‘Zohran Mamdani is a complete New Yorker; a strong mom in Mira Nair is a big influence on him’: Gurinder Chaddha 

Totally true! Every movie I make, I make because I don’t see us represented. Christmas is a big thing if you grow up in England. My favourite Christmas movie is It’s A Wonderful Life (1946) by Frank Capra. The Christmas season starts for me when I watch that movie. It’s a beautiful film. I’m so inspired by it. It’s about a man who’s lost and is trying to find if his life has any meaning. It takes place around Christmas. I cry my eyes out every year I watch it. So, a few years ago, I thought I wanted to make a film like that, which makes me feel like that every Christmas and makes me really value what life is. I just knew I wanted to make my Scrooge Indian. So, from there, I made this story which is global and across boundaries with a very international cast.

This is an adaptation of A Christmas Carol. You’ve previously adapted Jane Austen’s 1813 novel Pride and Prejudice into Bride and Prejudice (2004), and Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s 1977 book Mistress of Spices into The Mistress of Spices (2005), both starring Aishwarya Rai. Who was a tougher author to adapt?

Both of them were equally good to adapt because they have such strong points of view. When you adapt a book into a film, you have to really respect what the author is trying to say. What’s the main takeaway? Once you find that, you can start making the characters come into your world. You can never force it. Like I wanted to make sure I ended up making a film that Charles Dickens or Jane Austen would like. You have to honour the original author. Charles Dickens was a manic depressive. He wrote A Christmas Carol when he was having a particularly bad time. He was writing this story to search what was good about mankind. Is there any hope? That I think is the beauty of his story. And that’s why it lasts. We’re still asking all those questions.

Your Scrooge calls refugees humbugs, but he’s a refugee himself. He’d migrated to London from Uganda. Right?

Yes, at the turn of the century, Indians were taken to Uganda to build railways. Many settled there. In 1972, Idi Amin (then-President) got very angry with the British, and decided to expel all the Asians. That was his way of having a go with the British. People don’t know that story. They just know Indians had to go. I’ve put that in the film. So, Sood doesn’t want to leave Africa, but he comes to Britain and faces racism and hardships. Then he discovers money can protect him from the harsh realities of life. So, he starts worshipping money. When we meet him, he’s very closed to the rest of the world. And then it becomes quite close to Dickens’ original story.

You also migrated from Kenya in Africa to England when you were just two years old. Have you seen your parents struggle in the new land?

Of course! Bend It Like Beckham (2002) is my mum and dad’s story. My dad struggled a lot when he came to Britain. It was very hard to get work as a Sardar. He had to cut his hair. The thing now for me is we have a third generation — my children. I made Christmas Karma as a way of empowering not only them, but also their British white friends who don’t understand race and culture the same way as I did while growing up. It’s different now. A lot of kids of my son’s age group don’t see race and colour in the same way. Of course, there are still racists and people who are politically motivated to pick on immigrants. But how they see it is very interesting.

Why did you cast Kunal Nayyar, 44, as your Scrooge? Isn’t he quite young for that part?

I thought he was of a good age. I’d met him a couple of times. I thought he was slightly melancholic figure. I just saw Scrooge in him. He looked like the character to me. I don’t know I can’t explain it. He himself said, “No, I’m too young! I can’t do it!” (laughs). And then I had to persuade him. When I talked to him, the actor in him got really excited. And then my God, he did so much research and work with the history. The journey of working with him as an actor was phenomenal. Because most people know him from The Big Bang Theory (he played Raj Koothrappalli). That character is so different from what he’s playing here. You’ll forget The Big Bang Theory when you see him here. You’ll see a very consummate and nuanced performance. He makes you angry, laugh, and then sad. It’s very moving.

Kunal Nayyar as Sood in Christmas Karma.

The three ghosts of your film, except maybe Billy Porter, but especially Hugh Bonneville and Eva Longoria, look unrecognizable. How did you cast them?

I think that was the reason Hugh Bonneville wanted to do the film. He wanted to play a character that looked very different. He played Mountbatten in Viceroy’s House (2017) and the Lord in Downton Abbey. So, he liked the idea of doing something totally crazy with me. It was very kind of him to come and support me. With Eva, I was having lunch with her. She said, “I want to work with you. What are you working on?” I said I’m doing a ghost story. So, she said, “Hello? I’m Mexican! We own ghosts. We have a festival — Day of the Dead (on November 2).” I realized she’s absolutely right. Why can’t a ghost be Mexican? So, her outfit is from the Day of the Dead. I thought that was a very cool way to go with the ghost. Nobody else could’ve thought of that.

Hugh Bonneville and Eva Longoria in Christmas Karma.

It’s also 20 years of The Mistress of Spices. Do you have any memories of working with Aishwarya Rai?

Definitely! It was beautiful to shoot in Thekkady, Kerala. Oh my God! What a location! It was one of the most beautiful places of the world. Working with Zohra Sehgal was also amazing. Working with Aishwarya on two films was wonderful because she was so different in both of them. We were in so many countries together for so long in Bride and Prejudice. She knows Bollywood obviously. I was trying to do a Bollywood fusion film. It was great she could encompass that role so well in terms of the singing and dancing, but at the same time, emoting in English. That was her first time. The film is super popular abroad. Every wedding I go to, they play the “Balle Balle” song. And in America, a lot of young girls watch the movie at sleepovers. A lot of girls have told me they learnt the song and dance at the pajama parties of Bride and Prejudice. So, it’s amazing how far that film has travelled.

Gurinder Chadha and Aishwarya Rai.

Since you were born in Kenya, and your contemporary Mira Nair now lives in Uganda, have you ever bonded on that African connect?

What’s interesting is that both Mira Nair and Deepa Mehta are Delhiites. They’re from Delhi, so can live anywhere in the world. Deepa is in Canada. Mira is in New York and Uganda. But their perceptions come from Delhi. But I’m British, and my sensibility is completely NRI, if you like. It’s wonderful Mira is so comfortable, whether she’s in Delhi, New York or Uganda. I’m very proud to see her son Zohran Mamdani doing so well as well. He’s a complete New Yorker. (Zohran Mamdani becoming the mayor of New York City) We never saw that coming! Having a strong mum is certainly an influence on him.

But speaking of his influence on her, she revealed that her son encouraged her to pick The Namesake (2006) over Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005). Have your kids also influenced your creative decisions?

Not yet (laughs). My kids feel the film takes their mum away from them. They’re in that zone right now. In fact, my daughter sings in Christmas Karma, and she also has a small role. My son also has a cameo. So, this is a family film. My dog Babloo Boba is also in the film. I’m so happy he made it to the poster (laughs). I keep getting drawn to making the kind of films I want to make. I keep getting offered Hollywood films, but for some reason, they don’t quite fit the bill essentially. I’m super happy because in the end, I’ve built a legacy of films that even after I’m dead and gone, there’ll be people who’ll be studying them for their cultural, social, race, gender, and LGBTQ+ significance. Even now, so many colleges in America and Europe have me in their film courses. They have their own lives. It’s A Wonderful Life was a huge flop when it came out, and now the whole world reveres it.

Anupam Kher in Bend It Like Beckham.

Anupam Kher has a flourishing Hollywood career now, but do you remember if he struggled with the language in Bend It Like Beckham?

He was excited when he came on set, but he was definitely trying to find the right tone. The first day he came on set, he was into very big acting. We laugh about it now. I said, “Anupam ji, oh my god! You’re doing Hindi film acting! Just be quiet.” It’s louder to be quiet than to be loud. The second note I gave him was to not use his hands so much. So, you’ll see in every scene, Anupam has his hands in the pocket or he has them folded. So, he used just his face. When he watched it, it’s great he realized that if the wife and the daughter are loud characters, him being the quiet one actually takes up a lot of screen presence.

Is the story of Bend It Like Beckham — an NRI girl’s aspiration to become a footballer — similar to yours as an NRI woman in filmmaking?

Yes, of course. That’s why I chose football because it’s the most male-dominated sport. And then the title is ‘Bend It.’ Beckham bends the ball, but that also refers to how we bend the rules to get what we want. We don’t break the rules, but bend them. We negotiate culturally what our parents’ wishes are and what our wishes are, and then we find our middle ground. That’s why the film touched so many people because we’re all trying to negotiate that.

Also Read: Priyanka Chopra makes musical comeback with desi version of Last Christmas; netizens call it ‘cringe’. Watch

Finally, what’s the status of the sequel to Bend It Like Beckham?

I’m just looking at how to best tell the story. We’ll definitely explore the characters from back then and see how they’re doing now. Once I know how I’m doing it, then everybody will know.

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