by MATTHEW HAYS

"When I was growing up, soccer was seen as very aggressive and mainly for hooligans," filmmaker Gurinder Chadha tells me, while reflecting on the evolution of the game in the U.K. And she would know something about shifts in attitudes towards soccer, seeing as her latest feature, Bend It Like Beckham, has become one of the most successful British films in history.

The film has one young second-generation Indian immigrant lass, portrayed by newcomer Parminder Nagra, desperate to play soccer, just like her hero, Brit soccer star David Beckham. Sadly, her traditional Indian parents will hear nothing of Nagra taking on such a non-traditional and un-feminine hobby (let alone vocation). Nagra is forced to pursue her passion for Britain's national sport clandestinely, hiding her cleats and shorts, pretending to do shifts in a London HMV shop while instead heading off to practice. Meanwhile, her family is preparing for her older sister's wedding ceremony, something Nagra is expected to be a major part of. Wedding plans soon clash with crucial tournaments, and Nagra is left to angst over some delicate family choices.

We are the world (cup)

Part comedy, part family melodrama, part soccer suspenser, Bend It Like Beckham is one of those pleasing films that manages to be endearing without being cloying. It's a very tough balancing act, but one director and co-writer Chadha had in mind from the start. "It's really funny to see how soccer has changed in Britain," recalls Chadha, whose previous films include Bhaji on the Beach and What's Cooking. "It's taken on such a different quality in recent years. In 1998 I was struck by how important soccer had become to everyone in Britain, as they were transfixed by the World Cup. Everyone would rally around in the pub and watch - what a unifying thing it turned out to be! Men, women, black, white, Chinese, Indian - everyone was out to support England. I thought to myself, 'What if I did a film about this and put an Indian girl in the middle of it.'"

Chadha says she was also struck by a '99 Women's World Cup match she caught in L.A. "It was amazing to see these young women athletes. They were full of confidence and loving the game. I had never been in that situation before. I wanted to capture that same sense of celebration in the film."

Chadha plays the sad scenes off the happy ones well, managing to convey her characters' hardships while never veering off into the maudlin. Still, a number of critics are calling the film "feel-good," a label the filmmaker says she has mixed feelings about. "I was really trying to avoid sentimentalism. What I wanted to do was create a film that was honest and truthful about growing up in that part of England. Politically, socially, the film is specifically about that part of London, West London. It's something people from there recognize right away. I used West Londonspeak, though I toned it down a bit so people from outside could understand it better."

I remember papa

Though the film does follow in the tradition of other Brit films about people overcoming hardship and ultimately arriving at uplifting points of euphoria - think The Full Monty and Billy Elliot - Chadha has kept her characters real enough that things don't ever feel too forced. "I don't think there's anything that's corny here. It's based on reality and truth, and I think that's why it's played so well around the world.

"Feel-good often applies to quirky romantic comedies. Sure, I wanted people to feel good, but I also wanted them to feel that they were in my world. The father character is pivotal - and that character is based on my own dad." Sadly, Chadha's own father died a couple of years ago, and never saw the film. But her mother does have a hilarious cameo, in which a roomful of elder relatives all whip out their cell phones upon hearing that annoying electronic ring. "My mom and my aunts are all retired, so whenever I need them to be in a scene, they're thrilled. I just send off a car in the morning to pick them up and they spend the day on the set. They love it."

When asked about her own inspirations, Chadha reaches back to darker independent features about the immigrant-in-Britain experience, director Stephen Frears' and screenwriter Hanif Kureishi's astonishing '84 collaboration, My Beautiful Laundrette. "That film really blew me away. I thought, 'This is fantastic.' I didn't think I could dream of doing something like that though. I thought I had to go to film school. Or be a guy. So I did TV instead. Then I realized I could do it, just in my own way."

Casting Karma

Chadha credits a great deal of the success of Bend It Like Beckham to her cast, a group she carefully assembled. "This is one of the most critical aspects of my job as director, without a doubt," she says. "Don't know if it's instinct, or what. It's something I do take a lot of time with." Newcomer Nagra is joined by Keira Knightley, her soccer buddy and best friend; Jonathan Rhys Meyers (Velvet Goldmine), her Irish coach who also becomes a love interest; and Bollywood actor Anupam Kher plays her father, in his first role outside of India ever. Rounding out the cast is Juliet Stevenson, playing Knightley's somewhat clueless, uptight and overbearing mother. Stevenson clearly loves every moment of playing the maternal figure - complete with massive panic attacks that her daughter's soccer fixation must mean she's a lesbian - adorning herself with bad outfits and painted nails. "I told her to go to a few nail salons and watch people having their manicures," reveals Chadha. "That was her research, getting her nails done.

"Being Indian, I suppose I think fate has a lot to do with everything, including the casting. Things can change. People you had initially had in mind may fall through or be tied up. But now I can't really imagine anyone else playing any of those other roles. I guess I'll keep thinking that until I make a really bad casting choice, but it hasn't happened yet. Most actors, anyway, are excited when you give them a decent script and a good opportunity. Most of them don't get a chance to work to their full potential."

For Chadha, the overwhelming success of Bend It Like Beckham has led to a double surprise. One, that the film has done so well in its native land means "Britain really, really has come a long way," she says. "For this film to have been so appealing says a lot about the U.K. It's about a young Indian girl but has always been seen as an appealing British comedy." As well, that the film has had such incredible legs, taking it around the globe to box-office scores in Australia and India too. "I suppose the family dynamics are something everyone can relate to, because the film has played in really disparate countries and everyone has had similar reactions. It's about balancing two cultures and heritages. That migrant experience today is far more common I suppose."

Chadha says she's been overjoyed to see the film with young audiences who are all geared up in soccer wear, decked out just for her film. "Some of the children will ask the sweetest questions about the film and the characters. We don't always think they are, but kids are aware of race. I think it's very important to show them the characters in three dimensions."

And Bend It Like Beckham has had an unintended - though welcome - effect on the international sport scene. It seems the film has inspired women in India to start a Beckham Women's League for girl soccer enthusiasts there. "It's true - they started up the league simply because of the movie. The only reason I knew about it was because there was a BBC report on the league that I caught.

"I certainly didn't expect that to happen!"

Bend It Like Beckham opens Friday, March 28

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