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All the time we see her intertwining her love for football with her identity and culture. When doing chores, she bends a football around the washing line.

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She lets her mum teach her how to cook traditional Indian food, but does knee-ups with the cabbage. Jess creates and chooses her own cultural identity, and sport is a huge part of that. She is also among the characters we see navigating through British society with a home life so different to that culture. When Jess does play, she comes alive - and they are some of her happiest moments in the film. It's one reason the film is so relatable for anyone whose parents have wanted them to focus on education - or getting a job, or married - instead of playing sport. It reminds us of the power of sportīecause Jess' parents don't want her to play football, the film is as much about generational culture clashes as it is about British and Indian culture clashes.

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Two decades on, of course, some of the best American players come to play in the Women's Super League, which is among the best professional women's leagues in the world.

'Not really here, but you can in America - they've got a pro-league with new stadiums and everything,' she says. When Jess is told by her friend and team-mate Jules - played by Keira Knightley - that she wants to be a professional footballer, her reaction is of the time. It also shows just how accessible football is, and one simple conversation shows just how much the women's game in the UK has developed in the past 20 years. She had a huge impact on audiences as she shared the same lived experiences - both negative and positive - as many girls and women who played (and play) sport in the UK.īut the film also uses football to navigate other coming-of-age themes including sexuality, with Jess' best friend Tony coming out to her by saying: 'No, I really like Beckham.' Jess was the closest thing to a sporting role model we'd ever had, and would have for years to come. When director Gurinder Chadha saw a photograph of Wright wearing a union jack, it made her think about what Britishness really meant in the late 1990s, and she decided to write a film about the 'evolving concept of Britishness'.įor many British-South Asian girls, the film was an important moment as it gave us Jesminder Bhamra. The film was inspired by former Arsenal and England striker Ian Wright. But when you look a bit deeper, it explores much more. On the surface, Bend It Like Beckham is a film about a football-loving teenager from a British-Indian Sikh family in London.

Listen to 5 Live Sport: All About Bend It Like Beckham, 20 years on.

Watch Bend It Like Beckham: 20 Years On on BBC iPlayer.

Robert Bateman, Zachary Scott Carothers, Freddie Gorman, John Baldwin Gourley, John Hill, Brian Holland, Eric Andrew Howk, Kyle O'Quin, Jason Wade Sechrist, Asa TacconeĪn interactive version of the video allows users to collect a set of links to resources including donation sites for Planned Parenthood and the ACLU, custom-designed protest posters, and stencil kits for resistance graffiti.Here are five reasons the film is still iconic 20 years on. This video is our way of saying that we’re all in this together.” Gurley says “Trying to write music that would help people feel they’re not alone, even if they’re angry or feeling lost. The video has clips from Alex Jones conspiracy website InfoWars. That’s why we started to play music - get in a van, go play and have a good time.' It’s cool it connects with so many people. If I’m being honest, I had no idea what it meant, because we’ve never been near.

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In an interview, when asked 'How did you hear the song cracked the charts?', John Gurley says, 'I saw it on Twitter.It was featured in advertisementsįor the Apple iPad Pro, Vitamin Water, and YouTube TV. (The band faced some lawsuits from this). The song has interpolations from The Marvelettes.The song reached number one on the Alternative Songs chart and became their first entry on the Hot 100. 'Feel It Still' is a song by American rock band Portugal.Your love is an abyss for my heart to eclipse, now Ooh woo, I'm a rebel just for kicks, yeah Kids in the middle, move over 'til it falls (Ooh woo, I'm a rebel just for kicks, now) Might've had your fill, but you feel it still Leave her with a baby sitter, mama, call the grave digger Think I'll dust 'em off, put 'em back up on the shelf

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