Gurinder Chadha on Bend It Like Beckham sequel and new film Christmas Karma

What does Bollywood have to do with Christmas?

I asked this question to film director Gurinder Chadha and the answer turned out to be quite a lot.

“Bollywood is all about singing, dancing and joy,” he said. “So for me, I think the idea of ​​making a festive Christmas movie with singing and dancing is a natural idea for this time of year.”

And that’s exactly what Chadha, best known as the director of the 2002 film Bend It Like Beckham, just did.

The new musical movie Christmas Karma, with a cast consisting of Kunal Nayyar, Hugh Bonneville, Pixie Lott, Boy George, Danny Dyer, Charithra Chandran and Eva Longoria, is the Bollywood adaptation of Charles Dickens’ classic A Christmas Carol.

But Chadha says it’s also a “British film” that celebrates a wide range of musical traditions.

The 65-year-old actor, who wrote and directed the film, is also working on the sequel to Bend It Like Beckham. this summer, confirmed to BBC It is stated that there is a revival.

Speaking to me in a central London hotel earlier this week, he noted that he felt the pressure to do everything right.

“I’m working on the characters. These are big boots to fill,” he said. “I don’t want to rush it. The last thing I want is for people to say ‘it’s not as good as the original’.”

First published in 1843, A Christmas Carol tells the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, a miser who hates Christmas but is transformed after a series of ghostly visitations.

In Christmas Karma, we meet a modern Scrooge named Mr. Sood who embarks on a similar journey of redemption.

Nayyar, known for his role as Raj on The Big Bang Theory, plays Mr. Sood but says he looks nothing like Scrooge in real life. “I love Christmas,” he tells me. “Who doesn’t love Christmas? Of course I love Christmas.”

The actor said he always celebrated Christmas while growing up in New Delhi. “Indians have a nice reception to celebrate all festivals,” he said.

The first ghost to visit Mr Sood is his former partner Jacob Marley, played by Paddington and Downton Abbey star Hugh Bonneville.

He was also visited by American singer and actor Billy Porter, who played the role of the Ghost of Christmas Present.

Porter says that until this film, he was “definitely” more of a Scrooge.

But Bonneville claims to be a big Christmas fan. He also rejects suggestions that November is too early for a festival film to be released in cinemas.

“I used to be Bah Humbug about it and want the Christmas decorations to go on until Boxing Day, but I’m starting earlier and earlier,” she said.

“Although I am wary of some Christmas songs being played too early, I think they should be banned.”

On a side note, I had to ask if he was planning on going to Bonneville to see it. new Paddington musical. “I’ll go next week,” he told me. “I can’t wait to see the equally timeless story told.”

In Christmas Karma, Mr Sood is depicted among 28,000 Ugandan Asian refugees Came to England in 1972 After being given 90 days by military dictator Idi Amin to leave the African country.

Later in his life, we see that Mr Sood does not care about refugees seeking asylum in the UK. “The rich always forget their roots,” says an eyewitness.

But guided by the ghosts of Christmas played by Eva Longoria, Billy Porter and Boy George, Mr. Sood reconnects with his past.

Chadha says the inspiration for his Scrooge came from a “Grinch-like” family member who criticized them for celebrating Christmas. “‘I don’t know why y’all are doing this. You’re not white,'” he says he’ll tell them.

He later realized that, like Mr Sood, he too “carried the trauma” of having to leave his country as a child.

But he also says he is inspired by some politicians.

“It also made sense to me to get Sood to say some right-wing things, because as I was writing this [during lockdown]”We had a government with members from the Asian community who had a similar background,” he said.

For Leo Suter, who plays Mr. Sood’s underpaid employee Bob Crachett, there’s an important message he hopes people take away from the film.

“Dickens’ work has endured for so long… because of the message at its core. The original text is that empathy, morality and generosity are better than being Scrooge and being a miser,” he said.

“And what the film does so well is completely bring that spirit to a very complex and nuanced discussion of immigration and racial events that are happening in modern Britain,” he said.

The film also features a Bhangra Christmas song and a tribute to George Michael with Bollywood superstar Priyanka Chopra Jonas singing Last Christmas in desi.

“I feel like it’s everything you want in a Christmas movie,” adds Pixie Lott, who plays Suter’s on-screen wife, Mary Crachett.

“It makes you cry, it makes you laugh. It feels so good, but it also touches you in a way that makes you think about your own life.”

Christmas Mix is ​​in cinemas from November 14th.