Gurinder Chadha: UK women’s team in football world cup final is sweet victory for me

On Sunday, the UK national team will take on Spain in the 2023 women’s football world cup finale. This is the first time that a British team is in the finale and it turns out that many members of this victorious team owe it to filmmaker Gurinder Chadha for inspiring them to take to the sport. In 2001, Gurinder had made a film called Bend it Like Beckham, about a young Indian girl in Britain pursuing her dream of playing football, despite stiff opposition from her orthodox family. The film proved to be a major break for actors Keira Knightley and Parminder Nagra, among others.

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But as it now turns out, Gurinder’s film, which, the BBC and Channel 4, refused to back citing that it wasn’t cool or relevant at the time, was all the inspiration that several members of the UK’s national women’s football team needed to turn to the sport. Members of the team, fondly called the Lionesses , have confirmed that they started playing football after seeing Bend it like Beckham. Speaking to the BBC, Gurinder said that she feels great to be a part of this history and to know that many women who play in the World Cup today started off after watching her movie.

“‘When the US women’s team won the last World Cup, most of them said they only started playing after watching the movie and some of the England players have said that too,” said Gurinder during her interview with the British channel. She added that what her film did was to make people think that anything was possible and that women playing football looked cool and powerful. “And that’s what I was trying to do with my movie was to show women with skills,” she added.