On the road, promoting her film Bend It Like Beckham since June, director Gurinder Chadha is on a brief stop-over in Mumbai where she has meetings set up with some of Bollywood’s hottest names in acting for her next film.Although it’s clear she’s not interested in making Bollywood films (‘‘too limiting’’), she’s currently in the process of putting into production an English-language musical, to be filmed in India, UK, and US. ‘‘There are roles for Indians in the film, and there’s a whole bunch of Indian actors whom I respect enormously, who I’d love to work with someday, she says, revealing she’s already in the process of talking to actors Aamir Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, Amitabh Bachchan, Hema Malini, Madhuri Dixit, Kajol, and Aishwarya Rai.The thirty-something director says: ‘‘It feels fantastic to open up trade papers across the world where the film has opened, and to see that we’ve notched up another million.’’ ‘‘People are relating to the film across various ethnic cultures,’’ says Hollywood-based producer Deepak Nayar, whose Kintop Pictures co-produced the film with Chadha. ‘‘We’ve had some flattering responses from Maoris in New Zealand, Koreans, and people across the world,’’ he says.Next up, Beckham will open in the US, where Fox Searchlight is committed to distribute it. ‘‘They’re keen to launch it in the US with an opening at the Toronto Film Festival, but it’s being worked out,’’ says Nayar. Two test screenings in the US by the National Research Group have revealed there is immense potential for the film to appeal to Americans as well.According to Nayar, the movie, which cost below US $5 m to make, has taken in over US $11 m in the UK, close to US $6 m in Australia, approximately US $1 m in Singapore, several crores of rupees in India, and is doing big business in South Africa.‘‘We’re told it’s the most successful British-financed independent film with multi-cultural interests,’’ Chadha reveals. Prompted by the success of the film in the UK, the director says the British Government wishes to involve her in efforts by the Department of Trade and Industries. ‘‘I received an encouraging note and a bottle of wine from British PM Tony Blair telling me how much he enjoyed the film,’’ she reveals excitedly.
