English Cricket Team: Bend It Like Beckham

Racial Tensions Dept: Breakaway has been described as Mighty Ducks-meets-Bend it like Beckham, but the film also focuses on the racial tensions between the Sikh lads who play with the Speedy Singhs in Brampton, Ont., and their all-white opposing hockey team, according to Globe and Mail. But while Patiala House had a predominantly all-Bollywood cast with Kumar as the lead, Breakaway is just the opposite. The film draws on homegrown South Asian talent, such as leading man Vinay Varmani and funny man Russell Peters with Kumar only doing a cameo and the 44-year-old Indian actor and producer is back in town this weekend to promote his new hockey film Breakaway, a Punjabi take on Canada s national pastime. It s the first time a Bollywood producer has made a mainstream Hollywood film. But if someone was going to do it, it s hardly a surprise it was Kumar: he s an old hand at bridging that gap between the various -woods. He shuttles between his home in Mumbai and Toronto regularly. And as such he says he has a pretty good sense of what South Asians abroad want to see. Sports is something that everyone can do and everyone should do, Kumar said in an interview on Saturday. That s why I ve made films like Patiala House in which an Indian immigrant plays for the English cricket team (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.