Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Writer-director and producer best known for Bend It Like Beckham, making populist films about female empowerment and race.
On the island
Eight records
this first song is Downtown by Petula Clark and I could have chosen The Beatles, She Loves You, yeah, yeah, yeah, because that's the first song that I remember actually singing at my Childminders in Victoria Road in Southall, getting up on a chair with a broom actually, and singing that song while she sat at the table eating Rye Vitas, which I thought were terribly exotic… however, this song speaks to me of my childhood. Now when you listen to it, I realise how filmic it is. That combination of the music and the images that she was creating and the mood and how you go on a journey with her in the song…
This next song is actually my dad's favourite song. It's called Odunya Kira Kavale, and it's really an appeal to God to say, God, if you've given us this life, you've got to give us the means to help us endure the life. So he loved to sing, he would sing continuously. He loved his whiskey as well. And whenever a few mates would get together or relatives would get together, out would come the songs and they would all sit there and sing. And this sounds sort of dirge-like, this song, but actually it's quite cathartic, I think.
White Man in Hammersmith Palais
This track for me sums up a whole part of my life and a part of history in Britain. And there are several bands that I love from this period. But I've chosen this particular song because I think all the other bands that I love from this time, which is the specials, which is the jam, a lot of bands will look up to this band and this particular singer.
Part of the wonderful time with Rock Against Racism of course was my love of the specials and the clash but at the same time what was happening in Britain was something so exciting to me because it was a new form of music and the best proponent of that was a man called Bally Sagu. Although it's a bit dated now but at the time it was the most radical thing to take a very traditional Punjabi folk song and fuse it with reggae like he did. For me it was like a revolution.
HeerFavourite
Original London Cast of Bend It Like Beckham (featuring Rick Asoni and Natalie Dew)
Howard Goodall (music), Charles Hart (lyrics)
When I came to do the musical of Bende Light Beckham, I said I will do this musical if I can include Heer in it. And Heer is from Heerunja, which is a Punjabi folk tale, which is a bit like Romeo and Juliet. But then the magic of it was the way Howard Goodall, who in many ways was sort of part of my soul beat, you know, during this whole experience, was able to take Waris Shah's tune to fit beautifully in a 2015 West End stage musical.
This is a man I absolutely love to the core. To me he's a prophet. This particular track is definitely his theme song and it reminds me of earlier this year one of the happiest nights of my life which was being in the Prince Charles Cinema in Leicester Square and I'd gone along to a sing along with Bruce night and me and a whole bunch of people were singing along to all Bruce tracks at the top of our voices.
BBC Concert Orchestra, Royal Choral Society, Barry Wordsworth (conductor)
I loved growing up in England as a child. You know, I loved reading about Millie Molly Mandy and her thick slices of bread spread with butter and jam. And for me, this represents a side of England that I really, really love deeply. But also, I lost a very dear friend of mine recently to cancer. We lived together for many, many years. And on Sunday mornings, we used to love … pull out the old hymn books and we would sing at the top of our voices. And this was something that Sally and I always used to love singing.
This is a song that I think whenever anybody is struggling to do what they want and can't quite get there, they should put this on and listen to it and dance around their kitchen. Because it was written at a time when things were very bad politically for black people in America. No one would have ever thought there'd be a black president when Curtis Mayfield wrote this song. For me, it's dedicated to the human spirit and how if we set our mind to it and we find the right strategy, we can and we should achieve.
In conversation
Presenter asks
3:58Why had your parents decided to move the whole family halfway round the world [from Kenya to England]?
Kenya had become independent, and something called Africanization was going on. My father had grown up in a land which, as far as he was concerned, was England. So, every morning when he went to school, he would sing God Save the Queen. And so, for him and a lot of people like him, suddenly everything was shifting and changing, and nobody knew what was going to happen to them. And so, there were offers at that time for people to come to England, to the motherland, as it were. And he decided he had two young daughters. He was going to come to England and see what was what.
Presenter asks
4:41What sort of welcome did your family get [when they settled in Southall in the early/mid 60s]?
Well, I think my father says if he'd had the money to get a plane back he would have. … That inhospitable and that cold. … he used to work for Barkless Bank, and then when he came to Southall, he went to the Barkless Bank in Southall and was duly thrown out. … Literally, yes. Why you can't have those expectations, you know. Damn you for having that kind of audacity to think that someone who's got a turban and a beard can ever dream of being in a bank.
Presenter asks
The keepsakes
The book
Christopher Shackle
for me, it's so important that I can speak Punjabi. It's a window into a whole way of life and a whole culture.
The luxury
a device to watch videos of my children
My daughter does this amazing dance... and I whenever I'm feel down about anything, I watch that and it just makes my heart sing.
Did [Rock Against Racism] give you a faith in a place that you weren't sure you were connected to? Did it make you feel British?
Right, absolutely. It made me feel like I was part of this world. And having grown up with a kind of us and them attitude, which had come from my parents' generation, a door had been opened to say we are born here, we're raised here, this is who we are, and we're all going to stand together.
Presenter asks
12:35What did your school teachers expect from you, and what advice did they give you about your future?
We had our usual sort of careers teacher advice, and I had thought at that point I was going to do development studies, third world, sort of economics and politics. And when I saw my careers teacher, she sort of looked at me and said, Well, I think your ambitions are too high, and I really think you should do a secretarial course. And I remember the sort of injustice that I felt. I was so furious that I actually now think I have to credit her really for everything that I've gone on to do because I just really needed to prove that woman wrong, which I did.
Presenter asks
18:19When you hear [the music from the Bend It Like Beckham musical], do you feel a sense of pride? Do you think 'crikey, I did that'?
I do actually. I feel immensely proud of that.
Presenter asks
22:47By your own standards, do you feel that you've moved things forward [in terms of making people like you visible in popular culture]?
Oh yes, I do. You know, I don't often stop and take time to sort of pat myself on the back. And part of that is to do with the fact that I lost my dad. And for me, my measure of success is because it made my dad happy. But now I have my children. … on the set of my last film, I was explaining to my son … we were in a big refugee camp that we'd created in India. My grandmother had been a refugee during partition. And he turned round and he looked at me in the middle of the set and he gave me a big hug and he said, Good for you, Mama, good for you, Mama, like that. And it was the most awesome experience. And to be very honest with you, I haven't felt that good about myself and my work since my dad died, actually.
“My whole entry into the world of uh film and television and radio was really me trying to make people like me visible. Our stories weren't there, people who looked like me and thought like me weren't really visible on the screen in any shape or form.”
“So many people like me negotiate. You know, we negotiated what we wanted, but at the same time, what we hoped would make them happy. And I made that film just after my dad died. So a lot of it is sort of me grieving for him, if you like.”
“As I looked down the street, I just saw thousands and thousands and thousands of people walking towards the park, carrying banners. And everyone was joined together in sort of both anger and celebration. It was that combination that spoke to me. And that was the moment when I became political.”
“My children have been the best gift I've ever been given. And it was really having my children that has given me the courage to actually aim even higher and to tackle the partition of India, which is what my new film Viceroy's House is about.”
“If I'm having time away from them, I'd better make damn sure it counts.”