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

Gurinder Chadha's Bend It Like Beckham (2002) celebrated its 24th anniversary on July 12.

The UK production featured a predominantly Indian cast, along with Keira Knightley and Jonathan Rhys Meyers in prominent roles.

Made on a modest budget of just $5.6 million, the film went on to gross a remarkable $92.2 million worldwide.

Bend It Like Beckham also achieved a rare distinction – it was screened in North Korea.

During the promotions of her film Christmas Karma (2025), Gurinder Chadha told Mid-Day's Mayank Shekhar, “Bend It Like Beckham remains the only film in the history of cinema to have been distributed in every country of the world, including North Korea!” Bend It Like Beckham was first screened in North Korea at the 9th Pyongyang International Film Festival in 2004.

Festival organizer Nicholas Bonner wrote his first-hand account of the screening of the film.

He wrote, “If a film is popular, it soon sells out.

Which is exactly what happened with Bend It Like Beckham.

The film 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.” Then, on December 26, 2010, the film made history by airing nationwide on North Korean state television (Korean Central Television).

Nick Bonner, the man behind Beijing-based Koryo Tours, said, “This is the first Western film broadcast throughout the whole of North Korea.” 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.

However, as per reports, the 112-minute-long film 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 film also tackles taboo topics, including interracial relationships, homosexuality and religion.” 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.