Anglo-Asian director Gurinder Chadha was born in Kenya, her parents
lived there until the political dissension leading to Kenya's independence
drove them to move back to her grandfather's native India. As citizens
of India, which was still considered part of the British Empire at that
time, they settled in Southall, West London in 1951.
Chadha began her career as a news reporter with BBC Radio, directed
several award winning documentaries for the BBC, and began a fruitful
alliance with the BFI and Channel Four who produced the 30-minute documentary,
I'm English But... (1989). The film followed young English Asians who,
unlike their parents, listen to Acid Bhangra, a mix of Punjabi bhangra
and rap. In 1990, Chadha set up her own production company; Umbi Films.
Her first dramatic film short was the 11-minute Nice Arrangement (1991)
about a British-Asian wedding.
Chadha's feature directorial debut, Bhaji on the Beach (1993) was
an Asian feminist comedy with a cheeky wit and a more serious political
and cultural theme. It traced the adventures of three generations of
Anglo Asian women on holiday in the vacation spot Blackpool. After Bhaji,
Chadha directed a two-part drama Rich Deceiver (1995), for the BBC,
and continued to work on documentaries. She followed up her previous
cult hit with What’s Cooking (2000), the story of four Los Angeles families
on Thanksgiving weekend. Bend
It Like Beckham (2002), is Chadha’s most commercial film to date,
a comedy about an Asian girl who takes a fancy to football while trying
to balance it with her parent’s demands. Beckham became a smash hit
and one of the highest grossing home-produced films of 2002.
