"Actor: Lalita Ahmed"

• Bhaji on the Beach (Blu-ray) | Blu Ray | (14/07/2025) from £16.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Gurinder Chadha's debut feature Bhaji on the Beach is an empowering and cultured comedy about the bond between women regardless of age and background. A group of women, led by Simi (Shaheen Khan), leave their lives in Birmingham for a day out in Blackpool. Initially, the women seem not to have much in common due to their age gaps and different beliefs but by the end of the day, they learn of the bond they share and the significance of each other's company. Director Gurinder Chadha and screenwriter Meera Syal infuse a precise and slightly critical eye as well as a welcome warmth into this charming and funny story. Gurinder Chadha made her feature film debut with Bhaji on the Beach before having a smash hit with Bend it Like Beckham in 2002. Following a string of subsequent films she is now firmly established as arguably Britain's most successful British Asian filmmaker. Extras All extras tbc Gurinder Chadha's debut film The first feature film to be directed by an Asian woman in Britain

• Bhaji on the Beach | DVD | (17/09/2007) from £9.98   |  Saving you £8.00 (100.13%)   |  RRP £15.99

  A day trip to Blackpool to sea the lights a harmless break from the routine for a minibus full of women from the Asian Women's Centre. It all seems innocent enough but as the minibus trundles along to a Punjabi rendition of Cliff Richard's ""Summer Holiday"" problems quickly become apparent. Ginder (Kim Vithana) is fleeing her violent husband with her five-year-old son. Hashida (Sarita Khajuria) is eighteen about to start medical school and has just discovered she is pregnant by he

• Bollywood Queen | DVD | (22/03/2004) from £8.57   |  Saving you £7.42 (86.58%)   |  RRP £15.99

  A young Asian girl gets caught up in a Romeo and juliet style romance as she falls in love with a west-country lad. While disapproving families on both sides make life difficult the East meets the East End as Bollywood comes to London.

• Bhaji On The Beach | DVD | (16/06/2003) from £10.70   |  Saving you £-0.71 (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Bhaji on the Beach is the directorial debut of Gurinda Chadha, which--like her next film, What's Cooking--features women as the central characters and seems to involve food at every turn. It's an ensemble piece, which takes a while to establish the characters' relationships with each other. But eventually the focus of the film--based on a story by Meera Syal--gets distilled to a group of women taken on a day trip to Blackpool by a progressive thinking "sister". The skies are suitably grey as they arrive in the English resort town, with the amusement arcades, takeaways and shop fronts looking tacky and run down. There's Ginder (Kim Vithana), who has run away from her violent husband, Hashida (Sarita Khajuria), who has a major decision to make and conservative aunties Asha (Lalita Ahmed) and Pushpa (Zohra Sehgal), not to mention youngsters Ladhu (Nisha K Nayar) and Madhu (Renu Kochar) who are just along for the excitement. As the day wears on, tension mounts between the different generations as secrets come out into the open. It matters little that the plot feels a touch contrived--particularly the convergence of significant characters towards the end--as there's a lot of energy in the performances. The result is a bit rough around the edges, but there's a lot to amuse here, not least in the colourful nod to Bollywood contained in Asha's many dream sequences. --Emma Perry

• Wild West | DVD | (16/06/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  The story of a struggling rock band, 1992's Wild West suffered comparisons with The Commitments, which was released the year before. There similarities end, however, since the Honky Tonk Cowboys are made up of four Pakistani brothers from the West London suburb of Southall. There's tumbleweed in the street, saloon doors at home and barroom brawls at the Asian Rising Stars Talent Contest. Eldest brother Zaf (Naveen Andrews) looks the part in a ten-gallon hat and fringe jacket, but the mongrel neighbourhood is a long way from the Nashville the brother's dream about. Dogged by gangland thugs and the well-meant pursuit of traditional values from their poor mother (Lalita Ahmed), they stumble from one danger to another. The worst comes in the form of the beautiful Rifat (Sarita Choudhury), who steals Zaf's heart and the band's hopes of stardom with "Wild West Records". The film was written by then 29-year-old Harwant Bains, who grew up in Southall in a family of Punjabi background. It's clearly a flight of personal fancy rooted in an environment harshly observed. If the petty crime sits uncomfortably with the love story there's always the considerately compiled soundtrack to smooth away the suburb's rough edges. --Paul Tonks

• Guru In Seven | DVD | (28/07/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Shot entirely on location in London Brighton Paris and Bombay with snappy editing a blistering east/west soundtrack and prowling camerawork - Guru in Seven is sharply observed raw real and as 'un-PC as it gets. With support from Saeed Jaffrey Jacqueline Pearce and Antony Zaki the film stars a cast of hugely talented young British actors and features an astonishing debut from Nitin Chandra Ganatra as 'Sanjay' in a role reminiscent of a young Michael Caine in ALFIE. FAST FRESH AND FUNNY... A RAW SEXY TALE WITH A TWIST - LOADED FUNNY AND RUDE...UNMISSABLE - THE SUN A 200 MPH ROMP...A VERY FUNNY MOVIE - NME ***** - EMPIRE ***** - UNCUT

• Monsoon Wedding/East Is East/Bhaji on the Beach | DVD | (29/09/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £17.99

  Bhaji On The Beach: A day trip to Blackpool to 'sea' the lights a harmless break from the routine for a minibus full of women from the Asian Women’s Centre. It all seems innocent enough but as the minibus trundles along to a Punjabi rendition of Cliff Richard’s Summer Holiday problems quickly become apparent. Ginder is fleeing her violent husband with her five-year-old son. Hashida is eighteen about to start medical school and has just discovered she is pregnant by her black boyfriend.... Monsoon Wedding: An exuberant drama set in New Delhi where ancient culture and dot.com modernity combine in unique and perfect harmony. The film traces five intersecting stories each navigating different aspects of love as they cross boundaries of class continent and morality. The plot centres around the last minute arranged marriage which joins together the Verma family from all around the world. The family re-unites in New Delhi to join in the celebrations with the bride and groom-to-be. The relentless summer heat mirrors the story's building intensity as the city anticipates the cooling torrent of the monsoons and when the rains come the downpour brings romance revelation and liberation. East Is East: George Khan proud Pakistani and chip shop owner rules his family with a rod of iron. He thinks he's raising his seven children to be respectable Pakistanis - but this is Salford in the North of England in 1971. For the seven kids of George Khan life is one long compromise. Tomboy Meenah prefers playing footie to wearing a sari hippie Saleem pretends to be studying engineering when he's really at art school heart-throb Tariq has got a reputation as a local Casanova and Sajid hasn't even been circumcised yet! In the Khan's cramped terrace house with its scant indoor plumbing anarchy erupts on a daily basis.