THE director of the smash hit movie Bend It Like Beckham is making a new film in Ealing.

Gurinder Chadha's new film, It's A Wonderful Afterlife, is currently in production at Ealing studios and parts of the production will also be shot in Southall.

The film has been described as a cross between My Big Fat Greek Wedding and Shaun Of The Dead and is set for release early next year.

Long-time collaborator and husband Paul Mayeda Berges has written the screenplay along with Chadha.

Filming began last weekend and the multi-cultural cast will include legendary Indian actress, Shabana Azmi, Sendhil Ramamurthy (star of TV show Heroes), Shaheen Khan (Bend It Like Beckham) and British-Indian theatre actress, Goldie Notay. More international names are being confirmed and will be announced shortly.

Bend It Like Beckham, which was also partly filmed in Southall, was released in 2002 and was a massive box office hit, propelling stars Keira Knightley and Parminder Nagra to global fame.