Chadha, Gurinder

   In her two best films to date, Bhaji on the Beach (1993) for Channel 4 and Rich Deceiver (1995) for the BBC, Chadha has explored questions of race, ethnicity, class and community. Bhaji on the Beach explores problems faced by Asian women squeezed between two cultures, and to an extent victimized by both their own cultural tenets and British Asian community standards. No easy resolutions are offered and Chadha does not flaunt a particular political line, but sympathizes with the pragmatic choices of today. Based on Gillian White’s literary original, Chadha’s film Rich Deceiver concentrates more on contemporary social problems (created by the windfall of winning the lottery) and male-female relations. It also examines the role of capitalism in determining personality.

   See also: diasporan film-makers

   MIKE STORRY