Indian ‘Kudi’ Jasminder dreams of one day playing alongside David Beckham (he needs no introduction, I guess). She constantly talks to the poster of her, taped behind her bed on the wall, as if he is her best friend. She might be the only straight girl who doesn’t dream of getting into her pants… rather short, unlike those goofballs her sister Pinky hangs out with.
She is true to her Indian roots in every way, except her love of ‘soccer-shootball’; that makes her mother Mrs. Bhamra say ‘Hai Rabba!’ (She turns like a typical Indian lady to the poster of Guru Nanak, the religious guru of the Punjabi Sikhs, whenever she hears ‘Football’.) Lady. Bhamra wants Jasminder to get a husband… and for her to learn how to cook. Who else will cook roti-shoti for him but her, right? She has high hopes that her youngest daughter will marry Teetu, Jess’s (Jasminder’s nickname) friend since childhood. Of course, Teetu will never marry her: he’s gay, still closed off.
Teetu and Jess play soccer with a group of their Hispanic, Indian, and African American soccer buddies at a local park. Juliette or “Jules”, an English girl is impressed with Jess’s moves; Jules plays for Hounslow Harriers, a local soccer team managed by Joe, who is also her crush. Jules brings Jess to Joe and soon Jess joins Joe’s team (hey, this could be a decent tongue twister!) without informing her parents. It’s totally a success story for Joe and his girls on the field, but it’s the drama off the field that always brings ‘Bad News.’
Everyone has their own problems, which is why Bend it Like Beckham is never ‘All About Jess,’ although Jess is definitely the most (in her own words). He has the most suffocating family you can imagine (at least for whites it seems to be suffocating. For Indians like me, it’s like taking care of the home!): a father who can’t forget his disastrous past with the goras (whites) and he cares too much about Jess. seeing her facing similar treatment, a mother we already know but wait… my notes also say ‘she’ll die if Jess meets a white man’; Jess’s sister Pinki is better than the parents at least, but she’s the girl Jess would hate to become: the looks-obsessed bad girl who has no problem having sex in a car (Jess is shy about exposing her bra even in a girl’s locker room). , but that could also be because her seamstress once comments that Jess’s breasts look like mosquito bites!).
The no-no of the family to soccer – proven. Then comes Pinki’s marriage, and Jess can’t keep her secret from the family forever; she actually doesn’t, as she gets caught often, but Joe somehow convinces her to keep playing.
Jess keeps playing, mainly because soccer is her passion, but also because she likes the skinny, handsome Joe (thunderbolt for Mrs. Bhamra – ‘bababadalgharaghtakamminarronnkonnbronntonnerronntuonnthunntrovarrhounawnskawntoohoohoordenenthurnuk’ *is a James Joyce thing). That ruins her friendship with Jules, who sees them almost kissing outside a club.
Poor Jules is in danger of losing Joe to Jess, and her mother, Paula Paxton, doesn’t make it easy for her: she mistakenly thinks Jules and Jess are in love! Paula does make it clear that she ‘she has absolutely no problem with lesbians. She was cheering Martina Navratilova on herself, but that doesn’t stop her from snooping around every time Jess and Jules are together: the perfect prototype of a hypocrite. Plus she is Mrs. Bhamra’s English counterpart when it comes to dissuading his daughter from her soccer.
‘Bend it Like Beckham’ is all about the hopes and dreams that find their way through disasters. The best thing about this movie is that it doesn’t favor only one culture and act intolerantly against others. This makes the movie not just for “Indians only” but for almost everyone.
It’s a very balanced movie: there’s comedy, drama, romance, football and yes, Beckham! Indian humor has been tastefully sprinkled to spice up the taste buds, the drama is appropriately light and carefree and the romance is sweet as juicy mangoes. Gurinder Chaddha, the director of the film, scores a winning goal and we are all here to cheer him on.