Filmmakers and Producers

Gurinder Chadha

Gurinder Chadha was born in Kenya and came to Britain with her parents in 1961. She grew up in Southall, London and studied at the University of East Anglia. After working as a broadcast journalist, her first directorial venture was I'M BRITISH BUT..., a documentary made for Channel 4 and the BFI in 1989. The film uses the phenomenon of bhangra music to explore issues of identity and belonging among young British-born Asians.

In 1990 Chadha made her first dramatic short film, A NICE ARRANGEMENT, concerning a British-Asian family on the morning of their daughter's wedding. This was followed by another documentary, ACTING OUR AGE (1991), in which elderly Asians living in Southall recount their experiences of living in Britain. These various concerns came together in Chadha's first feature film, the comedy-drama BHANJI ON THE BEACH (1993). The film centres on the experiences of a group of Asian women from three generations on a day trip to Blackpool. As Chadha has said, in the film "You have tradition on the one side and modernity on the other, Indianness on the one side, Englishness on the other, cultural specificity and universality - but in fact there is a scale between each of these polarities and the film moves freely between them."

After a two-part drama for the BBC, RICH DECEIVER (1995), and a number of television documentaries, Chadha went to Los Angeles to make her next feature film WHAT'S COOKING? (2000), a series of overlapping stories involving four families (Hispanic, Vietnamese, African-American, and Jewish), all preparing for Thanksgiving dinner. Once again the film stresses diversity over difference through an increasingly adept mix of drama and comedy. Chadha has said that "For me the whole point of the film is that the four families mirror each other and as you become emotionally invested you forget about where they come from - you stop seeing difference and realise they all want the same thing, to keep their families together.

Chadha's most accomplished and commercially successful film to date is BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM (2002). This story of a young Asian woman trying to pursue her ambitions as a footballer while accommodating the demands of family and tradition may seem familiar territory. However, the fact that the film is set in Southall, where Chadha grew up, enables her to present a subtly nuanced picture of a very specific community. The film makes the point that British Asian experiences are as diverse as those of any cultural or ethnic group, thereby emphasising the universality of those experiences, a point that is all the more powerful for being quietly made.

AVAILABLE FROM TWN

Acting Our Age
Gurinder Chadha
1992, 30 min., Color, UK
This humorous and thought-provoking film documents the residents of a South Asian home for the elderly in Britain. Director Gurinder Chadha assists the residents in directing their own video. The result is an examination of politics, ageism, and cross-cultural communication in contemporary British s...

I'm British But…
Gurinder Chadha
1989, 30 min., Color, UK
This unique look at Asians in Britain offers first-hand views of second generation Asians, adding archival footage and invigorating Bhangra and Bangla music--traditional Punjabi songs updated with hip-hop and house music influences. From Manchester rooftops to embattled Belfast and the Welsh hills, ...

A Nice Arrangement
Gurinder Chadha
1990, 11 min., Color, UK
Set in the London home of an Indian family on the morning of their daughter's wedding, this film is a wry depiction of one of the most central of Indian traditions -- the arranged marriage. As the young Hindu bride, Meena, changes into her bridal sari, her divorced friend, Sita, helps with her cloth...

What Do You Call An Indian Woman Who's Funny?
Gurinder Chadha
1994, 19 min., BW, UK
What do you call an Indian woman who's funny in 20th Century Britain? A British performer? A Black comedienne? An enigma? This humorous and comedic documentary, brings the laughs and dreams of four Indian women cabaret performers while posing the questions: What is comedy and who defines it? Is it c...


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