JEDDAH: British filmmaker Gurinder Chadha would like to make a film about Punjab, saying she has a great idea to work on and needs a good scriptwriter.

“I love Sanjay Dutt. His sister Priya told me that he loves speaking Punjabi and I said I wanna make a film with him, but what I need is a good Punjabi scriptwriter. Find me a good scriptwriter,” she declared while speaking to the audience at Red Sea Mall in Jeddah, where her film Bend it Like Beckham is being screened as part of the Red Sea Film Festival.

Gurinder, the writer and director of Bend it Like Beckham, has her roots in Jhelum (now in Pakistan) of pre-Partition India. She told the audience that her grandfather moved to East Africa at the start of the last century. While she was born in Kenya, her father moved to Britain and grew up there.

“When I was at school I was speaking Punjabi with my grandmother at home while English in school. In Britain people were mono-cultural and mono-lingual and had a hard time looking at those who were multicultural and multi-lingual.

“Britain has changed a lot since then. When I was growing up it was always a problem.”

Chadha said she used to speak a mix of English and Punjabi when she started learning language at the age of three. It has lasted till now.

“I really try to teach my children Punjabi. I was the same as them. I did not know Punjabi until my grandmother to started living with us and I had to learn Punjabi. During the Covid lockdown, we (the family) did Punjabi lessons on Zoom.

“My children understand the importance of it (the language).” “Now I have a daughter and a son. I keep telling my daughter you can’t go out wearing that,” she said in a lighter vein.

Celebrating diversity

Talking about multiculturalism, Gurinder Chadha said all her films were very much about celebrating cultural diversity. “I can talk about problems, but also celebrate the good stuff. That’s why Bend it like Beckham and other films have travelled around the world, particularly with the diaspora.”

Gurinder Chadha started off as a journalist and a BBC reporter which, according to her, gave her the skills to control the narrative. “However, I wanted to be commercial and not just art house material.”

She is proud of launching some stars, including Keira Knightly and Leila Bekhti.

Talking about the art of filmmaking, she said a movie thrives on conflict and a reason why the characters can’t achieve what they want to achieve and you need a really strong reason; otherwise, the drama would fall apart.

In Bend it like Beckham, there are four girls who want to play football. That’s a simple thing, but things take an unpleasant turn when the parents of one of the girls told her: “You can’t because your sister is getting married.”

Talking about controlling the narrative in the film, she termed storytelling the most important thing. “My advice to all who aspire to be a writer is to watch a film that you really love. Just take notes and first watch the film with the sound off and figure out what’s the most important thing going on in a scene. Then watch it with the sound on.”

A.R. Rahman’s concert

Oscar winner A.R. Rahman’s concert injected life into the Red Sea International Film Festival on the beach late on Saturday night.

The live performance included some of his biggest hits in Bollywood and Indian regional cinema. The venue had filled up before the start of the show. The proceedings began with Jay Ho, the soundtrack of the Slumdog Millionaire.

A.R. Rahman, a man of few words, electrified the audience, mostly consisting of Indian and Pakistan expatriates.

Besides Jay Ho, the songs that Rahman sang included Kun Faya Kun, Mahi Ve, Mustafa Mustafa and Cheyyan Cheyyan.

Published in Dawn, December 6th, 2022