Jess was the closest thing to a sporting role model we'd ever had, and would have for years to come. But in the case of Bend It Like Beckham, it, if anything, actually undersells the film’s significance. When Bend It Like Beckham came out in 2002, women’s football wasn’t a professional sport in the UK or Australia. Like I said, there is nothing shocking and surprising about the screenplay which manages to throw in every conceivable barrier for our hero to overcome. Following Bend It Like Beckham, she embarked upon a solo career with her debut album Open, as well as featuring on the Band Aid 20 re-recording of Do They Know It’s Christmas.

Beckham went on to play for Real Madrid, LA Galaxy, AC Milan and Paris Saint-Germain, stepping down as England captain in 2006. She had a huge impact on audiences as she shared the same lived experiences - both negative and positive - as many girls and women who played (and play) sport in the UK.Kher was nominated for a Bafta for his performance in the 2018 BBC TV sitcom The Boy With The Topknot. Although Jess's parents (mainly her mother) forbid her to join the team, she plays behind their backs, claiming to have a part-time job when she is actually at football practice. In a sleepy suburb of west London under Heathrow’s flight path, Jess (Parminder Nagra) can’t get enough of football.

Eight for a predictable sports-based movie where the lead overcomes every obstacle thrown at her and triumphs at the end just like every other sports-based movie?

It also features "Baddest Ruffest" by Backyard Dog, the aria Nessun Dorma, from Puccini's Turandot and excerpts from dance band Basement Jaxx. Memes and gifs of the film still circulate on social media, whether it's the celebrations of the Hounslow Harriers or the famous Desi wall of defenders in the illustration above. And, eventually, Jess has the rules bent for her as her father allows her to sneak out of her sister's wedding to play a game for Hounslow Harriers in front of an American scout. After Bend It Like Beckham brought Punjabi culture to the fore, the song was released as a stand-alone single a few months later.

The free-kick wins the game for Hounslow Harriers and is seen by an American scout, which leads to that football scholarship and a future the audience hope will make her parents proud. Chadha had somehow managed to inject Punjabi culture into the world of professional football and Brooklyn hip-hop. In 2002 when it came out, Beckham was still at Manchester United, where he would make 265 appearances in total, and current captain of the England team.Lewis and Melanie Blatt founded All Saints in 1993, before being joined by sisters Natalie and Nicole Appleton later on, and had a first taste of success with the Brit award-winning single Never Ever. In 2009, Panjabi was cast as a regular in US legal drama The Good Wife with Julianna Margulies, where she remained for six seasons in the popular show as mysterious personal investigator Kalinda Sharma.

Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times noted that the film "was really full of easy humor, an impeccable sense of milieu that is the result of knowing the culture intimately enough to poke fun at it while understanding its underlying integrity. Well, no actually because although "Bend It Like Beckham" is as original as a boy-band cover version, it is still a surprisingly enjoyable film which somehow manages to avoid becoming another chick-flick cliché. She moved on to Blind Spot afterwards, as well as appearing in Brooklyn Nine-Nine, I Know This Much Is True and HBO comedy Run with Domhnall Gleeson. When Jess' coach Joe tries to persuade her parents things have changed, her dad says: "None of our boys are in any of the football leagues.In nearly every scene of the film, we see Jess bend rules from her family and community so she can live out her dreams. Meanwhile, the film’s main – and best – actor, Parminder Nagra, bounced around straight-to-TV films for a few years before landing recurring roles in ER and Agents of S.