Gurinder Chadha Teases Possible ‘Bend It Like Beckham’ Sequel “With The Recent Success Of Football”

Gurinder Chadha, director of Bend It Like Beckham, is teasing the possibility of a sequel to the 2002 film which starred Parminder Nagra and Keira Knightley.

“I never really wanted to make a sequel to the film, because I just thought the way Parminder and Keira played it, and Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Archie Panjabi, I could never really follow that up and create that same magic in the same way,” Chadha told Metro UK in an interview. “But with the recent success of football, I just feel like I’m starting to percolate an idea for a possible sequel of some kind.”

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Chadha co-wrote the sports comedy-drama alongside Guljit Bindra and Paul Mayeda Berges. The film also starred Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Anupam Kher, Juliet Stevenson, Shaznay Lewis and Archie Panjabi.

Bend It Like Beckham was a film that followed Jesminder and Jules as they chased their dreams of becoming professional soccer players inspired by David Beckham and despite their parents’ wishes. Beckham and wife Victoria would make a cameo appearance in the film.

Over the years, Chadha has talked about how difficult it was to get the film greenlit and had been told her film could never get made “because you will never be able to find an Indian girl who can bend it like Beckham.”

“Do you think Harrison Ford jumps out of helicopters?” Chadha would reply to them.

The filmmaker would meet Ford at Cannes and told him the story to which he replied, “Well, I’m so glad I was able to help you with your career…and by the way, I do f***ing jump out of helicopters.”

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