through British society with a home life so different to that culture. When Jess does play, she comes alive - and they are some of her happiest moments in the film. It's one reason the film is so relatable for anyone whose parents have wanted them to focus on education - or getting a job, or married - instead of playing sport. It reminds us of the power of sportīecause Jess' parents don't want her to play football, the film is as much about generational culture clashes as it is about British and Indian culture clashes. Two decades on, of course, some of the best American players come to play in the Women's Super League, which is among the best professional women's leagues in the world. "Not really here, but you can in America - they've got a pro-league with new stadiums and everything," she says. When Jess is told by her friend and team-mate Jules - played by Keira Knightley - that she wants to be a professional footballer, her reaction is of the time. It also shows just how accessible football is, and one simple conversation shows just how much the women's game in the UK has developed in the past 20 years. She had a huge impact on audiences as she shared the same lived experiences - both negative and positive - as many girls and women who played (and play) sport in the UK.īut the film also uses football to navigate other coming-of-age themes including sexuality, with Jess' best friend Tony coming out to her by saying: "No, I really like Beckham." Jess was the closest thing to a sporting role model we'd ever had, and would have for years to come. When director Gurinder Chadha saw a photograph of Wright wearing a union jack, it made her think about what Britishness really meant in the late 1990s, and she decided to write a film about the "evolving concept of Britishness".įor many British-South Asian girls, the film was an important moment as it gave us Jesminder Bhamra. The film was inspired by former Arsenal and England striker Ian Wright. But when you look a bit deeper, it explores much more. On the surface, Bend It Like Beckham is a film about a football-loving teenager from a British-Indian Sikh family in London. ![]() Listen to 5 Live Sport: All About Bend It Like Beckham, 20 years on.Watch Bend It Like Beckham: 20 Years On on BBC iPlayer.Here are five reasons the film is still iconic 20 years on.
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