EXCLUSIVE: Gurinder Chadha reveals to Deadline that a sequel to her celebrated 2002 film Bend It Like Beckham, which starred Parminder Nagra and Keira Knightley, is officially in the works. “I’m excited to revisit the original characters and revive the enduring story and build on the legacy we helped to create for the women’s game,” the London-based director confirms.
Chadha adds that Nagra, Knightley, Archie Punjabi, Juliet Stevenson and other members of the original cast “are aware that a sequel is being developed, but they obviously want to see a script before they commit.
“I’m pretty certain that everyone’s going to want to come back,” she adds hopefully.
“Everything hinges on the script and if the original cast likes it,” Chadha says. “I am working really hard to make sure every character I bring back has a decent arc and scenes.”
The filmmaker was in Basel, Switzerland, ahead of tomorrow’s Women’s European Championship final where England women’s soccer team faces Spain — a repeat of their 2023 World Cup clash — she tells us that for 23 years “I didn’t want to do anything because I didn’t have a story. And then I came up with a great story, really super-cool story. So now I’m inspired. Literally came up with it just about a month ago. It’s my very clear wish to bring the characters back very,very soon.Women’s football is more competitive ,more exciting, and more global than ever.It is an honor for me to be a small part of it.”
Chadha has been toying around with the prospect of a follow-up feature or television drama for two years, encouraged by the phenomenal increase in worldwide support for women’s football.
The aim, Chadha says, is to have the sequel ready by 2027 to mark the 25th anniversary of Bend it Like Beckham’s 2002 UK opening. It’s a key year for the game, with the FIFA Women’s World Cup tournament set to kick off in host nation Brazil from June 24-July 25 that year.
The original film was based on a screenplay she co-wrote with Guljit Bindra and her husband Paul Mayeda Berges.
Chadha and Berges have begun discussing the screenwriting process. “I’m hoping to write it with Paul, who has come up with some very funny lines like he did last time.”
During this year’s Cannes Film Festival, Chadha was introduced to Emma Hayes, who took over as head coach of the U.S. women’s national soccer team in June. They subsequently met and chatted a few times and are now working “collaboratively” on the sequel. “Her insights into the world of football at her level are invaluable,” Chadha explains.
Hayes says that Bend it Like Beckham has had a “massive impact” on her life. “I was Keira Knightley in Bend it. I cried in the cinema watching the film because I felt just like Jess and Jules,” the characters Nagra and Knightley played in the movie.
”There was no hope for women’s football in Britain then so I was going to the States to try my luck. Twenty three years ago I could never have dreamed of how much that film changed the women’s game and now I have the best job in the world- head coach of the U.S. Women’s national team,” Hayes notes. The top sportswoman adds that she’s happy to be “helping Gurinder with all my experience and insight into the game.”
The project also has won support from Lisa Nandy MP, Britain’s Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, who lauds Bend It Like Beckham for capturing “something so special about Britain — our spirit, our diversity, and our ability to dream big in the face of challenge.”
Nandy adds that Chadha’s story “resonated far beyond the screen and became part of our cultural DNA.”
The Cabinet member’s statement notes that the announcement “of a sequel is a brilliant moment for British film. It builds on a legacy that continues to inspire and shows the world what British storytelling can do. Films like this help tell our national story, remind us who we are, and who we can be.”
Indeed the film has become a cultural touchstone over the years, with many of the leading lights in the world of women’s soccer proclaiming Bend It Like Beckham as their main source of inspiration back in the day when the amateur antics of women playing soccer were laughed at. Since then the sport has become huge, with millions following professional women’s clubs and national teams around the world.
Chadha smiles ruefully as she recounts how with the first film she “couldn’t even get arrested making it. Everyone was like, ‘We’re not interested. Who wants to see a film about girls playing football?’ Everyone laughed me out of the rooms.”
For her, the original film “was about lifting up girls and saying, ‘You can do and you can be anything you want even though society dictates what you can and can’t do,’ and that message is still relevant today, even though we have women and women’s soccer sides so huge around the world. The film’s been part of that legacy, and I feel there’s more that I can do. So that’s what I’m writing and that’s what I’m focusing on. It will be hard-hitting, of course, but it will also be incredibly joyous.
“Let’s hope we can bring back that same joy and feel good about putting women and girls on the map like we did 23 years ago.”
In Bend It Like Beckham, Nagra plays Jasminder, a teenager besotted with soccer sensation David Beckham — then a player with Manchester United and the England men’s squad — who is determined to play soccer against the wishes of her parents. Knightley plays her friend Jules, who also likes to land the ball at the back of the net.
Jonathan Rhys Meyers was cast as the fictional Hounslow Harriers team manager.
Chadha’s latest film Christmas Karma starring Eva Longoria, Kunal Nayyar, Hugh Bonneville Charithra Chandran and Danny Dyer, will be released by True Brit Entertainment in UK and Ireland on November 14. Negotiations for other territories including the U.S., Australia and India are being finalized.
The post Breaking Baz: Gurinder Chadha Reveals ‘Bend It Like Beckham’ Sequel In Works With U.S. Women’s Soccer Manager “Collaborating” & Hope For Original Cast’s Return appeared first on Deadline.
