‘Bend It Like Beckham’
Bend It Like Beckham is, without a doubt, a modern classic. The 2002 spunky feminist comedy follows young Jess’s (Parminder Nagra) journey from shy Anglo-Indian nerd girl just playing soccer in the park to hotshot soccer star. The key to this transformation? Her new best friend, Jules (Keira Knightley). Tomboy Jules encourages Jess to join her women’s team and pushes her to skip out on her Indian family to secure an overseas scholarship. Rumor has it director Gurinder Chadha almost shot it as a lesbian romance, but changed her mind at the risk of offending audiences.