Hannah Rothschild: How did you get into making films?

Gurinder Chada: I made various documentaries and shorts but my first film was a short called I’m British But… which I made with the BFI and Channel 4 in 1989 as part of a scheme which allowed people who had no film experience, but had a voice to kind of say what they wanted to say. I then got together with Meera Syal and Karin Bamborough at Film4 and started developing Bhaji on the Beach. Channel 4 definitely gave me my break for features.

Why was Bhaji on the Beach so significant?

It was the first British film which had a large Asian female cast, but had its feet firmly in the roots of British cinema. It had a British sensibility although there were Indians in it, but most importantly people really related to it all over the world.

Why didn’t you bring your next films, including Bend it like Beckham to Film4?

I actually gave it to Paul Webster twice. And he said, ‘Oh we have already done it.’ I said, ‘You are making a big mistake really.’ And he just said, ‘No. I have seen that, I don’t want to see it again.’ I even accosted him at an airport; I caught him at Heathrow airport once and said to him, ‘Are you sure you don’t want to look at it?’ And he was like, ‘No, No, No.’

Are you always so sure?

I knew Beckham was going to be a hit obviously, I just felt it had to be. It was hitting the right marks in terms of British society at that time; the Beckham thing, the girls, it was just the thing to do it.

Quite a lot of people claim to have had an input into Bend It like Beckham.

Only two qualify. John Woodward and Simon Perry. This film shows how easy it is for history to change. If Paul Webster had backed me at the time there would still be a FilmFour rather than a Channel 4 Film, as it is now. Put that in your book.