MOVIES REVIEW
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Bend It Like Beckham
Directed by Gurinder Chadha.
Written by Gurinder Chadha, Paul Mayeda Berges and Guljit
Bindra.
Starring: Parminder K Nagra, Keira
Knightley, Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, Anupam Kher, Kulvinder
Ghir, Archie Panjabi, Ameet Chana, Shaznay Lewis, Juliet
Stevenson and Frank Harper.
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Synopsis: Jess (Nagra)
is a football wizard, and is invited to play for her local Hounslow
side by Jules (Keira). Both dream of becoming professional female
footballers in America, thanks to the faith and drive of team
coach Joe (Rhys-Meyers). Jess must not only negotiate with the
disapproval of her parents, but also maintain her friendship with
Jules while falling for Joe.
Not only to make but it is also a fun film to watch,
and this says a lot given that it is not just a film nominally
about football, nor even just a film about footballers of Asian
origin (or lack of) in this country, but a film about a female
footballer of Asian origin in this country.
The beautiful game has proven a tough subject matter
about which to make a good film. This is because the movie is
not really about football at all. What Chadha's movie is really
about is the everyday life of young people (those of Asian origin)
who find their familial background and the expectations of the
older generation coming into conflict with their hopes and dreams.
There is hardly any reference made to the fact
that there are no Indian or Pakistani players in the Football
League; nor are there digs about women being rubbish at the game.
Rather we have Jess learning first of all that she can shrug off
parental pressure to be a lawyer (she gets excellent A-Level results
and a university place), by going behind their backs and playing
football. Finally, she learns that she can stand up to their expectations
of her and persuade them to be on her side.
Okay, the acting is so-so, with notable performances from Nagra
in the lead role, Anupam Kher as her father and Ameet Chana as
Jess' best mate Tony. The writing team does sometimes resort to
stereotype - especially with the minor characters and Jules' mother,
Paula. The choice of a female lead seems deliberate by Chadha
for this very reason: you get the feeling that a male lead might
have made the film a lot more foreboding in tone. Instead, the
girls sit in the dressing room and differences in cultural background
are discussed maturely and without a sense that there is any fear
of "otherness", latent racism or any such phobias that
might (stereotypically) be expected in a men's football club.
The girls genuinely seem to be a team.
No, this isn't really an issue film. There is only
one moment of racism here and it leads to a violent reaction from
Jess, who insists that her reaction was provoked by an on-field
foul and not the comment made. Racism and the temptation to fight
back should, like fouls in football, just be ignored and not returned
with violence and "inverse" racism. Otherwise, the violence
merely escalates. This is an important lesson to learn (and one
which David Beckham learnt himself after the Argentina game in
1998); but Bend It Like Beckham seems to be a stronger, more assured
film for hardly dealing with the unpleasant side of life at all.
Chadha has made a film that ostensibly addresses
the problems of generational conflict within the Indian community
in Britain. Yet Bend It Like Beckham is not a "minority"
film - and not just because it has Keira Knightley and the rest
of her onscreen family in it as "token whites" (which
they are not). It is not an issue film. It does not make a big
deal of any of the possible tensions in the film - be it racial,
gender, generational, sexual. It is just a British film - something
all too rare at the moment - and it gets on with telling the story,
in the same way that Jess learns just to get on with the game.
In the same way that the different characters just get along with
each other (without having to "learn" this). It is by
getting along that you win.
It is by doing this that Bend It Like Beckham is
a winning film.
Courtesy: Anshul Mahra (Corporate)
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Awara Paagal Deewana
Genre: Comedy,Romance,
Director: Vikram Bhatt
Music Director: Anu Malik
Leading Cast: Sunil Shetty, Preeti
Jhangiani, Amrita Arora, Aarti Chabaria, Aftab Shivdasani,
Akshay Kumar
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With 'Awara Paagal Deewana',
director Vikram Bhatt comes up with his first multi-star film.
The story revolves around a dentist who accidentally gets involved
with the underworld. A Mafia don (Om Puri) dies and leaves behind
a will that starts a war between Guru Gulab Khatri (Akshay Kumar),
his son-in law, and Vikrant (Rahul Dev), his only son. Guru Gulab
is married to Vikrant's stepsister Preeti (Preeti Jhangiani).
The will says that diamonds worth crores, lying in a foreign bank,
have to be divided equally between these three, who have to be
personally present at the bank to sign the necessary papers. The
will factor splits the gang, with some choosing to support Vikrant
and the others Guru Gulab. Vikrant implicates Gulab in a serious
crime and forces him to flee to the US. In US he comes in contact
with Dr. Anmol Acharya (Aftab Shivdasani). Meanwhile, in India,
Vikrant announces a huge bounty for anyone who will provide him
the details of Gulab's whereabouts. Anmol's greedy wife Mona (Amrita
Arora) convinces him to make a trip to India in a bid to get the
prize money. He embarks on the trip to India with his father-in-
law (Paresh Rawal). The moment they land in India, they are picked
up by Chota Chhatri (Johny Lever), who takes them to a local goon,
Eaida Anna (Sunil Shetty). Anna tells Vikrant that he'll kill
Guru for the prize money. Anna gets the contract from Vikrant.
Thus Anmol returns, not with the prize money, but with Anna and
Chota Chhatri in tow. What is Gulab's fate? Who bags the diamonds?
Who comes out the winner?
Based on 'The Whole Nine Yards', 'Awara
Paagal Deewana' is a decent mix of action and comedy. There are
some hilarious scenes, courtesy dialogue writer Neeraj Vohra,
and a superb performance by Paresh Rawal. Director Bhatt utilizes
his technical team well. Editor Amit Saxena does a very good job
in keeping the film's pace fast. His abilities are especially
apparent in the fight and comic sequences. Vikram's father Pravin
Bhatt wields the camera deftly. The director
relies on the services of Phillip KO (who contributed to the action
scenes in 'Matrix' and 'Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon') and Abbas
Ali Moughal for some thrilling action sequences. Sameer
and Anu Maliik, after a long time, come up with compositions that
gel with the mood of a film.
Courtesy: Priya Chilkoti (Corporate)
