Film
Film Review: Blinded By The Light
This film pays ample homage to Springsteen's back catalogue whilst still offers a touching story, says Linda Marric
August 7, 2019 10:50
This film pays ample homage to Springsteen's back catalogue whilst still offers a touching story, says Linda Marric
August 7, 2019 10:50The latest film from Bend It Like Beckham director Gurinder Chadha is an inspirational coming-of-age story about a teenager (Viveik Kalra) attempting to find his own voice through the music of Bruce Springsteen in 1980s Thatcherite Britain.
Based on Sarfraz Manzoor’s acclaimed 2008 memoir Greetings from Bury Park, (a play on words on Springsteen’s debut album Greetings from Asbury Park), the film was co-written by Manzoor, Chadha and Chadha’s long-time collaborator and husband Paul Mayeda Berges (Bend It Like Beckham, Bride and Prejudice).
The year is 1987 and Javed (Kalra) – a bright 16-year-old British Pakistani boy growing up in Luton – dreams of becoming a writer and poet in a town where unemployment and the National Front are on the rise. Unfortunately for Javed, his strict and overbearing father Malik (Kulvinder Ghir) has other ideas of what he is expected to be, and none of them involve becoming a writer and poet.
Javed’s whole outlook on life is transformed overnight when he is introduced to the music of Bruce Springsteen when he meets Roops (Aaron Phagura) in his first week at sixth-form college. Soon Javed starts to notice obvious parallels between his life in Luton and Springsteen’s native New Jersey, where unemployment and poverty played a huge role in the star’s own anti-establishment, pro-working class message.
Sitting somewhere between social-realism and fantasy, Blinded By The Light presents a story of struggle and triumph over adversity in a drama-comedy, which is also one of the most joyously riotous musicals of the year. Gurinder Chadha – who has never shied away from broaching taboo subject matters in the Asian community – offers a slightly contrived yet touching interpretation of Manzoor’s memoir.
Viveik Kalra (Next of Kin, Beecham House) does an impressive job in portraying his character’s rebellious and youthful enthusiasm in a well-judged performance, however it is Kulvinder Ghir (Goodness Gracious Me) as Javed’s father Malik who impresses the most throughout.
Blinded By The Light serves as a fitting tribute to both Manzoor’s life-long adulation for Springsteen and Springsteen’s music. A genuinely touching and thoroughly thought-provoking offering from Chadh, Manzoor and Berges, this film is a must see.
