This thesis examines narrative articulations in the films Bend It Like Beckham, Bhaji on the Beach, and American Chai as a complicated conversation in relation to bicultural-identity construction in the Indian diaspora. Unpacking the way desi identities are managed in/as a quantum (third) space – one that is continuously shifting and deferred – the films exemplify how "desi" is a heterogeneous cultural "group" without a homeland from which to speak or to return. The narratives of these films are considered cultural translations that expose inter-generational culture-clashes in the spaces between Indian and Western cultures. Screenplay pedagogy was used as a methodology to (re)read analysis of the films, revealing the ways that different movies employ and reinscribe themes of the multicultural pastoral, the carnivalesque, and melodrama, respectively. This thesis concludes by opening up some of the places from which individuals enunciate their desi identities, including the possibilities for (self)reflection.

This thesis examines narrative articulations in the films Bend It Like Beckham, Bhaji on the Beach, and American Chai as a complicated conversation in relation to bicultural-identity construction in the Indian diaspora. Unpacking the way desi identities are managed in/as a quantum (third) space – one that is continuously shifting and deferred – the films exemplify how "desi" is a heterogeneous cultural "group" without a homeland from which to speak or to return. The narratives of these films are considered cultural translations that expose inter-generational culture-clashes in the spaces between Indian and Western cultures. Screenplay pedagogy was used as a methodology to (re)read analysis of the films, revealing the ways that different movies employ and reinscribe themes of the multicultural pastoral, the carnivalesque, and melodrama, respectively. This thesis concludes by opening up some of the places from which individuals enunciate their desi identities, including the possibilities for (self)reflection.

This thesis examines narrative articulations in the films Bend It Like Beckham, Bhaji on the Beach, and American Chai as a complicated conversation in relation to bicultural-identity construction in the Indian diaspora. Unpacking the way desi identities are managed in/as a quantum (third) space – one that is continuously shifting and deferred – the films exemplify how "desi" is a heterogeneous cultural "group" without a homeland from which to speak or to return. The narratives of these films are considered cultural translations that expose inter-generational culture-clashes in the spaces between Indian and Western cultures. Screenplay pedagogy was used as a methodology to (re)read analysis of the films, revealing the ways that different movies employ and reinscribe themes of the multicultural pastoral, the carnivalesque, and melodrama, respectively. This thesis concludes by opening up some of the places from which individuals enunciate their desi identities, including the possibilities for (self)reflection.

This paper explores the construction of multicultural identities in the postcolonial world in relation to nonresident Indian women depicted in mainstream cinema. The dissertation traces the distorted representation of Indian women from its colonial and diasporic origins to its contemporary neo-colonial evolution. The analysis of two films, directed by Gurinder Chadha, Bend It Like Beckham (2002) and Bride and Prejudice (2004), speaks back to Indian women‟s agency and ownership of multicultural identities. These film texts were chosen as they are both contemporary examples of Indian class, gender and culture in relation to the postmodern concept of multicultural societies. The films are products of formerly colonised people commenting on issues of class, gender and power as seen in Indian diasporic communities in England and the USA. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2009.