Picknick am Strand

watching bhaji on the beach is a charming experience. gurinder chadha's debut movie is a wonderful display of her obvious talents in presenting a pleasant picture of the indian diaspora without sugar-coating it. conflicts related to gender, generation and race abound, but the film never gets depressing. full of characters and fuller of huge variety in background music, it creates an upbeat, captivating atmosphere.

chadha's latest film, bend it like beckham simply cannot match upto the charms of bhaji on the beach. while the former is more commercially driven, the latter is an honest, cheeky and ultimately endearing experience. from the inquisitive shots of a busy carnival to the innocently affable punjabi songs the women sing on the bus, the first-time director has done a brilliant job in this socio-cultural amalgam of more than half-a-dozen important characters.

strongly recommended for anyone who likes 'slice of life' movies. its been ten years since gurinder chadha made this film. several movies have been made on the NRI experience, but only two have matched up to its brilliance - east is east and leela. bhaji on the beach is a must-see.

7.25/10

This could've been a very nice movie, but it was such a letdown and I regret wasting 110mi utes if my life.

I wasn't a fan of Chadha's more recent movie Bend it like beckham, which I cant stress enough just does not at all match up to the quality of this film. Old certainly IS gold, as Bhaji On The Beach clearly demonstrates, focusing on the variety of problems faced by the many characters involved and not just one leading character's problems. This is certainly what makes the movie interesting at all times. Everyone has their own issues in which to deal with and not a single uninteresting second goes by. Theres always something that holds your attention, makes you laugh or sympathise with the character(s) concerned. The combination of the excellent, upbeat dance-orientated music (which was dominant at the time in contrast to today's rubbish), colourful scenes of Blackpool pleasure beach, humour and grim reality makes this a film definitely worth watching. I urge any one interested in this genre of movies to watch this. A fantastic film that whole-heartedly deserves 10/10. It's a shame they don't makes movies like this anymore.

When I was a film student in London I was the only Scot in class which led to the inevitable question " Do you set your screenplays in Scotland Theo ? " I replied I didn't because setting a story in a specific geographical location lessens the marketability of a script because the parochial nature only appeals to a specific audience

BHAJI ON THE BEACH would be an example of what I'm talking about where a bunch of Indian women travel from Birmingham on a day trip to Blackpool . Does anyone think a bunch of women singing the Cliff Richard hit Summer Holiday in Punjabi is funny ? Have you got to be Hindu to appreciate the joke ?

Perhaps I'm being quick off the mark to condemn the movie through its small minded ethnicity because I'm not entirely sure if that's the film's problem . What is certainly a problem are the far too many issues crammed into the story . Things like domestic abuse , teenage pregnancy are touched upon and because of the characters ethnic background racism is makes an appearance too in a story that's overwhelmed by its social conscience and underwhelmed by laughter . If you want to send a message try Western Union instead of celluloid

This an excellent 'under the radar' film that keeps the viewer interested all the way through from start to finish. A mixed group of Indian women from Birmingham take a day trip to Blackpool to see the illuminations.They each have their own issues and problems which are gradually revealed and played out as the film progresses.

The sensitivities of sexism, mixed-relationships, multiculturalism, racial bigotry and inter-generational difficulties are all explored in this film.The writer has woven some interesting sub plots into the main story and they all come together quite well. There is only so much that can be crammed into a film lasting just over 100 minutes, but the crowded story-line has been carefully thought through, and thus does not fall apart, despite the various topics and themes. It is a good film and I would watch it again.