Gurinder Chadha, ( ਗੁਰਿੰਦਰ ਚੱਡਾ )
OBEThe Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by King George V. The Order includes five classes in civil and military divisions...
, (born 10 January 1960) is a
BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
film directorA film director, or filmmaker is a person who directs the making or production of a film. Some also consider a film producer to be a filmmaker....
of
IndiaIndia, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal...
n origin. Most of her films explore the lives of Indians living in the UK. She is most famous for the hit films
Bhaji on the BeachBhaji on the Beach is a 1993 film by director Gurinder Chadha with a screenplay by Gurinder Chadha and Meera Syal.-Plot synopsis:A diverse group of British women of South Asian descent go on a day trip to the beach in Blackpool; despite their differences—the older women are more traditional...
(1993),
Bend It Like BeckhamBend It Like Beckham is a film starring Parminder Nagra and Keira Knightley first released in the United Kingdom. The film was directed by Gurinder Chadha...
(2002),
Bride and PrejudiceBride and Prejudice is a Indian / British / American romantic musical film directed by Gurinder Chadha. The screenplay by Chadha and Paul Mayeda Berges is a Bollywood-style adaptation of Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen...
(2004) and
Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging is a 2008 British comedy film co-written and directed by Gurinder Chadha. The film is based on two popular teenage novels by Louise Rennison: Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging and It's OK, I'm Wearing Really Big Knickers...
(2008).
Gurinder Chadha was born in
NairobiNairobi is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The city and its surrounding area also forms the Nairobi Province. The name "Nairobi" comes from the Maasai phrase Enkare Nyirobi, which translates to "the place of cool waters"...
,
KenyaThe Republic of Kenya is a country in East Africa. Lying along the Indian Ocean, at the equator, Kenya is bordered by Ethiopia , Somalia , Tanzania , Uganda plus Lake Victoria , and Sudan . The capital city is Nairobi. Kenya spans an area about 85% the size of France or Texas...
, but her family moved to
SouthallSouthall is a suburb in the London Borough of Ealing, West London. It is situated west of Charing Cross. Neighbouring places include Yeading, Hayes, Hanwell, Heston, Hounslow, Greenford and Northolt...
,
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
when she was two years of age. There Chadha attended Clifton Primary School.
Gurinder Chadha, ( ਗੁਰਿੰਦਰ ਚੱਡਾ )
OBEThe Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by King George V. The Order includes five classes in civil and military divisions...
, (born 10 January 1960) is a
BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
film directorA film director, or filmmaker is a person who directs the making or production of a film. Some also consider a film producer to be a filmmaker....
of
IndiaIndia, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal...
n origin. Most of her films explore the lives of Indians living in the UK. She is most famous for the hit films
Bhaji on the BeachBhaji on the Beach is a 1993 film by director Gurinder Chadha with a screenplay by Gurinder Chadha and Meera Syal.-Plot synopsis:A diverse group of British women of South Asian descent go on a day trip to the beach in Blackpool; despite their differences—the older women are more traditional...
(1993),
Bend It Like BeckhamBend It Like Beckham is a film starring Parminder Nagra and Keira Knightley first released in the United Kingdom. The film was directed by Gurinder Chadha...
(2002),
Bride and PrejudiceBride and Prejudice is a Indian / British / American romantic musical film directed by Gurinder Chadha. The screenplay by Chadha and Paul Mayeda Berges is a Bollywood-style adaptation of Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen...
(2004) and
Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging is a 2008 British comedy film co-written and directed by Gurinder Chadha. The film is based on two popular teenage novels by Louise Rennison: Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging and It's OK, I'm Wearing Really Big Knickers...
(2008).
Background
Gurinder Chadha was born in
NairobiNairobi is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The city and its surrounding area also forms the Nairobi Province. The name "Nairobi" comes from the Maasai phrase Enkare Nyirobi, which translates to "the place of cool waters"...
,
KenyaThe Republic of Kenya is a country in East Africa. Lying along the Indian Ocean, at the equator, Kenya is bordered by Ethiopia , Somalia , Tanzania , Uganda plus Lake Victoria , and Sudan . The capital city is Nairobi. Kenya spans an area about 85% the size of France or Texas...
, but her family moved to
SouthallSouthall is a suburb in the London Borough of Ealing, West London. It is situated west of Charing Cross. Neighbouring places include Yeading, Hayes, Hanwell, Heston, Hounslow, Greenford and Northolt...
,
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
when she was two years of age. There Chadha attended Clifton Primary School. She got a job as a
BBC RadioBBC Radio is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927...
reporter until she made a documentary for
Channel 4Channel 4 is a UK public-service television broadcaster which began working on November 2, 1982. Although commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station owned now and operated by the Channel Four Television...
in 1989. Chadha moved into film production in 1993. She is married to Japanese-American filmmaker
Paul Mayeda BergesPaul Mayeda Berges is an American screenwriter and director.Of Japanese ancestry, Berges graduated from the University of California, Santa Cruz, in 1990. He has collaborated with his wife, British-Indian director Gurinder Chadha, on a number of films...
, with whom she sometimes collaborates. They have twins, son Ronak and daughter Kumiko, born in June 2007.
Career
In the 1980s she began making documentaries for the
BBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation, usually referred to by its abbreviation as the "BBC", is the longest established and largest broadcaster in the world...
, and in 1989 released "
I'm British but..." for
Channel 4Channel 4 is a UK public-service television broadcaster which began working on November 2, 1982. Although commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station owned now and operated by the Channel Four Television...
, which followed the lives of young British Asians. In 1990, Chadha set up a
production companyA production company is a company responsible for the development and physical production of performing arts, film, radio or a television program. The company may also be directly responsible for the raising of funding for the production or may do through an intermediary...
, Umbi Films. Her first film was the 11-minute "
Nice Arrangement" (1991) about a British Asian wedding.
She wrote the screenplay for
The Mistress of SpicesThe Mistress of Spices is a film by Paul Mayeda Berges, with a screenplay by Gurinder Chadha and Berges. It is based upon the novel The Mistress of Spices by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni. The film stars Aishwarya Rai...
(based upon
the novel of the same nameThe Mistress of Spices, , set in contemporary Oakland, California is a novel by Indian American writer and University of Houston Creative Writing Program professor Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni.-Plot summary:...
by
Chitra Banerjee DivakaruniChitra Banerjee Divakaruni is an Indian-American author, poet, and the Betty and Gene McDavid Professor of Writing at the nationally-ranked University of Houston Creative Writing Program....
) with Berges, who directed the film.
In 2005 she appeared on the BBC show
Your London, in which she told the story of a
SikhSikh is the title and name given to an adherent of Sikhism. The term has its origin in the Sanskrit term , meaning "disciple, learner" or , meaning "instruction"....
prince who lived in
London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
in the 19th century. In 2006 she took part in the BBC genealogy series
Who Do You Think You Are?Who Do You Think You Are? is a British genealogy documentary series that has aired on the BBC since 2004. Made by Wall to Wall, in each episode, a celebrity goes on a journey to trace his or her family tree. Seven series have been broadcast, the most recent of which aired in July and August 2009...
in which she traced her Sikh family roots back to Kenya and before that to India's
PunjabPunjab is a state in northwest India. The Indian state borders the Pakistani province of Punjab to the west, Jammu and Kashmir to the north, Himachal Pradesh to the northeast, Haryana to the south and southeast and Rajasthan to the southwest. The total area of the state is 50,362 square kilometres...
.
Chadha was awarded an
Officer of the British EmpireThe Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by King George V. The Order includes five classes in civil and military divisions...
(OBE) on 17 June 2006.
Although the
BBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation, usually referred to by its abbreviation as the "BBC", is the longest established and largest broadcaster in the world...
had confirmed that Chadha was to direct the forthcoming
feature filmIn the film industry, a feature film is a film made for initial distribution in theaters and being the "main attraction" of the screening...
adaptation of the popular TV series
DallasDallas is an American prime-time television soap opera that originally ran from 1978 to 1991. It revolved around the Ewings, a wealthy Texas family in the oil and cattle-ranching industries...
, she left the project in 2007.
Filmography
- It's a Wonderful Afterlife
It's a Wonderful Afterlife is an upcoming Indian/British/American comedy film directed by Gurinder Chadha. The screenplay is by Chadha and Paul Mayeda Berges and it centered on an Indian mother who takes her obsession with marriage into the world of serial murder. It was filmed primarily in...
(2010)
- Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging
Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging is a 2008 British comedy film co-written and directed by Gurinder Chadha. The film is based on two popular teenage novels by Louise Rennison: Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging and It's OK, I'm Wearing Really Big Knickers...
(2008)
- Paris, je t'aime
Paris, je t'aime is a 2006 film starring an ensemble cast of actors of various nationalities including American, British and French. The two-hour film consists of eighteen short films set in different arrondissements...
(2006) segment "Quais de Seine"
- The Mistress of Spices
The Mistress of Spices is a film by Paul Mayeda Berges, with a screenplay by Gurinder Chadha and Berges. It is based upon the novel The Mistress of Spices by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni. The film stars Aishwarya Rai...
(2005) (screenplay only)
- Bride and Prejudice
Bride and Prejudice is a Indian / British / American romantic musical film directed by Gurinder Chadha. The screenplay by Chadha and Paul Mayeda Berges is a Bollywood-style adaptation of Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen...
(2004)
- Bend It Like Beckham
Bend It Like Beckham is a film starring Parminder Nagra and Keira Knightley first released in the United Kingdom. The film was directed by Gurinder Chadha...
(2002)
- What's Cooking? (2000)
- Rich Deceiver (1995), BBC two-part drama
- A Nice Arrangement (1994)
- What Do You Call an Indian Woman Who's Funny? (1994)
- Bhaji on the Beach
Bhaji on the Beach is a 1993 film by director Gurinder Chadha with a screenplay by Gurinder Chadha and Meera Syal.-Plot synopsis:A diverse group of British women of South Asian descent go on a day trip to the beach in Blackpool; despite their differences—the older women are more traditional...
(1993)
- Acting Our Age (1992)
- Pain, Passion and Profit (1992) (V)
- I'm British But... (1990) (TV)
Appearances
- Who Do You Think You Are?
Who Do You Think You Are? is a British genealogy documentary series that has aired on the BBC since 2004. Made by Wall to Wall, in each episode, a celebrity goes on a journey to trace his or her family tree. Seven series have been broadcast, the most recent of which aired in July and August 2009...
(2006)
- Your London (2005)
- Koffee with Karan
Koffee with Karan is a talk show, hosted by Mumbai based film producer and director Karan Johar.- Overview :The show airs on STAR One & STAR World from 9pm to 10pm IST and on MHz Networks television Channel 56 on 11 AM to 11:30 AM on Sundays....
(2005)
External links