Indians are well known to hold on to their cultural values even when they are many miles away from their home town. More so when they are an immigrant in a Western City. The subsequent generations of these population are forced to understand and accept the ’’alien’’ culture and practices. The fact that their environment or community they mix is totally different from what are preached makes it even more difficult. That is the situation when both the parents and their offsprings have to make choices about their life or their interests.
This movie is one of those movies which has captured the problems faced by both the generation and how they deal with it. Another good example would be American Desi or East is East. Gurinder Chadha has did a wonderful job in portraying the situations and the underlying emotions.
Jess Bhamra (Parminder Nagra) is a second daughter of an immigrant sardarji whose important dream of life is to play alongside David Beckham!! But her elder sister Pinky (Archie Panjabi) is more ’’Indian-girl-like’’ and decides to marry the boy fixed by her parents. She meets a friend Jules Paxton (Keira Knightley) who plays for a local football team. She introduces Jess to her coach Joe (Jonathan Rhys Meyers), who is impressed by Jess’s talent and play. Jess practices and even plays for the local team all the while keep it a secret from her parents. Matters get even more complicated when both Jess and Jules fall for the charm of their coach Joe. Jules catches Jess having a private moment with Joe and their friendship is tested for once. When the secret is broken after her picture appearing in the national newspaper, Jess is forced by her parents to abandon her dream and prepares to get married. Her dad even gets a family to see her!!.
Her dad’s argument is she will face rejection amongst the white skinned people because of her color, just as he was ridiculed and rejected in his young age. The moment of truth arrives for the father and the daughter, when ever lively Jess, recoils to her shell and on the day of her sister’s marriage her team needs her badly to win.
Now the Analysis! :)
Story (4/5)
Neat story line and never once the events or scenes appear disjointed. The story never slags or nags. Only slight unnecessary turn was when Pinky’s marriage is dropped by the ’’boy’s’’ parents because they see Jess and Jules holding each other!!! That was not necessary at all...
Plot (3/5)
Nicely woven plot, but few areas like why did Jess’s father appear outside the dressing room and catch Jess with Joe. Otherwise it was a good plot. But not much twists or turns, obviously this is not a thriller!!
Movie Pace (2/5)
Yes this is a slow movie. It might even seem it is more than 1.5 hours. But I dont have an alternative idea as to how this could be made faster!! So think this movie can only be in this pace.
Cast, Cinematography & Direction (3/5)
This is a decent, relatively small budget movie. So dont expect any star walk. Anupam Kher is the only known Indian actor in the movie. I have never seen the other actors before (including the English actors). In a way, this helped in bringing the actual feelings of the characters to the viewers mind.
The movie revolves around Southall where Gurinder lived her childhood. Even few characters like Mr.Bhamra and Jules are based on people from Gurinder’s life. So good amount to time is spent in establishing the base for these characters to portray them more profoundly. In a line Good Direction and Good Cinematography. Gurinder has infact took a dig at the Indian community in UK, in quite a few scenes. But they come out only ’’as-a-matter-of-fact’’ and not as an expression of anger or frustration.
As the director correctly puts the story is only to Bend few rules rather than break it. You know thats when all the ’’Culture-police’’ around us go for our neck!! Hence the title ’’Bend it Like Beckham’’ after his gravity-defying curve kick!!
Overall (3.5/5)
Good movie to watch in the week days. Dont think of playing it on Friday or Saturday. Who knows you might take something back into your life when you revisit the movie in your mind during the lunch time!!
Watcheable...