Twenty years ago, when Parminder Nagra played the role of an immigrant football junkie and a wannabe Beckham groupie in the film, Bend It Like Beckham (2002), she did not just kick a ball, she kicked some serious butt. When she balances a cauliflower on her knee or bends the ball behind a row of laundry, you can almost feel the scene swelling with the pride of thousands of invisible South Asian immigrant girls, with dreams of their own. As she smashes the ball into the net in the final match, the whole South Asian fraternity scored a collective goal. Or so they thought.
Many South Asian actors hoped Nagra would be their ticket out of anonymity. Sadly, they were wrong. As Snigdha Sur points out in an incisive piece in Juggernaut, it was not Nagra that the film turned into an overnight star, but her white co-stars Keira Knightley and Jonathan Rhys. According to the piece, Knightley is today worth $80 million versus Nagra's $4 million. While Knightley went on to star in one of the most famous franchises of all time, Pirates of the Caribbean, Nagra was relegated to wearing period petticoats and making googly eyes at Anne Hathaway as her best friend in Ella Enchanted-a blah role that completely undermined her badassery.
Cut to 20 years later. Period petticoats on South Asian women are in, thanks to Bridgerton 2's Kate Sharma, played by a brilliant Simone Ashley. Unlike Nagra in Ella Enchanted, Sharma is all sass, sex appeal and biting repartees. But here is the biggest difference: She is the one who gets the man in the end. In other words, she is the star of the show, the belle of the ball.
Cue, applause.
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
A golden girl
One of India's most formidable beauties passed away earlier this month. The odd thing is she would absolutely hate this obituary; she hated being written about and avoided publicity for all of her nine decades. Indira Aswani was 93 when she died. But anyone who encountered her, even briefly, was in such awe of her grace and poise, and one could not but remember her forever.
The interest in wine is growing delightfully in India
The renowned British wine writer and television presenter Jancis Robinson, 74, recently came to Delhi and Mumbai to reacquaint herself with India's wine industry. This was the Robinson's fourth visit to India; the last one was seven years ago. On this trip, Robinson and her husband, restaurateur Nicholas Lander, were hosted by the Taj Hotels and Sonal Holland, India's only Master of Wine.
United in the states
Indian-Americans coming together under the Democratic umbrella could get Harris over the line in key battlegrounds
COVER DRIVE
Usage-driven motor insurance policies offer several benefits
GDP as the only measure of progress is illogical
Dasho Karma Ura, one of the world's leading happiness experts, has guided Bhutan's unique gross national happiness (GNH) project. He uses empirical data to show that money cannot buy happiness in all circumstances, rather it is family and health that have the strongest positive effect on happiness. Excerpts from an interview:
India is not a controlling big brother
Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay considers India a benevolent elder sibling as the \"big brotherly attitude\" is happily missing from bilateral ties. He thinks the relationship shared by the two countries has become a model of friendship not just for the region, but for the entire world. \"India's attitude is definitely not of a big brother who is controlling and does not allow the little brother to blossom and grow,\" says Tobgay in an exclusive interview with THE WEEK.
Comrade with no foes
Lal Salaam, Comrade Yechury-you were quite a guy!
Pinning down saffron
In her first political bout, Vinesh Phogat rides on the anti-BJP sentiment across Haryana
MAKE IN MANIPUR
Home-made rockets and weapons from across the border are escalating the conflict
SAHEB LOSES STEAM
Coalition dynamics and poor electoral prospects continue to diminish Ajit Pawar's political stock