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{{short description|1993 film directed by Gurinder Chadha}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2016}}
{{Use British English|date=June 2016}}
{{Infobox film
| name = Bhaji on the Beach
| image = Bhaji on the Beach VHS cover.jpg
| image_size =
| caption = Video cover
| director = [[Gurinder Chadha]]
| producer = [[Nadine Marsh-Edwards]]
| writer =
| screenplay = [[Meera Syal]]
| story = Meera Syal Gurinder Chadha
| starring = [[Kim Vithana]] [[Jimmi Harkishin]] [[Sarita Khajuria]]
| music = [[John Altman (composer)|John Altman]] [[Kuljit Bhamra]] [[Craig Pruess]]
| cinematography = [[John Kenway]]
| editing = [[Oral Norrie Ottey]]
| studio = [[Film4 Productions|Channel Four Films]] Umbi Films
| distributor = [[First Independent Films]]<ref>{{cite web|title=Bhaji on the Beach (1993)|work=[[BBFC]]|access-date=27 March 2021|url=https://www.bbfc.co.uk/release/bhaji-on-the-beach-q29sbgvjdglvbjpwwc0yodc5mtq}}</ref>
| released = {{Film date|1993|09|11|Toronto Film Festival|df=y}}
| runtime = 101 minutes
| country = United Kingdom
| language = English Hindi Punjabi
| budget =
| gross = $735,192(United States)
}}

'''''Bhaji on the Beach''''' is a 1993 British [[comedy-drama]] film directed by [[Gurinder Chadha]] and written by [[Meera Syal]].

==Plot==
A community group of British women (mostly Punjabis of various faiths) of different generations, take a group day out to the [[Blackpool Illuminations]]. The tensions of the generation gap torn between tradition and modernism as well as the personal upsets and issues of the women and girls come to boiling point as they spend the day out.

Simi, the head of the group, has modern social beliefs about feminism that the older club women object to, however she manages to be the caring, in-control figure who holds the day together despite tensions. Ginder is escaping from her abusive criminal husband with her young son and fighting the stigma of single parent and her son's pleas to have both a mother and father again. Two boy-crazy teenage girls meet with the disapproval of the conservative older ladies. Hashida is a high flying student who is about to start medical school, yet would prefer to be studying painting. She has hidden her Afro-Caribbean boyfriend Oliver from her family for a year, but now she's pregnant by him and now they must decide about the child and their relationship: would it stand the strain of social disapproval. Asha, a devout Hindu and Bollywood-cinema fan, is stuck with a humdrum life in her convenience shop and finds excitement and a sense of fulfilling missed opportunities in life with a charming, eccentric, artistic English actor in Blackpool, yet feels she must stay in her marriage.

In the end, most of the characters have their stories left open. We do not see what happens to Asha or Oliver and Hashida and the final scenes of these characters seem quite content but open-ended. Ginder and her son escape the violence of her husband and the most conservative characters receive a humorous treatment in a strip club.

==Cast==
* [[Zohra Sehgal]] as Pushpa
* [[Shaheen Khan (British actress)|Shaheen Khan]] as Simi
* [[Kim Vithana]] as Ginder
* [[Jimmi Harkishin]] as Ranjit
* [[Sarita Khajuria]] as Hashida
* Mo Sesayn as Oliver
* [[Rudolph Walker]] as Oliver's father
* Lalita Ahmed as Asha
* Amer Chadha-Patel as Amrik
* [[Nisha Nayar]] as Ladhu
* Renu Kochar as Madhu
* Surendra Kochur as Bina
* [[Souad Faress]] as Rekha
* Tanveer Chani as Balbir
* [[Bharti Patel]] as Refuge Woman
* Dane Power as Man on Street

==Reception==
In a review, ''[[Sight & Sound]]'' commented that ''Bhaji on the Beach'' "offered some trenchant observations about prevalent prejudices and what the younger, British-born generation of Asians had to offer. In Bhaji on the beach, her feature film debut, Chadha has tried to adhere to this code of ''Buzurgh'' loyalty (the age span ranges from 6 to the late 60's), while trying to encompass the more awkward and raw elements thrown up by contemporary Asian women's lives."<ref name="Sight and Sound Review">{{cite journal | title=Bhaji on the Beach | last=Farrah| first=Anwar | journal=Sight and Sound |volume=4 |issue=2 |date=February 1994 |pages=47–48}}</ref>
[[Rotten Tomatoes]] retrospectively collected reviews from 48 critics to give the film a score of 88%.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/bhaji_on_the_beach/ |title=Bhaji On the Beach |publisher=Rotten Tomatoes |date= |access-date=2022-02-14}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/movies/videos/bhajionthebeachnrhowe_a0b074.htm |title='Bhaji on the Beach' |work=Washingtonpost.com |date=1994-07-08 |access-date=2013-09-14}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Sragow |first=Michael |url=https://www.newyorker.com/arts/reviews/film/bhaji_on_the_beach_chadha |title=Bhaji on the Beach |work=The New Yorker |date= |access-date=2013-09-14}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Liebenson |first=Donald |url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/bhaji-on-the-beach-1994 |title=Bhaji On The Beach Movie Review (1994) |publisher=Roger Ebert |date=1994-09-23 |access-date=2013-09-14}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author= |url=https://articles.latimes.com/1994-06-22/entertainment/ca-7049_1_gurinder-chadha |title=MOVIE REVIEW : 'Bhaji on the Beach': More Than Sand, Surf : Gurinder Chadha's film is an insightful look at the difficulties of bridging cultures and generations, but it never forgets to have fun. - Los Angeles Times |publisher=Articles.latimes.com |date=1994-06-22 |access-date=2013-09-14}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Maslin |first=Janet |url=https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9903E5DD173CF93AA25750C0A962958260 |title=Movie Review - Bhaji On the Beach - Review/Film Festival; Cultures (and Sexes) Clashing in England - NYTimes.com |publisher=Movies.nytimes.com |date=1994-03-19 |access-date=2013-09-14}}</ref>

==Year-end lists ==
* Honorable mention – [[Kenneth Turan]], ''[[Los Angeles Times]]''<ref>{{cite web|last=Turan|first=Kenneth|date=December 25, 1994|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-12-25-ca-12998-story.html|title=1994: YEAR IN REVIEW : No Weddings, No Lions, No Gumps |work=Los Angeles Times|access-date=July 20, 2020}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

===Bibliography===
*{{cite journal | title=Travelling bodies: Gender, Nationalism and Diasporic Identity | author=Banerjee Bidisha | journal=Asian Cinema |volume=20 |issue=2 |date=Autumn–Winter 2009| doi=10.1386/ac.20.2.18_1 }}
* ''Travelling bodies:Gender, Nationalism and Diasporic Identity'' Banerjee Bidisha Asian Cinema V20 n 2 Autumn–Wintwer 2009
* ''Cultural difference and exchange: a future for European Film''. Eleftheriotis, Dimitris. Screen V41 n 1 Spring 2000.
* ''Representing the space of diaspora in contemporary cinema''. Ciecko, Anne. Cinema JOurnal, v38 n3 Spring 1999
* ''No title''. O'Neill, Eithne, Positif n447 May 1998
*Mendes, AC. “[http://repositorio.ul.pt/handle/10451/5590 Triangulating Birmingham, Blackpool, Bombay: Gurinder Chadha’s ''Bhaji on the Beach'']”, ''Anglo Saxonica'', III.1, 325–336.

==External links==
* {{IMDb title|0106408}}

{{Gurinder Chadha}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bhaji on the Beach}}
[[Category:1993 films]]
[[Category:1993 comedy-drama films]]
[[Category:British films]]
[[Category:British comedy-drama films]]
[[Category:British Indian films]]
[[Category:English-language films]]
[[Category:Films directed by Gurinder Chadha]]
[[Category:Films set in Blackpool]]
[[Category:Films about women in the Indian diaspora]]
[[Category:Films set on beaches]]
[[Category:Film4 Productions films]]
[[Category:1993 directorial debut films]]
[[Category:1993 comedy films]]
[[Category:1993 drama films]]
[[Category:Picnic films]]

Bhaji on the Beach - Revision history

UpdateBot at 00:01, 15 February 2022