New Delhi: King Charles is set to watch Indian-origin filmmaker Gurinder Chadha’s film Christmas Karma as part of his Christmas celebrations at Sandringham. Chadha also recently met the British monarch, who told the director that he was looking forward to seeing the play.
Chadha shared a video of her meeting with King Charles on her official Instagram handle.
Expressing her excitement, she wrote, “Hoo hoo. HRH The King will be watching @christmaskarmamovie at Sandringham this Christmas. I’m delighted that a print of my film was requested. We were delighted to meet @kingcharlesuk who told me he was looking forward to it.”
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The filmmaker revealed that King had also jokingly asked if she was a good director.
“Britain’s vision is he fully supports our charity work with @thebritishasiantrust, of which he is patron. He met our Tiny Tim Freddie Marshall, who has NF1, and spoke to HRH about his charity work to bring attention to this condition. He asked @leo.suter, our kind Bob Cratchit, if I was a good director. He loves pulling my leg when we meet,” Chadha said. Wrote.
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He also talked about the audience response to the film and said that reports of dancing in theaters and applause at the end of screenings have been encouraging. She said, “My film is about finding hope and happiness for my children and their friends who are very troubled by the world around them. At this time, charity and empathy is the festive season for me.”
Who is Gurinder Chadha?
Gurinder Kaur Chadha is a Kenyan-born British filmmaker of Indian origin, known for telling stories about the South Asian diaspora in Britain. She rose to global fame with Bend It Like Beckham (2002), which explored cultural identity, gender roles and ambition among British Indian youth.
Much of Chadha’s work is based on her own experiences growing up between cultures. His filmography includes Bhaji on the Beach (1993), Bride and Prejudice (2004), Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging (2008), It’s a Wonderful Afterlife (2010), Viceroy’s House (2017), and Blinded by the Light (2019). She has also worked extensively in television, most notably with the period drama series Beecham House (2019). Many of his projects are adaptations of novels for the screen.
Chadha was born in Nairobi, Kenya, which was then under British colonial rule, to a Punjabi Sikh Khatri family. His parents later moved to Britain amid political instability in the region. The family held “United Kingdom and Colonies” citizenship under the British Nationality Act of 1948, which allowed them to settle in Britain.
Her father moved to England first, and the rest of the family joined him a year later and settled in Southall, West London, when Chadha was just two years old. Despite being professionally qualified, his father faced racial and religious discrimination because of his Sikh identity, including his turban and beard, and could not find work equivalent to his status in Kenya. Eventually the family ran a shop to earn their living.
These early experiences of migration, racism and cultural interaction later became central themes in Chadha’s films, which often explore what it means to be both Indian and British.
Academically, Chadha studied politics and development economics at the University of East Anglia before joining media. He later pursued postgraduate studies at the London College of Printing in the mid-1980s. Early in her career, she worked in radio journalism and became a BBC television news reporter. He also directed several documentaries for the BBC, Channel 4 and the British Film Institute. One of his most notable early works, I’m British But… (1989) documented the lives of young British Asians and helped establish his voice as a filmmaker.
Chadha is married to American screenwriter and director Paul Mayeda Burgess. The couple have twins, a son Ronak and a daughter Kumiko, born in 2007.