Bend It Like Beckham

Bend It Like Beckham is a British film released in April, 2002, directed by Gurinder Chadha from an original screenplay written by Chadha, Paul Berges, and Guljit Bindra. It was re-released in America in March, 2003. Since its release, the film has achieved a mild cult-like status. It tells the tale of a young British Sikh girl who must struggle against her family's orthodox mindset to fulfil her dream of playing professional football. The film's title is a reference to the English footballer David Beckham and his skill at scoring from free-kicks, by bending the ball - making it swerve as it flies through the air.

It was filmed throughout London, UK including Soho (football store and pub), Hounslow (where the main characters live), Piccadilly Circus, and Southall, as well as in Hamburg, Germany.

Response

This movie was popular with audiences around the world including, surprisingly enough, the United States, where David Beckham was little known at the time of its release. This film made Beckham better known in North America.

Critical reviews were a little mixed, with at least some critics describing it derisively as "Billy Elliot with football instead of ballet;" some American critics thought the film was merely mining the same vein of humour as My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Underscoring the latter point, critic Steve Sailer, in a mildly favourable review, dubbed the movie My Big Fat Sikh Heading.

The 9th Pyongyang Film Festival, held in 2004, screened a dubbed and censored version of Bend It Like Beckham and U.S.-produced South African drama Cry, The Beloved Country. Bend it like Beckham reportedly delighted the limited audience of less than 100 that was allowed to see it. The film won the music prize.

Trivia

• The actresses were coached by Simon Clifford, who runs Futbol De Salao, a Brazilian soccer school.
  
  
• The Hounslow Harriers team doesn't exists, but almost all the players are professional footballers.
  
  
• Many of the wedding guests are relatives of director Gurinder Chadha and added realism by throwing themselves wholeheartedly into the scenes and treating the shoot as if it were a real wedding.
  

• Jess wears number 7 for the Hounslow Harriers, the same number David Beckham wears for England and once wore for Manchester United.
  
  
• Jules's jersey number for the Hounslow Harriers is 9, the same number as Mia Hamm's.
  
  
• Star Parminder Nagra was worried that the scar on her leg would prevent her from getting the role of Jess. Instead, the scar - and the story behind it - were worked into the script.
  
  
• The aircraft shown that transported the team to Hamburg (a Boeing 707-430 reg. D-AFHG Ex Lufthansa D-ABOD) is a static display at the Hamburg airport.
  
  
• Although football star David Beckham and the term "bend" are well-known in the U.K., they were virtually unknown in the U.S. As such, when the time came for the film's U.S release, 20th Century Fox marketing execs suggested changing the title to "Move it like Mia", alluding to U.S. football star Mia Hamm. Director Gurinder Chadha objected to the name change and the film was released with its original title.
  
  
• Anupam Kher (Mr. Bhamra) is one of the superstars of Hindi cinema (aka "Bollywood") with a career that spans almost 20 years and nearly 150 feature films.
  
  
• Melanie C wanted her song "Independence Day" to be used in the film but the lyrics didn't work so she rewrote them so the song could be used.
  
  
• In the original plot, Jess and Jules were in love with each other, not with Joe.
  
  
• Though their characters are roughly the same age, in reality there is a 10 year age gap between Parminder Nagra (b. 1975) and Kiera Knightly (b. 1985)
  
  
• Director Cameo: [Gurinder Chadha] The younger of the two women that Jules and Jesminder jog past in the park.
  
  
• Director Cameo: [Gurinder Chadha] A wedding guest dressed in pink in the conga line.
  
  
• Director Cameo: [Gurinder Chadha] At the party the night before the wedding she is in the circle of relatives clapping, wearing a blue suit.
  
  
• Cillian Murphy was the original choice to play Joe.
  
  
• Max Beesley was also offered the role of Joe but turned it down to do Glitter (2001).
  
  
• Much of the movie's plot centers around the main characters' goal of going to the USA to play professional soccer for the Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA), and highlight clips are shown of several of the league's superstars. On 18 September 2003 - just seven weeks after the movie's official release in the United States - WUSA suspended operations due to financial problems.
  
  
• The team that Manchester United are playing at the beginning is the Belgian side RSC Anderlecht
  
  
• Kulvinder Ghir was a last minute replacement for the role of Teetu.