The main character in her modern retelling of Charles Dickens’ classic is an Indian Tory who despises immigrants.
Due to its modern twist, filmmaker Gurinder Chadha has been finding it difficult to secure funding for her most recent project, which is based on Charles Dickens’s “A Christmas Carol.” Her Scrooge is “an Indian Tory who hates refugees,” even though her new film “is close to Dickens’ original themes with the cost of living crisis in Britain.” She even discussed the movie with Rishi Sunak, the prime minister of the UK. She also said that she did not have to “make him look bad” in response to his request that she not “make him look bad.”
It remains unclear whether Sunak’s “scrooge” draws inspiration from the Prime Minister of Indian origin, but she did a great deal of work to get the contentious immigration bill passed by the House of Commons, which permits the British government to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda.
The “Bend It Like Beckham” director addressed the status of the nation’s film industry on January 23 in front of a Culture, Media, and Sport Committee, where she disclosed her financial situation to the UK Parliament. The 64-year-old, who described himself as “a hugely respected beloved director,” admitted to the Parliament that it had been challenging to get the movie off the ground. According to a Deadline article, she was informed that her new movie was “not commercial and was small,” which “changes everything in terms of how you get it financed.”
She acknowledged that she experienced difficulties with her films and attributed them “partly” to the Indian lead character. She continued, “I have always had that with the films I have made, but I have always stuck with my guns.” “I get rejected by [financiers and distributors] who ought to know better, and it makes me sad.” When asked if this funding battle is “naked racism” by committee member John Nicolson, she responded, “There is a perception that people do not want to see a film that culturally does not reflect them,” according to the Deadline report. “Having a white cast will ultimately make making films much easier than having a cast of colour.”
She used “Blinded by the Light,” her previous movie from 2019, as an illustration of a culturally specific movie that did well both critically and commercially. The documentary about a Bruce Springsteen-loving British-Pakistani journalist in Luton “should have been easier to make,” she said. The film ultimately cost £6.5M ($8.3M) and brought in $17M at Sundance, according to a report from Deadline.
Bhaji on the Beach (1993), Bend It Like Beckham (2002), Bride and Prejudice (2004), Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging (2008), It is a Wonderful Afterlife (2010), Viceroy’s House (2017), and Blinded by the Light (2019) are the films for which Chadha is most well-known. She is also working on a sequel to “Bend It Like Beckham” and her next Disney Princess film, which features an Indian lead.
Actress Alia Bhatt is rumoured to have been chosen for the lead role. The rumour started with a now-viral picture of the two taken during Chadha’s recent trip to India. “Very excited about that process of taking my British independent film knowledge and turning it into a film that will always be like a Disney princess film but always have that kind of British sensibility at heart,” she said in reference to the Disney movie, as she addressed the Parliament.
