24 Years of Bend It Like Beckham: Gurinder Chadha’s film is the ONLY movie to have been distributed in every country, including North Korea; TV premiere was CENSORED by nearly 50 minutes
Here's the latest update from the Bollywood world:
Bend It Like Beckham also achieved a rare distinction – it was screened in North Korea. During the promotions of her movie Christmas Karma (2025), Gurinder Chadha told Mid-Day's Mayank Shekhar, “ Bend It Like Beckham remains the only movie in the history of cinema to have been distributed in every country of the world, including North Korea!”
Adding to this, Bend It Like Beckham was first screened in North Korea at the 9th Pyongyang International Movie Festival in 2004. Festival organizer Nicholas Bonner wrote his first-hand account of the screening of the movie. He wrote, “If a movie is popular, it soon sells out. Which is exactly what happened with Bend It Like Beckham . The movie was a hit! It screened at 3 cinemas for 4 days and reached an audience of 12,000. An astonishing number in such a short time.”
Meanwhile, Then, on December 26, 2010, the movie made history by airing nationwide on North Korean state television (Korean Central Television). Nick Bonner, the man behind Beijing-based Koryo Tours, shared, “This is the first Western movie broadcast throughout the whole of North Korea.”
Notably, The broadcast was negotiated by the British Embassy in Pyongyang, led by Ambassador Peter Hughes, to commemorate 10 years of diplomatic relations between the UK and the DPRK.
As per the latest buzz, However, as per reports, the 112-minute-long movie was heavily censored and trimmed to just an hour for its North Korean broadcast. As per an article in Mail & Guardian, “Although Bend It like Beckham is about a sport beloved among North Koreans, the movie also tackles taboo topics, including interracial relationships, homosexuality and religion.”
In further updates, Bend It Like Beckham is about a soccer-mad teenage girl in London who revolts against her traditional Punjabi family by idolizing David Beckham and playing football in a local all-female team. It also starred Parminder Nagra, Anupam Kher, Zohra Sehgal and others.
Source: Bollywood Hungama