Mrs Bhamra, Chadha turned to Shaheen Khan, whom she had previously cast in Bhaji on the Beach. Anupam Kher, a Bollywood actor, was cast as Mr Bhamra, Jess's father. Chadha worked with The Football Association and ended up casting actual players from a variety of school teams. Release Theatrical Bend It Like Beckham was released theatrically on 12 April 2002 by Redbus Film Distribution. The film then received a limited theatrical release in the United States on 12 March 2003 by Fox Searchlight Pictures. When originally released in the United Kingdom, it topped the country's box office for the next three weekends, before being overtaken by About a Boy. Home media The film was released on DVD and VHS on 18 November 2002 by Warner Home Video, and re-released on DVD and VHS on 30 September 2003 in the United States by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. Among the DVD bonus features, there are several scenes that did not make the final release. Some include dialogue from Pinky's friends and from Jules, as well as her mother meeting Kevin and his friends outside a shop, which would have been helpful, as Kevin is mentioned three times but is never seen. On the North American Billboard video charts, the film entered the top ten of the Top DVD Sales and Top DVD Rentals charts, at number six on Top VHS Sales, and number seven on Top VHS Rentals. In the United Kingdom, it was the sixth most-watched film of 2003 on subscription television, with 810,000 viewers on Sky Premier that year. It was later the most-watched film on UK television during the first half of 2005, with viewers on BBC1 during that period. Combined, the film drew at least UK viewership during 2003 and 2005. Reception Critical response Bend It Like Beckham surprised critics and met with mostly positive reviews. Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 85% based on 154 reviews, with an average rating of 7.2/10. The consensus states, "Inspiring, compassionate, and with a sly undercurrent of social commentary, Bend It Like Beckham is a lively feel-good movie that genuinely charms." Metacritic gave the movie a score of 66 based on 32 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times noted that the film "was really full of easy humor, an impeccable sense of milieu that is the result of knowing