Based on the memoir of British journalist Sarfraz Manzoor Greeting From Bury Park: Race, Religion and Rock N’ Roll, Blinded by the Light is a love letter to the power of music in all its forms. The latest in what’s been called ‘Jukebox Musicals’ after the likes of Yesterday, Rocketman and Mamma Mia!, Gurinder Chadha’s adaptation of the music of Bruce Springsteen is a rather sweet story of how music can change a life.
In 1980s small-town Luton, the midpoint between London and the North, Javed Khan (Viveik Kalra) is the youngest in a family of Pakistani immigrants doing their best in Thatcherite Britain. As one of only two South-Asian students at his high school he constantly feels like an outsider, unable to fit in at home with his father’s (Kulvinder Ghir) domineering rule and unable to fit into his society because of the color of his skin. His love of poetry and writing, nursed by his English teacher (Hayley Atwell), is one of the few ways he can make sense of his world. When a friend gives him two cassette tapes of Bruce Springsteen he discovers a love for The Boss’s music that changes his life. As his friend describes it: Springsteen’s music is “a direct line to all that is true in this shitty world”.
We’ve seen this story many times before and while it’s familiar and unnecessarily cheesy in parts, Blinded by the Light has its heart in the right place. After making her name with Bend it Like Beckham, Chadha seems to be the go-to story teller about Britain’s South-Asian population. She’s lived this life and she tells it with aplomb. It’s a warts and all portrayal of this culture, where family means everything and the dignity of your name is crucial. Yet it’s also one where a father can tell his teenage son “You’re here to study, I’ll find you a wife in good time”.
Viveik Kalra, in his first feature film, does a stellar job as our leading man, even though his character can at times be rather selfish. He’s the archetype of every outsider who finds solace in music and words, and when you’re working with the lyrics and tunes of Bruce Springsteen you’re in good hands. The scene when he first listens, with the lyrics themselves circling around him, is excellent.
There’s plenty of the Boss’s tunes and a few dance numbers, yet strangely this isn’t a musical. Characters start singing and dancing but it’s all in the context of them having headphones and no trepidation of looking silly in public. It’s a strange choice. In a case of the film wanting to have its cake and eat it too it sticks to the story without dipping into full-on song and dance numbers. The result is cheesy beyond belief. Go full musical or don’t, straddling the line just comes across as foolhardy.
While it’s all quite predictable, the way that people use music to find themselves is an honest foundation to build a film like this on. A perfectly alright film with a great soundtrack, it will resonate especially with Springsteen fans and the South Asian community .
On a personal note, there were parts of this that resonated with me especially. As the film opens we see a young Javed sitting on a hill watching cars on the highway go past, wishing his life could begin and he could move away from his quiet home town. I did exactly this as a young man growing up in country Victoria. Plus, my first relationship started in part because of Bruce Springsteen. I was pacing back and forth, wondering if I should ask a girl out on a date when Dancing In the Dark started playing. Hearing the lyrics “You can’t start a fire worrying about your little world falling apart” finally sealed the deal. It worked too.
Blinded by the Light is in cinemas from 24th October through Universal Pictures.
