Kenyan-born director Gurinda Chada is most famous for the hit films Bhaji On The Beach and Bend It Like Beckham, which explore the lives of British Asians. She started her career as a radio journalist and directed a number of award winning documentaries for UK television, before moving into features. Global caught up with her as she prepared to present the prizes to the young filmmakers who won this year’s Commonwealth Vision Awards.
Global: How, when and why did you decide that you wanted to become a filmmaker?
Chada: I decided during the riots of the 1980s when second generation British Asians, African and Caribbean people stood up and started to claim their Britishness. It was a turbulent time and I became very aware of the acute importance of the media in constructing negative, or positive images of us. I wanted to do something about it so I became a news journalist. In the event, I found news too constricting, so I moved into films. With films, you can create new worlds, new characters, new realities. , and I hope I played a part in that.
In 1989 you made I’m British But…, which was an examination of the complex issue of identity for young British Asians. What, if anything, has changed for young people of Asian descent over the intervening 21 years?
There has been a massive change. Some young British Asians now have never experienced racism in any form. Some are extremely successful and that is across the political and professional spectrum. One thing I didn’t anticipate was that we would see such a rise in the more traditional or fundamentalist views among young Muslims, but again this is a way of asserting an identity and feeling that they belong to a community.
Would you encourage young people today to take up filmmaking as a career?
Absolutely. I cannot believe I get paid to make films. It is just fantastic. Making films is a way of communicating with the rest of the world – your innermost thoughts, politics, cultural views. You can do so much and you can make it entertaining at the same time. Filmmaking is a higher form of politics.
In an incredibly competitive field, what would be your advice to someone seeking to make an impact?
It is incredibly competitive and expensive. If anyone is seriously considering going into filmmaking, they have to be really clear who they are making the film for and why they are doing it. Filmmaking is all about vision, focus, having an opinion and being passionate abut communicating it to others.
You were born in Kenya to Indian parents and raised in Britain. What does the Commonwealth mean to you?
Well, in some ways it still has pejorative connotations for me. It is a reminder of the Empire. But I believe that is all the more reason to reclaim it. It’s like my OBE. I could have said no to it, but again, I thought it was important to reclaim it. My grandparents lived under Empire, so I know it would be hard for them to understand. But the Commonwealth is a different thing now. What I like about it is that it is a collection of very different countries with their own cultures and identities, but which also share a common language and culture.
What did you do yesterday?
I spent the entire morning at the US Embassy trying to get a visa for our Nepalese nanny to come to America with us at Christmas. I have 3-year-old twins and their grandparents are Japanese-American and white American. We haven’t had a Christmas with them yet. I was supposed to go to a lunch at the Daily Telegraph but missed it because I was stuck at the Embassy. Then, in the afternoon, I went home and played with the twins. We played with the dolls’ house, did a treasure hunt and then read stories before bed.
How would you describe your home?
My home is my sanctuary. It is a wonderful, beautiful, modern mews house. It was built about 20 years ago by a Japanese lady, who used feng shui proportions, so it feels very good. I love it.
What do you do to relax?
My favourite form of relaxation is massage. It used to be crap TV. In fact, now I sometimes combine the two – that’s the ideal.
Who would you most like to meet?
My PC answer is Barack Obama. My non- PC answer is Bruce Springsteen.
What is the best piece of advice you have ever been given?
The best piece of advice was given to me by my A-level sociology teacher, Barry Sedgewick. He told me to always be aware that there are different perspectives on the same issue – the traditional conservative or fundamentalist perspective, the liberal or phenomenologist view, and the Marxist view. If you always bear these three angles in mind, then you’ll get the full picture.
