"Bend It Like Beckham" Success Story | In Conversation with Gurinder Chadha

it's a very hard thing for people to understand that if you're monolingual and you're monocultural you know it's very hard for you to imagine how amazing the world looks when you're culturally diverse when you have multiple abilities to to view people from different perspectives I have to tell you a story so what happened was I had been struggling to make this film that because I really believed in the fact that that the world was changing at that point and I believed that my cultural Paradigm was relevant and was giving a fresh view to what it meant to be a British filmmaker and I'd written this script that was very British but also very International because it was about the diaspora you know it was she's Indian but she could be Greek Chinese you know Greek Australian Chinese American she could be any of those things so the the culture of the diaspora was something to me that was very uh palpable Studios will call that now International you know films that are international that cross over that's their terminology but for me at the time it was I felt in my heart those human stories we all connect with and that's what bendit was it was a kind of Forerunner for that way of thinking and then um everyone passed of course Channel 4 BBC everyone passed on the film uh people just didn't couldn't understand why anyone want to see a film about football with a girl in it and then an Indian girl and then um there we had at that time the UK before the UK film Council we had the lottery where you had uh a committee that was administrating National Lottery Finance uh and if you submitted your script a reader would read the script and then recommend whether your project should be financed or not and I had submitted my script and one of the producers on that panel gave me the heads up to say sadly my film was going to get rejected and at this point I was so Furious I just was really really mad and I went down to the film Council and I and John Woodward uh was about to take over and I went into his office and I said I'm furious I'm furious because when you guys all want to do panels about how hard it is to make films uh in Britain and particularly if you're a person of color you wheel me on to all these platforms to talk about it but now you're not you're not backing me you have to back me because I have a vision and and the reason the reporter said the film wasn't going to get backed is because he said they'll never be able to find an Indian girl who can bend a ball like David Beckham and that was the main reason to reject the film and I shouted to them I said does this man think Harrison Ford jumps out of helicopters so I told Harrison Ford that story last night and um and he he said well thank you I'm so glad that I was able to help you with your career he and he said and by the way I do jump out of helicopters um but that was sweet and then of course John Woodward you know credit to him he went back and he said to the committee whatever you do you have to pass this film and so the committee passed the film so I got my first million and then after that I got the rest of the money and then that's the only only reason that film got made but do you think I mean thank you but it's sort of like but it it's relevant to today especially whoever was in the last panel you know the thing that you have to take away from the last panel is when Al I think is who said we don't know anything we don't we don't know anything you know we don't know what's going to be a hit we have no idea you know and to me part of that is about the the current of content and the fact that people are bored with the same old same old but fearful about Crossing cultural paths that can inject some freshness and new stories so personally you know I'm you know been relatively successful I'm still able to make great films and you know I was very happy with my Bruce Springsteen film and and every filmmaker should have one of those bidding walls at Sun Dance I mean it was an amazing thing so even if I never make another film I was just so happy with that but the thing is is that we need fresh ideas and it's a very hard thing for people to understand that if you're monolingual and you're monocultural you know it's very hard for you to imagine how amazing the world looks when you're culturally diverse when you have multiple abilities to to view people people from different perspectives mean one of the things I always found so funny when I was young was when was when Richard prior and Eddie Murphy would play English people or American people it was really funny it was a great perspective and I think people don't think that we can necessarily make films about people who don't look like us you know or create those stories when we can but what we do is inject a freshness and a and a different perspective and I feel if uh the industry would wholeheartedly Embrace that there would be people would come back to the cinema because it would be relevant yeah and I think the reason bendelite beckam was such a big hit around the world at that time and by the way it has a statistic that no other film in the whole world has is it's the only film that has been distributed in every single country in the world including North Korea um oh wow only film and and and thank you and that's because it hit on a human Essence story you know that was coming from familiarity and not familiarity but it came out just after 911 and I made it before 9/11 but it was released after 9/11 and just like the way the world was shaken you know with coid the world was going through something else at that time and here was this very sweet innocent film about tolerance and family and Love Actually and I think the world just went oh that's what we need right now and I think if the film came out today I'm not sure it would have the same uh reaction around the world you know but at the time it was allowed to fly because the world wanted it and it and we got it made and I feel there are so many more stories like that um ready ready for people to see in cinemas but they can't get past the Gatekeepers so how I mean do you that was going to be my next question I mean bendit like Becca from people that you were speaking to talents other voices other Young Voices out there do you get a sense that the needle has moved at all or is it still the same you know are you is it the still the same problems that you just mentioned I think people are looking to try and find those that content find those films that will you know be those hits but you can't do it with formulas you know yeah it h it's this is an industry about Vision you know whether it's commercial Vision or Creative Vision it is about vision and and you have you know we we are it's a business but within that business you need to have Vision you need to have a POV and you need to work with other people who recognize that POV and are able to encourage it that's what makes it so amazing that's why we love Cinema because we're transported into other people's worlds and we go oh my God they're just like me kind of thing or or or the thrill of you know the thrill of seeing a story that the Underdog Story or a romantic story or a Coming of Age story or even an action story or even a really smart horror film you know like get out you know you you everything is about shining a light to our world and it's people of vision who are the most important currency in our Cinema and when you sit and talk about numbers and and uh you know try and figure it all out like that yes there's some currency to that but you have to allow for the magic you know that's the thing the thing that I do is magic you know and I don't know why sometimes something is a hit or not all I know is that I'm able to tell stories that touch other people you know and that are told from a perspective that nobody else could tell no one else could do the films that I make and nobody else necessarily wants to make the films that I'm developing or that I want to make although now it's different because I'm doing the Disney film going to ask about that let's talk about that quickly before actually before we talk about that I wanted to just quickly go back to when you're talking about you know um Gatekeepers and people being acceptance accepting of new voices and taking risks and it not being down to formulas how much do you think the industry is changing so fast so quickly how much do you feel like the streamers um since they've kind of come into the game have opened up a possibility for more diverse stories what is their role in that do you think they've kind of helped accelerate it well I think that's a really interesting question because I think when the streamers first came I think there was the sort of democratization in some ways and they set up these uh satellites all over the world to create local content and you had sort of you know breakouts a few breakout stories which is great because you've got people now watching foreign language content you know um but I think that you know as we're seeing in the industry you know the streaming model cannot sustain uh independent film making and so it we are going to need to go back to the magic we're going to need to be able to invest in and create films that stand above the parit you know whether that's on a streaming platform whether that's uh you know in theaters um the Oscar winner of last year is is an example you know of something being different and and uh people getting behind it and championing it you know whether you like the film or not the most amazing thing was uh it was audacious it was completely audacious so the success of of the film and uh Michelle's win you know is tantam out to what I'm saying you know people want different stories interesting stories that reflect our world today you know and and the and partly the streaming thing is also about homogeneization as well um so so long as there's room to have those different stories it'd be interesting to see how independent film develops in the next few years that's really what we really need and I know the BFI I mean I work with the BFI quite a lot in Britain and there are talks to find ways to to uh work with exhibitors and Cinemas to encourage more independent film exhibition British film exhibition and I think it's those sort of Endeavors you know where governments assist with Distributors and exhibitors to find ways to promote local Cinema and those films the French do it very well definitely you know but get so those films are allowed to breathe as well as all the lovely big uh you know Tom Cruz movies you know there's obviously audiences for that but also audiences for people who want to be touched and moved by [Music] [Music] Cinema

Channel: Marché du Film - Festival de Cannes

Views: 308

Keywords: Marché du Film, Gurinder Chadha, Winston Baker, Cannes Film Finance Forum

Id: Eq9cUoqF9vY

Length: 13min 23sec (803 seconds)

Published: Fri Dec 01 2023