Bend it like Beckham ..
was a good value for 6.25 $ I spent. I would focus more technicalities on the movie itself than analysing the backgrounds of the cast/crew.
Jess - the central character of the story is a typical coconut. ( Coconut - term coined by English people to describe the England bred Desis. White inside and Brown outside ). Whats so atypical about the tomboyish female lead is her fetish for football. She beats the crap out of the umpteen dudes she plays with in the park. She is spotted by a fellow white dudette Jules who plays for the club Hounslow and gets recommended by her to play for the club.
Chaos starts - what does she want !
- A life like her idol David Beckham or cookin aloo gobi for her future husband ?
The plot cleverly potrays the struggle and the confusion she has to undergo of choosing what does she want in her life. To abide by her loving yet stubborn parents or to follow her fetish ? The story treads with numerous cameos to a feel-good ending of how she satisfies both.
A good movie, according to me, is good at both resolutions - coarse and fine. A strong storyline with interesting intertwined cameos is a characteristic of top flicks. Bend it Like Beckham surely has both the traits.
Coarse look - A tried and tested feel-good story line of a girl choosing her own life juggling between her culture, her parents’ wishes and her adopted culture.
Fine look - Numerous sentimental and rib-tickling cameos - romance between Jess and the coach, chemistry between Jess and Jules, typical Indian-style dominance of her parents, her friendship with a gay who tries to help her by marrying her just to support her football career, Jules mother suspecting Jules and Jess are lesbians, life of Punjabi emigrants to England- u undergo all sortsa emotions in this movie.
The screenplay is fantastic and the music ( OST - ’’Tere Bin Nahi Lagda ’’ by NFAK ) too is a forte of the movie. At the end of the day u are a satisfied movie-goer having seen one of the fulfilling movies,
-inspired by Jess’ resolve, laughed due to the lucid potrayal of cultural incongruencies, satisfied by the ending.
BILB is surely gonna win ur hearts !