Bend It Like Beckham: Five reasons the film is still iconic 20 years on

It was a surprise hit that told the story of a young British Indian girl with a passion for football.

For many, the cultural moment that remains timeless is the exploration of themes of identity, race, gender, sexuality, religion and immigration.

The film is still popular 20 years later.

• Listen to 5 Live Sport: All About Bend It Like Beckham, 20 years on

It showed us football is for everyone

The film is about a football-loving teenager from a British- Indian Sikh family in London. It explores a lot more when you look a bit deeper.

Ian Wright was the inspiration for the film. When Gurinder Chadha saw a photograph of Wright wearing a union jack, she thought about what Britishness really meant in the late 1990s.

The film gave a British-South Asian girl a name. Jess was the closest thing to a sporting role model we had.

As many girls and women who played sport in the UK, she shared the same lived experiences, she had a huge impact on audiences.

The film also uses football to navigate sexuality, with Tony coming out to her, saying: "No, I really like Beckham."

One simple conversation shows how much the women's game in the UK has developed in the past 20 years, and it also shows how accessible football is.

When Jules tells Jess that she wants to be a professional footballer, her reaction is of the time.

She says that America has a pro-league with new stadiums and everything.

Some of the best American players come to play in the Women's Super League, which is among the best professional women's leagues in the world.

It reminds us of the power of sport

The film is about British and Indian culture clashing, but it is also about Jess parents not wanting her to play football.

It is one of the reasons the film is so relevant to anyone whose parents want them to focus on education, or get a job, or marry, instead of playing sport.

Some of Jess' happiest moments in the film are when she plays.

She is one of the characters that we see navigating through British society with a home life that is different to that culture.

Jess chooses her own cultural identity, and sport is a big part of that. She lets her mother teach her how to cook traditional Indian food, but does knee-ups with cabbage. She bends a football around the washing line. She loves football and her culture at the same time.

The power sport can be used for integration.

Jess father stopped playing cricket because English teams wouldn't let him play, and he was racially abused. Jess coach Joe tries to convince her parents that things have changed, but her dad says that none of their boys are in any of the football leagues. Do you think they will let our girls?

When Jess gets a scholarship to play football at a US university, her father plays cricket again.

Jess is a hybrid identity that helps remind us that sport is a universal language.

It taught us the concept of bending

You might think bending a ball like David Beckham is a one-dimensional concept, but there is more to the film than that.

Chadha explained in a 2003 interview that the movie was a great metaphor for a lot of us.

We can see our goal but instead of going straight there, we have to twist and bend the rules to get what we want.

In the film, we see Jess bend the rules of her family and community to live out her dreams. She finds ways of adapting to her culture. When Jules bends the rules of what it means to be a woman, rejecting her mother's demand to dress in a more feminine way, it is the same.

Jess has the rules bent for her as her father allows her to sneak out of her sister's wedding to play a game for a team in front of an American scout.

It's still quoted today

The quotes from theBend It Like Beckham are legendary.

Anyone can cook aloo gobi, but who can bend a ball like Beckham?

With one of our designs, even these mosquito bites will look like juicy, juicy mangoes.

The French mustard has to be between the teriyaki sauce and the sea salt.

Being a lesbian is not that big of a deal. I have nothing against it. I was cheering for Navratilova more than the next person.

What family would want a daughter-in-law who is good at football but not good at chapatis?

The quotes are timeless because they are things anyone can relate to.

Behind each word sits a plot that each character is navigating while trying to create their own identity.

It's hilarious

One of the best things about Bend it Like Beckham is that it is still funny today. The humour is used to engage audiences, taking them through storylines that are otherwise difficult to watch.

The film is still being shared on social media, whether it is the celebrations of the Hounslow Harriers or the Desi wall of defenders.

Although the scene where Jess is taking a free-kick and imagining her relatives in goal is hilarious, it is also a striking image that reminds us we have seen Jess create her own identity, mixing her culture, family and sport.

She was able to leave her sister's wedding with the approval of her dad and score a free-kick, just like Beckham. The audience hope that the future of the girl's parents will make them proud when they see the American scout who watches the free-kick.

Allow her to be herself.