Bend It Like Beckham made stars of Kiera Knightly and Parminder Nagra

Director Gurinder Chadha is raising money for the project to translate the football film into a lavish stage production, the Telegraph reported.

Meanwhile, a musical about The Beatles is set to be produced - but without the music of John Lennon and Sir Paul McCartney, reports the Times.

The show is set to be based on the 1994 movie Backbeat.

The musical is set to cash in on the success of tributes shows for Queen, Abba and Rod Stewart.

It has been a long process to secure the rights to the early Beatles' early rock and roll years, when the late Stuart Sutcliffe was part of the band.

The early years of the Beatles was covered in the film Backbeat

Songs which will feature include covers of Long Tall Sally and Twist and Shout which formed part of their early shows.

The planned Bend It Like Beckham musical is due to open in 2004.

The original film made stars out of Kiera Knightley and Parminda Nagra. Knightley went on to star in Pirates of the Caribbean and Love Actually, while Nagra has been cast in medical drama ER.

The London-set movie also proved a hit in the US, despite the lower US profile of David Beckham.

"The musical will be set in the same place but the Punjabi culture that the movie embodies is so full of life and culture and we will bring that more to life in the musical," producer Deepak Nayar told the Telegraph.