Image © Courtesy of Park Circus/Channel 4
FILM 2.
BHAJI ON THE BEACH (1993)
DIRECTED BY GURINDA CHADHA
25TH ANNIVERSARY | #FEMALEGAZE Season | FRated | Directed by Women
Screened 26 April at Deptford Cinema
Tickets: https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/event/FGELEG
Women in film are excited to be hosting a female gaze season of key past and present films at Deptford community cinema that explore women and family. In these films the focus is on groups of women: families, intergenerational relationships, daughters and mothers, and relationships with men. A struggle for self-definition is a driving force in all the films.
‘Bhaji on the Beach was a surprise commercial and critical hit. It gathered numerous international awards, was nominated for a Bafta and won Chadha the Evening Standard Award for ‘Newcomer to British Cinema.’ Chadha’s earlier documentary I’m British But … (1989) used wry humour to examine notions of identity amongst Asians in far flung parts of the UK. It demonstrated a rare, quirky talent, bold enough to blow away conventional thinking, explore taboo subjects, and allow a wider world into the interior lives of British Asian women.’ (BFI Screen Online)
With the prospect of making a British-Asian film, co-writers Gurinder Chadha and Meera Syal felt they needed to cram in as many issues that affected the contemporary British-Asian woman. So an unexpected pregnancy, feminism, divorces, domestic abuse and racism are explored. Bhaji on the Beach is observational comedy with the quirky moments such as the old women flavoring their chips with masala spice to showcasing the old school British seaside holiday attractions. With the added contemporary twists of Blackpool’s risqué entertainment that the women get caught up in, this film aims to explore a British-Asian experience. However, to do this Chadha knows she has to address racism in 1990’s Britain as well as confront the clash of first and second-generation immigrants, and she does this head on. The women each have their own issues and personalities that any viewer can relate to or empathize with. At the core of Bhaji on the Beach is the exploration of culture, family and change.
This is a landmark film for Chadha and British cinema.
Gurinder Chadha went on to direct: Bend It Like Beckham (2002), Bride and Prejudice (2004), Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging (2008), and the comedy film It’s a Wonderful Afterlife (2010). Her latest feature is the partition drama Viceroy’s House (2017).
The Female Gaze Season programmed by Women in Film SE15
FILM 1. WUTHERING HEIGHTS (2011) – A Film by Andrea Arnold
Thursday 19 APRIL | 7.30pm (doors 7pm)
FILM 2. BHAJI ON THE BEACH (1993) – Directed by Gurinder Chadha
Thursday 26 April | 7.30pm (doors 7pm)
FILM 3. DAUGHTERS OF THE DUST (1991) – A Film by Julie Dash
Sunday 13 May | 2.30pm (doors 2pm)
FILM 4. THE SECOND COMING (2014) – A Film by Debbie Tucker-Green
Sunday 10 June | 2.30pm (doors 2pm)
FILM 5. THE ARBOR (2010) – A Film by Clio Barnard
Thursday 21 June | 7.30pm (doors 7pm)
Take Two 