exemplified in the film. for a lot of us, jess bhamra is a hero because we didn t see ourselves on the big screen like we do now, and the make up of the actual teams is still what it looks like today it s a lot of white girls with a couple of black players, with a couple of south asian or east asian players, and still what it looks like. so, as much as we want to love and celebrate this film, it is a reminder of how much work we actually have to do. can you tell me a bit about the impact it had on northern american audiences? because obviously, it came out quite soon after 9/11 happened, where attitudes toward south asian communities had changed anyway, and this hopefully made them change again and see people differently. the timing of this film was also really important. the ways in which south asian communities have felt the reverberations of that violence and the uptake of the violence and the re emergence of said violence is still happening,
i was at home, i was with my family and we were all really excited to watch it because it was obviously about a young asian girl, up and coming, loved football, wanted to go and play in america, and that was her dream, and weirdly, like, me and molly would sit and watch it and think, this is like our life story, really! it s a little bit bizarre. football shoes! i thought it was really, really insightful in terms of asian heritage and the stigma attached to asians in football and the difficulty that comes with being an asian playing the game. i remember me and mol would have to pause it and be, like, that is crazy! like, certain conversations that they d have in the film, we d be having with our mates over the park. but i really liked the way they portrayed the storyline, right, because it was in a light hearted way. jess, man, who s yourfriend with the gorgeous bod? the one with the sixpack! if he looks at me, i really will faint. some of the issues that the main characters had to go
it kind of made me say it s ok to be a street footballer. i really like beckham too. well, of course you do. no one can cross a ball or bend it like beckham. no, jess. i really like beckham. what is it about normalising sexuality through football that really works well there, do you think? what happens to tony is is he kind of showcases the best part of football the way that he can be comfortable in his own skin, talking tojess in the game. i mean, it s ok with me. that s kind of what it should be in an ideal world we would all be in that situation where people feel like when they re playing football, at whatever level it is, they can be their true selves. she should not be running around with all of these men showing their bare legs to 70,000 people! she s bringing shame on the family and you three shouldn t encourage her! that scene, for me, says a lot. that could be a huge factor why. a lot of women don t play football because in the asian community, it s seen as you should
she s found her people. maybe i can find my people. the film actually gave me a bit of clarity on where i wanted to go with my life. # though you may find. people from marginalised communities can find themselves in it, even if it s not their own culture. so, to celebrate its 20th anniversary, i m going to take a deeper look at the impacts of the film. commentator: and have - we discovered a new star here, gary lineker? that s right, john. could jess bhamra be the answer to england s prayers? alan? crikey, i look a lot younger! quick thinking, - comfortable on the ball. i tell you what, i wish - she was playing for scotland! yeah, i think i overacted a little bit. but at the time, i was wondering why i didn t win a bafta. now, i can see it. it is a bit wooden. no, no, no! i am talking about alan hansen, not me. he was wooden. it s one of those scenes that people, when they watch it now, they go oh, yeah i forgot that was in it!
it was funny because when we got there and then, they kind of explained it to us, and we all went, what? so, it s a dream? this woman is coming on and, right, 0k. this sounds a bit weird. what have we agreed to here? it s actually a funny scene. yeah. because obviously, you expect her go, oh, she did really well, and this and that and then, she obviously did the exact opposite she s not happy at all that she s playing this ridiculous game called football which i can totally understand. she s bringing shame on the family and you three should not encourage her. jesminder, you get back home now! when you are filming it, did you know it was going to be so big? when i did it, i can t remember why i said yes because i d kind of turned down a lot of things like that normally but, i think i did like the script and thought it was quite cute and funny, but i never imagined it would be the success that it obviously was. it s the highest grossing football film ever. despite hansen, barnes