Between Cultures: Identity in British-Asian Diasporas in East is East and Bend It Like Beckham

This paper was written in 2021

In his insightful article ‘Cultural Identity and Diaspora’, Stuart Hall discusses the multidimensionality of identity as he articulates that it plays ‘a critical role in all post-colonial struggles which have so profoundly shaped our world… It continues to be a very powerful and creative force in emergent forms of representation amongst hitherto marginalised people.’[1] Hall urges the reverberations of colonisation as imperative to understanding the construction of cultural identity amongst diasporas who attempt to belong within two or more worlds. Ideas such as this are imperative to contemporary Black and Asian cinema, as ‘the idea of migrant and diasporic cinema, at least within the UK context, is tied to ethnic identity’[2]. The same can be said for Damien O’Donnell’s East is East (1999) and Gurinder Chadha’s Bend It Like Beckham (2002), because much like other British-Asian films, both are concerned with dissecting identity politics. They fall within a category of films ‘preoccupied with the task of telling forgotten or buried stories, writing unwritten histories and ‘correcting’ the misrepresentations of mainstream production.’[3] For the purposes of my analysis, it would be most appropriate to use the parents; Jahangir Khan and Mr. and Mrs. Bhamra as the main subjects of observation, as they encapsulate the influence from colonial intervention and presence of Asian culture.

Following the lives of a working-class, mixed-race British-Pakistani family in the 1970’s, East is East presents the trials and tribulations of living with an abusive father (Jahangir, or anglicised as George), who is infatuating with Pakistani culture. Meanwhile his seven children reject the enforced customs, and instead seek a life of Englishness that suits their upbringing in Salford, Manchester. Bend It Like Beckham (BILB) on the other hand, follows Jesminder (known primarily as Jess), an aspiring footballer who must hide the pursuit of playing professionally from her traditional parents. Set in Southall, West London ‘often known as ‘Little India’’[4], Jess navigates the weight of misogyny and tradition, defying both patriarchal and cultural standards in the process.

Both films are considerate of colonial history particular in the demonstration of the fathers’ apprehensions towards the West, especially since ‘there is often a tendency to ignore or underestimate “the psychologically tenacious hold of the colonial past on the postcolonial present.’’[5] Although Chakraborty comments only on BILB here, her view that the film ‘conducts the experiment of trying to manage the anxiety that multicultural Britain experiences vis-à-vis its ex-colonial émigrés and settlers’[6] can also be applied to East is East. George carries the weight that colonised people were ‘ridiculed as lacking in culture and history because colonialism, in the name of profit was destroying the basis of that culture and the memory of (it)[7]. As a result, he attempts to justify his place within the social landscape of England, declaring, “I came to this country in 1937” however, he is ‘circumscribed to a subaltern position of a troublesome and potentially volatile ‘alien…’’ within the nation, additionally demonstrating ‘lingering elitist constructions of colonial India’[8] Although never externalised outwardly, Mr Bhamra has internalised a similar position due to facing rejection as a cricket player: “I was not allowed to play in any team, and the bloody goras in their clubhouses made fun of my turban and sent me off packing”. Mr Bhamra’s ‘lost hope of belonging in a racist society and his own sense of pride and dignity have been rekindled and transferred to the next generation and, specifically, to his daughter.’[9] Cultural homophobia is a theme that is addressed in order to question Western and colonial attitudes. George’s homophobic disposition towards his eldest son, Nazir whom he has disowned, demonstrates the fear of Britain’s liberal secularism maintained by immigrants of the Empire. BILB chooses instead to mirror Jess’ traditional parents through counterpart Jules and her white family (who are not as liberal as they would like to believe). This is evident when Jules’ mother mistakes Jess and Jules for a couple, and attempts to hide her devastation. The British ‘(codifying and criminalising) sex between men in India, thereby creating (a) strict definition of homosexuality’[10], yet proclaiming their Western liberalism two centuries later, is a criticism intended to present the irony of colonialism. Although aware of prior Western intervention, both films move on to prioritise detailed explorations of Asian culture to further establish the theme of identity.

Asian values are perpetuated by George, who embodies Pakistani and Muslim cultural and religious customs. This embodiment is constructed primarily through terrorising the children into adopting his personal values of Pakistani conservativism and Islam. Audiences are firstly exposed to this as the mosque van arrives for Arabic class and the children frantically disperse and hide. Watching from the family-owned chip shop at the end of the street, George growls “You bloody kids hide again”, communicating to audiences the frequency of this occurrence. The tension between Pakistani/Muslim and British customs is powerfully demonstrated furthermore through the contradictory pronouns adopted by George and his children. Whilst George refers to Islam as “our religion”, the children prefer the practice of othering. Not only is Islam described as “their” religion, but this lack of assimilation is heightened further as strained relations become far more resentful when George arranges the marriages of his two older sons Abdul and Tariq. The cultural expectation is displayed to audiences once again, as Pakistani arranged marriages operate on the basis that ‘the parents chose a life partner for their daughter(s) or son(s) and the consultation of children are not considered important.’[11] Outwardly rejecting George’s attempt of instilling Pakistani/Muslim values, Tariq insists, “I’m not Pakistani, I was born here, I speak English”. It becomes evident that although concerned with prioritising Asian stories, the film is not interested in a narrative where the overarching threat is ‘the rejection by a Britain that insists on remaining white…’ (a common narrative amongst early British-Asian filmmaking) but rather the issue of ‘…a Muslim patriarchism.’[12] There is no instance in the film where the enforced Asian values result in favour of the children, leaving them to ‘find their ways of enjoying a Western life (as) Eastern customs to them mean masquerade, repression and even physical pain.’[13] The lack of cultural duality is evidently imperative to the film’s exploration of identity, and is symbolised overall through the film’s title, which ‘alludes to the first line from Rudyard Kipling’s imperialist ‘Ballad of East and West’: ‘Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet.’’[14]

Contrastingly, in BILB, the commanding parent enforcing Asian culture is a role adopted by Jess’ mother, Mrs Bhamra, who frequently reminds her daughters of the patriarchal standards they must uphold. Conveying the importance of marriage and gender roles, Mrs Bhamra claims, “I was married at your age, you don’t even want to learn how to cook daal… What family will want a daughter-in-law who can run around kicking a football all day but can’t make round chapattis?” Although much less vocal than his wife, Mr Bhamra also supports the culturally conservative values of Indian culture, instructing Jess that she “must start behaving like a proper woman”. Enforced femininity acting as the centre of desi patriarchy is a notion contested by Chadha, who plays with gender roles through presenting a character who rejects both Indian and British patriarchal ideals of hyper-femininity (i.e. makeup, marriage etc.). A further depiction of Asian culture is prevalent through Jess’ father pronouncing, “Jesminder Kaur Bhamra BA LLB, you can become a fine, top class solicitor”. This moment represents the ‘pull between British and Asian identities’[15], as Jess is liberated through Western education but overthrown by Indian traditionalism, which includes a long patriarchal history of women who are deficient of true agency and choice. In spite of this, Chadha chooses an ending in which Mr Bhamra provides his daughter with ‘freedom, against family/community members’ loud protestations. This moment is particularly subversive, since Jess is not asking to be romantically free, but to pursue an unconventional career even for Western girls.’[16] The hope established here for desi diasporas promises a duality of culture, as Jess is not subject to the same binary as the children of East is East. One culture needs not be abandoned in place of another, or as Sarita Malik observes, ‘the basis of British-Asian identity is not that one culture has ‘crossed over’ or been assimilated but that a new form of cultural identity is emerging. This hybrid identity is ‘British-Asianness’, a fluid evolving entity, which cannot be reduced to any one thing’[17]

East is East and Bend It Like Beckham are amongst the most celebrated and culturally relevant British-Asian films in the last twenty-five years. The reason being that each film confronts the difficulties of navigating diasporic identities, but does so with sincerity and authenticity. Furthermore, Hall’s insistence that identity is deeply impacted by colonialism, and leaves complex pieces of selfhood that form a great sense of multidimensionality is substantiated by both films. Whether critical or complimentary of British or Asian culture, one thing is certain, ‘we have been offered a version of Britishness that does not necessarily belong to the British’[18]

[1] Hall and Ghazoul, “Cultural Identity and Diaspora,” 257.

[2] Malik, The Dark Side of Hybridity: Contemporary Black and Asian British Cinema, 133

[3] Malik, The Dark Side of Hybridity: Contemporary Black and Asian British Cinema, 135

[4] Chakraborty, “Crossing Race, Crossing Sex in Gurinder Chadha’s Bend It like Beckham (2002): Managing Anxiety in Multicultural Britain,” 123

[5] Rajiva, “In Papaji’s House: Representations of the Father/Daughter Relationship in South Asian Diasporic Cinema,” 216 and Gandhi, “A Critical Introduction to Postcolonial Theory,” 6.

[6] Chakraborty, “Crossing Race, Crossing Sex in Gurinder Chadha’s Bend It like Beckham (2002): Managing Anxiety in Multicultural Britain,” 129

[7] Stam and Spence, “Colonialism, Racism and Representation,” 2–20.

[8] Klobah, “Pakistani Englishness and the Containment of the Muslim Subaltern in Ayub Khan-Din’s Tragi-Comedy Film East Is East,” 93

[9] Rajiva, “In Papaji’s House: Representations of the Father/Daughter Relationship in South Asian Diasporic Cinema,” 222

[10] Chakraborty, “Crossing Race, Crossing Sex in Gurinder Chadha’s Bend It like Beckham (2002): Managing Anxiety in Multicultural Britain,” 130

[11] Munir and Akhter, “Marriage in Islam: An Analytical Study with a Special Focus on Non-Traditional Marriages in Pakistan,” 180

[12] Korte and Sternberg, “Asian British Cinema since the 1990s,” 390

[13] Korte and Sternberg, “Asian British Cinema since the 1990s,” 390

[14] Korte and Sternberg, “Asian British Cinema since the 1990s,” 390

[15] Malik, Sarita. "Beyond the ‘Cinema of duty?’–the pleasures of hybridity: Black British film of the 1980s and 1990s." Dissolving Views: Key Writings on British Cinema (1996): 212

[16] Rajiva, “In Papaji’s House: Representations of the Father/Daughter Relationship in South Asian Diasporic Cinema,” 222

[17] Malik, Sarita. "Beyond the ‘Cinema of duty?’ – the pleasures of hybridity: Black British film of the 1980s and 1990s." Dissolving Views: Key Writings on British Cinema (1996): 213

[18] Malik, Sarita. "Beyond the ‘Cinema of duty?’–the pleasures of hybridity: Black British film of the 1980s and 1990s." Dissolving Views: Key Writings on British Cinema (1996): 214

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