Players now try to trend it like Beckham more often than they try to bend it like Beckham.

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"Normally in film you can sit back a lot more and let it wash over you, " continues the star of Bend It Like Beckham and the Pirates of the Caribbean films.

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The first Bollywood acting school, the Actor Prepares academy in Ealing, west London, which was founded by Bollywood actor Anupam Kher of Bend It Like Beckham fame, opened its doors back in 2008.

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Already a world-wide sports star, he became a crossover phenomenon with the release of the 2002 comedy film "Bend It Like Beckham, " in which a British-born Indian girl dreams of playing with her hero.

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