Film-makers get tips from Chadha

Chadha’s visit was in connection with next month’s film festival to be held at MovieTowne. In her presentation Chadha showed clips from her films and presented an overview of her film career from her first independent feature Bhaji on the Beach to her forthcoming project as director of Hollywood studio film Dallas starring John Travolta and Shirley McClaine.

Her visit was the first activity of the Kairi: Trinidad and Tobago International Film Festival as it prepares for this year’s film festival at MovieTowne from September 19-26.

The meeting was supported by the Trinidad and Tobago Film Company (TTFC) and organised and chaired by festival director, film-maker and lecturer Dr Bruce Paddington.

Chadha was born in Kenya and moved to the UK with her parents as a baby. She began her career as a news reporter with the BBC Radio. She also directed several award-wining documentaries for the BBC and began an alliance with the British Film Institute (BF) and Channel Four. In 1990, Chadha set up her own production company, Umbi Films.

Her first independent production was a film entitled Bhaji on the Beach in 1993. The film focused on the experiences of a group of Asian women from three generations on a day trip to Blackpool, Chadha ensured that the film dealt with such sensitive issues as domestic violence and Asian/Black relations. The film proved to be an artistic and financial success.

Chadha sees herself as a representative of a new multi-cultural Britain and was awarded the OBE in the 2006 Queen’s Birthday Honours List for her services to the British film industry.

Of her successful “Bend it like Beckham”, she recalled watching the Euro 96 football finals in a pub in England and recognising that not only did the English team look different, including a number of non-white players but also that the supporters were from every racial background.

She decided that she wanted to make a film about football, one that would be commercially successful, although it had to have as its main character a young Indian woman who aspired to bend the ball like David Beckham.

In “Bend It like Beckham” 2002, a young Asian woman tries to pursue her ambition as a footballer while accommodating the demands of family and tradition. The film is a subtly nuanced picture of a very specific community in Southall, but it 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. The film became the most financially successful British independent film ever, grossing over $100 million internationally with one of the supporting actresses, Keira Knightly, going on to become a superstar.

Chadha’s most ambitious film is the 2002 “Bride and Prejudice” starring Aishwarya Rai. Chadha puts an entertaining Bollywood musical spin on this reworking of Jane Austen’s classic novel “Pride and Prejudice.”

The film was shot in three continents and established Chadha as a major international director. She is still the only woman of Asian descent to direct a British feature film and will be one of the few Asia women (Mira Nair is another) to direct a Hollywood feature.

In her session with local film-makers Chadha advised them to concentrate on writing good stories, stories that they are passionate about, because a strong story can appeal to international audiences and become a commercial best seller like “Bend it like Beckham”.