Unlike her traditional older sister who is preparing for a lavish Indian wedding and a lifetime of cooking the perfect chapati, Jess dreams of playing football professionally, like her hero David Beckham. Wholeheartedly against Jess’ ambition, her parents’ reservations have more to do with protecting her, than with holding her back. When Jess is forced to make a choice between tradition and her beloved sport, her family must decide whether to let her chase her dream or follow a more orthodox path.

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Further Reading

• Sara Ahmed, ‘Bend it, happy multiculturalism?’ https://feministkilljoys.com/2013/08/31/bend-it-happy-multiculturalism/
• Mridula Nath Chakraborty, ‘Crossing Race, Crossing Sex in Gurinder Chadha’s Bend It Like Beckham(2002): Managing Anxiety in Multicultural Britain’, in Radner and Stringer, Feminism at the Movies, 122-133
• Justine Ashby, ‘Postfeminism in the British Frame’ in Cinema Journal
• Sarah Banet-Weiser ‘What’s Your Flava? Race and Postfeminism in Media Culture’ in Interrogating Postfeminism: Gender and the Politics of Popular Culture in Interrogating Postfeminism: Gender and the Politics of Popular Culture
• Gargi Bhattacharyya; John Gabriel, ‘Gurinder Chadha and the Apna Generation: Black British film in the 1990s’ in Third Text: Third World Perspectives on Contemporary Art and Culture
• Anne Ciecko, “Representing the Spaces of Diaspora in Contemporary British Films by Women Directors.” in Cinema Journal