The fusion raga. Review on Bend it Like Beckham Movie

A certain Mr Twain once said something about the east being east and the west being west, and the prospects of the two ever meeting being rather grim. But that was then. Now we have Ms Chadha, who in this film shows how the two (east and west) have met. Bhatinda and Birmingham co-exist. Ludhiana lives with London. Rajma-chawal with fish-and-chips. And young Punjabi lass, Jess, exemplifies this British-Asian fusion culture. This youngster idolises someone no less than Mr Beckham himself, and would rather get jiggy with a football on the fields of Blighty, than twirl aaloo gobhi in a saucepan.

Jess (played by a certain Parminder Nagra, who's put in an OK performance...) is spotted by someone who plays for an all-girls football team in London, and asked to join the team. She does, and hits off with coach Joe as well.

From here, the story cuts back and forth between Jess, who is now completely intent on going Pro, her elder sister, who wants to get married (but is scared that Jess' proclivity for Footy will earn the family a bad name in the Brit-Asian community...), their Mom (who is, of course, thoroughly unhappy with Jess' penchant for ''running around with boys, half-naked, showing her legs....'' and so on). There's also Dad, played by Anupam Kher, who has put in a very nice understated performance.

There are sub-plots which involve Jess and her coach Joe (cupid strikes, and two are caught smooching, by Jess' Dad...), the Mom trying her best to dissuade Jess from football and trying to domesticate her, and Dad being unhappy with the fact he would've been a rather good cricket player in his time, but had to give up due to circumstances (hence his grudging semi-approval for Jess' football playing, ultimately).

In the end, the dream does come true for Jess, and she is offered scholarship in an American university, and a chance to play football professionally. So Jess goes off to the US, the elder sister gets married amidst traditional Punjabi naach-gaana fanfare, Mommie dearest goes back to dal fry and chicken tandoori, and Mr Kher goes back to playing cricket. With Jess' coach, no less...!!

The movie is good fun to watch. Nothing more, nothing less. Lots of funny one-liners are littered across the cast, most of whom have put in nice performances. Music - whatever little there is - is about average. Camera-work is a bit shaky (sudden cuts, not very smooth in places), and production values are barely average. But the remarkable thing is, this movie shows that film-making has the potential to become a cottage-industry yet. Wanna make your own? Just get a miniDV camera, ask your mates to assemble, and shoot...

:-)