“No matter what I did, they tried to
undermine me — they didn’t even try and hide it.
Every night I would come home upset because
they were such bullies.”
BUT STILL: SHE persisted. Even in the face of
institutionalised prejudice during her three-decade
career. Instead of struggling to change her outsider
status, she used it as her currency. Making it a
defining characteristic, it helped her to co-write
and direct 2002’s Bend It Like Beckham; a box
office megahit that would go on to take $76.6
million against its humble $6 million budget.
The film wiped the floor with previous
British success stories including The Full Monty
and Billy Elliot, becoming the highest grossing
Indian-themed film ever in the US.
Chadha took her own experiences as
the only British-Asian student in her class as
direct inspiration for the formative battles of
Parminder Nagra’s tomboyish teenager, Jess, as
she’s pulled between her dreams of becoming
a football player and her duties to her family.
“With Bend It Like Beckham I was trying to
show how we as girls negotiate, how we bend the
rules and work with our parents as opposed to
against them to get what we want,” Chadha says.
Still one of few British-Asian female
filmmakers working today, the responsibility
of showing her community on screen is not
one she takes lightly. “I want to write [scripts]
about my world, but I also don’t want to throw
my community under the bus. I don’t want
people thinking we’re all being forced to have
arranged marriages and that our parents are
draconian,” she says.
Chadha now believes that the film became
an important tool of communication between
Sikh communities and the outside world at
a time when terrorism was on the rise.
“I think that Bend It Like Beckham changed
relations not just in this country but other
countries,” she says. “I remember in America, the
film came out after 9/11. A lot of people didn’t
know who Sikhs were — a lot of Sikhs were
getting killed because people thought that they
were Muslims. The film opened up a new debate
about different ethnicities.”
Chadha’s preference for global storytelling on
large canvases over small-scale indie filmmaking
has stirred some disapproval among her peers.
“I never had the luxury of being an arthouse
director,” she says. “Instead I have this political
imperative to try and change people’s minds and
make people understand the world from my
perspective. So why would I make a film that
200,000 people would watch rather than two
billion people? I always try and make a film that’s
going to be seen all over the world. I think some
people might not think that’s cool or artistic.”
Through telling the stories of outsiders
like her, Chadha aspires to make the world
a better place, an ambition that she says is
“soppy” but also vital to her mission as a
filmmaker. “It sounds silly but it’s something
I still want to succeed in; to eradicate sexism and
racism through my work,” she says. “Bruce
[Springsteen] has a great quote: ‘Nobody wins
unless everybody wins’. It’s important to create
and teach empathy. That’s what makes people
human. And that’s what I’ll continue to do.”THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN Chadha
and the Jersey Shore everyman may not be an
obvious one but, for the director, Springsteen
strikes an especially personal chord.
“In many ways Bruce is like my dad,” she
says. “He talks about struggle. He talks about
trying to make the best for yourself while still
acknowledging that life is hard. That’s my
connection with him.”
Her parents’ faith in the face of difficulties
has been a huge source of inspiration for Chadha,
and kept her going when she felt at her most
isolated. Reflecting back on her time working on
Rich Deceiver, she remembers the day her mum
and dad came to visit her on set. “They had come
up for the weekend, and they came to the set and
witnessed me being upset because of these
cameramen,” she says tearfully. “I recently found
this card that my dad had left me on the day that
they went home. It thanked me for their visit, and
said that they’d had a really great time. Then my
dad wrote: ‘Take care of yourself. Sometimes life
is hard, but we get through it.’ It was beautiful.”
So, when Chadha’s long-time friend,
Sarfraz Manzoor, dropped the proofs for his
Springsteen-inspired novel into her lap, it felt
like a sign from the heavens.
“It wasn’t until after he’d finished writing the
book that he told me the only person who would
understand this world is me,” she says.
The pair’s friendship rested on their
shared love of Springsteen, which for Chadha
began during one of her Saturday shifts in
Harrods’ former record department, when
a boy asked if she listened to his music
“I said, ‘No! I’m not a rocker!’”
a laugh. “I was into Chic and Sister
opened the album up — it wasBorn
— and there was this photo of Bruc
guy [sax player Clarence Clemons],
both smiling and loving each other.
thought, ‘Wow this is different.’”
The politics and joy found in
Springsteen’s music had Chadha h
so, unsurprisingly, Blinded By T
was for her an unmissable project
— which, of course, could only
ahead with a thumbs up from Th
Boss himself.
Desperate to get the project
green-lit, Chadha took a leap of
faith while attending the British
Film Institute’s premiere of
Springsteen documentary The
Promise in 2010, with Manzoo
By chance Springsteen
recognised Manzoor in the
crowd and headed over to tellBRUCE
ALMIGHTY
THERE’S A SPRINGSTEEN SONG
FOR EVERY MOVIE OCCASION. HERE
ARE FIVE MEMORABLE
DEPLOYMENTS OF THE BOSSOPENING AN OSCAR-
WINNER
‘Streets Of Philadelphia’ — Philadelphia
Springsteen wrote this soulful dirge, which
plays over shots of — yes! — the streets of
Philadelphia, for the opening of Jonathan
Demme’s 1993 Oscar-winner. Fun sax fact:
jazz legend Ornette Coleman recorded
saxophone riffs for the song, and though
they were cut from this, they’re used over
a later scene of Tom Hanks leaving
an office.CELEBRATING A HEIST
‘Dancing In The Dark’ — The Place
Beyond The Pines
It takes a lot to outdo the Brian De Palma
video for ‘Dancing In The Dark’, which
features a young Courteney Cox dancing
with Springsteen, or Lawn Dogs, with Sam
Rockwell dancing to it on top of a pick-up
truck. Yet The Place Beyond The Pines
prevails, thanks to the killer combo of Ben
Mendelsohn boogieing shirtless, and Ryan
Gosling gyrating while holding a cute dog.KISSING IN A CLOSET
‘I’m On Fire’ — Long Shot
Director Jonathan Levine is a Springsteen
fanatic. His latest film, romcom Long Shot,
features not only a namecheck for
Springsteen, but a scene in which
Presidential hopeful Charlotte (Charlize
Theron) and speechwriter Fred (Seth
Rogen) get it on to ‘I’m On Fire’. Note:
nobody in the sequence actually ignites.EDUCATING A ZOMBIE
‘Hungry Heart’ — Warm Bodies
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