Bend It Like Beckham: Five reasons why the film is still iconic 20 years later

With a turnover of nearly £60m on a budget of £3.5m, it’s the surprise hit that tells the story of a young British-Indian girl with a passion for football.

Here are five reasons the film is still iconic 20 years later.

It showed us that football is for everyone

On the surface, Bend It Like Beckham is a film about a football-loving teenager from an Anglo-Indian Sikh family in London. But when you look a little deeper, it explores a lot more.

The film was inspired by former Arsenal and England striker Ian Wright. When director Gurinder Chadha saw a picture of Wright wearing a union jack, it made her think about what Britishness really meant in the late 1990s, and she decided to write a film about the “evolving concept of Britishness”.

For many British and South Asian girls, the movie was a big moment because it gave us Jesminder Bhamra. Jess was the closest thing to a sports role model we’ve ever had and will have for years to come.

She had a huge impact on audiences as she shared the same lived experiences – both negative and positive – as many girls and women who have played (and are playing) sport in the UK.

But the film also uses football to navigate other coming-of-age themes, including sexuality, with Jess’s best friend Tony telling her, “No, I really like Beckham.”

It also shows how accessible football is, and a simple conversation shows how much women’s football in the UK has grown over the past 20 years.

When Jess is told by her friend and teammate Jules – played by Keira Knightley – that she wants to be a professional footballer, her reaction is in tune.

“Not really here, but you can in America – they have a professional league with new stadiums and everything,” she says.

Two decades later, of course, some of America’s best female players are coming to play in the Women’s Super League, which is among the top professional women’s leagues in the world.

It reminds us of the power of sport

Because Jess’ parents don’t want her to play football, the film is as much about generational culture clashes as it is about British and Indian culture clashes.

It’s one of the reasons the film is so relevant to anyone whose parents wanted them to focus on education – or getting a job, or getting married – instead of playing sports.

When Jess performs, she comes to life – and those are some of her happiest moments in film.

She is also one of the characters we see navigating British society with a family life so different from that culture.

Jess creates and chooses her own cultural identity, and sport is a big part of that. She lets her mother teach her how to cook traditional Indian dishes, but kneels with the cabbage. When she does chores, she folds a soccer ball around the clothesline. All the time, we see her intertwining her love for football with her identity and culture.

We also see the power that sport can have in integration.

A talented cricketer, Jess’ father quit playing when he emigrated to London because English teams wouldn’t let him play and he was racially abused. When Jess’s coach, Joe, tries to persuade her parents that things have changed, her father says, “None of our boys are in any football league. Do you think they’ll leave our girls?”

But when Jess leaves after receiving a life-changing football scholarship from an American university, her father starts playing cricket again.

Jess’ hybrid identity reminds us that sport is a universal language that has the power to facilitate integration.

He taught us the concept of bending

You might think bending a ball like David Beckham is a one-dimensional concept, but the film’s title is so much more than that.

In a 2003 interview, Chadha explained that Bend It Like Beckham was actually a “big metaphor for a lot of us, especially girls”.

“We can see our goal, but instead of going straight there, we too sometimes have to bend and bend the rules to get what we want – no matter where ‘we’ reside, no matter what group ‘we’ ‘claim or not embrace as part of ‘our’ ethnic lineage,” she added.

In nearly every scene in the film, we see Jess bend the rules of her family and community so she can live her dreams. She never rejects her culture, she finds ways to adapt. It’s the same when Jules bends the “rules” of what it means to be female – rejecting her mother’s request to dress more “feminine” to embrace her tomboy identity.

And, ultimately, Jess has the rules bent for her as her father allows her to sneak out of her sister’s wedding to play a game for Hounslow Harriers in front of an American scout.

It is still quoted today

The Bend It Like Beckham quotes are legendary.

“Anyone can cook aloo gobi but who can bend a ball like Beckham?”

“Don’t worry, with one of our designs, even those mosquito bites will look like juicy, juicy mangoes!”

“The offside rule is when the French mustard should be between teriyaki sauce and sea salt.”

“Anyway, being a lesbian isn’t that bad… oh no, of course not honey. I mean, I have nothing against it. I was cheering on Martina Navratilova as much as the next person.”

“What family would want a daughter-in-law who can run around all day playing football but can’t make round chapatis?”

The quotes are timeless because while they seem to be specific to the characters they’re about, they’re things everyone can relate to.

They’re one-liners, ultimately, but behind every word is a plot that each character navigates while trying to create their own identity.

It’s hilarious

One of the best things about Bend it Like Beckham is that it’s still hilarious today. Humor is used to engage the audience, taking them through stories that might otherwise be difficult to watch.

Memes and gifs from the film are still circulating on social media, whether it’s the Hounslow Harriers celebrations or the famous Desi Defenders Wall in the illustration above.

And while the scene where Jess takes a free-kick and imagines his loved ones in goal is hilarious, it’s also a striking image that reminds us that we’ve seen Jess create his own identity, blending his culture, family and sport. .

She is able to leave her sister’s wedding with her father’s approval, then scores a free kick while imagining the family members as defenders by spinning the ball around them, much like Beckham. The free kick wins the game for Hounslow Harriers and is seen by an American scout, leading to that football scholarship and a future the public hopes to make their parents proud of.

But, more importantly, allow her to be herself without shame.