Gurinder Chadha is 'woman of achievement'

Acclaimed filmmaker Gurinder Chadha has won one of the top honours at the Asian Women of Achievement Awards in London.

The director, whose Bend It Like Beckham was a smash hit in various parts of the world, earning more than £11 million in Britain alone, received the chairman's award at a function on May 10.

"Her work universally transcends the Asian boundary," said Pinky Lilani, chairman and founder of the awards. "She has reached a summit on both the technical and creative levels."

Speaking on the occasion, Chadha said, "There are few Asian women in the film industry, but I don't think it has worked against me.

"It is difficult for anyone to raise money to make films, so I don't think I found it harder than anyone else. But I am finding it a lot easier now that Bend It Like Beckham has done so well."

About her acclaimed film, Chadha said, "The film was based on my parents. I wanted to show people like me on screen. I just hope that women want to see these stories and that they will be inspired to do what they want. It is about being a role model and being visible so that women are encouraged to do well.

She added, "There is now an Indian football league for women called the Beckham League."

Chadha's next project is an Indian musical version of Pride and Prejudice (called Bride and Prejudice) in which Bollywood actress Aishwarya Rai plays the lead role.

The daughter of an ice-cream salesman, Chadha was born in Kenya but grew up in Southall, west London. After taking a degree in development studies at the University of East Anglia, she expected to work for a charity, but became interested in the role of the media and in how the camera worked. So she found a job as a news reporter.

She began her career at BBC Radio, before moving into research for television. Links she forged with the British Film Institute led to her working on her first film.

"I saw My Beautiful Laundrette and was inspired by it. I wanted to make something like that," she said.

Chadha has made a number of award-winning documentaries for the British Film Institute, BBC and Channel 4, many of them with an Asian theme.

One of her early notable successes was the 1989 documentary, I'm English But.... It followed a group of young English Asians whose views were very different from those of their parents.

Her first feature film, Bhaji On The Beach, made in 1994, told the story of a group of Asian women on a trip to Blackpool.

In 2000, she made What's Cooking, the story of four neighbouring families in Los Angeles at Thanksgiving.

PTI