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Sandra Olmsted’s Cinematic Skinny: Springsteen Inspires in . . .
Blinded by the Light:
A Charming Musical Mishmash
By Sandra Olmsted
In Blinded by the Light, director Gurinder Chadha may be leaning a little too hard on recreating the formula that worked so well for her in Bend it Like Beckham, but choosing that as the only movie in her filmography is more than a little myopic. Chadha’s films deal with the intersection of her own Indian immigrant heritage, being British, and her fascination with American culture.
In Blinded by the Light, Javed (Viveik Kalra), the offspring of immigrants, struggles with his identity as a good Pakistani son and a British teen, just as he needs to break away from his parents to establish his own path. Then Roops (Aaron Phagura), the fellow Pakistani Brit turns Javed on to Bruce “The Boss” Springsteen. Springsteen’s ballad-esque, rock-n-roll words of wisdom about the life of a working-class kid with big dreams speak to Javed, offering him solace and encouragement.
Even though it’s 1987, Javed’s father, Malik (Kulvinder Ghir), demands the entire family works hard and turns over their earnings to him, leaving sixteen-year-old Javed without hope of spreading his wings. Javed’s best friend, Matt (Dean-Charles Chapman), a boy-band rocker, keeps Javed involved in the teenage world by asking him to write lyrics. Javed, however, isn’t even allowed to attend Matt’s birthday parties, which are nearly next door.
When Malik loses his job of 16 years, the life he has carefully crafted for his family in the working-class suburb of Luton falls apart in the downsizing and austerity of Thatcher’s Britain. With money issues weighing heavily on Malik because of a daughter’s impending wedding and mounting bills, he becomes more obsessive and controlling as Javed begins to spread his wings. As Javed starts his first year of the local sixth form college, he is opened to possibilities by a teacher (Hayley Atwell) who’s about to discover his writing talent, a beautiful classmate, Eliza (Nell Williams), and Roops’ love of Springsteen’s music. A writing contest and an unpaid internship will further rankle Javed’s relationship with his father.
With his dad on his back about making money, Javed gets a job working with Matt and his dad (Rob Brydon). When Eliza appears in the open-air shop, Matt’s dad joins Javed in a Bollywood-esque song and dance sequence that is another of Chadha’s culture-crossing touches. To solve to problem of showing Javed listening to Springsteen’s music on his Walkman, Chadha finds innovative ways for The Boss’ lyrics to play over, around, and through Javed and to emphasize the music’s importance to Javed through Kalra’s acting prowess.
As the family’s financial situation spirals downward, the society around them becomes more resentful of immigrants, even ones suffering the same economic troubles, and Javed and his family and friends face the bigotry and prejudice with the rising tide of anti-immigrant sentiment. As with What’s Cooking?, my favorite Thanksgiving movie, Chadha needs a meaty subtext to drive her storylines, and the themes of immigration and tolerance are as powerful here as in What’s Cooking?. She is also a master of wrapping those heavy themes in humor and romance and always a bit of drama, such as Javed and Matt’s falling out, the solemn elderly neighbor, and the marches by anti-immigrant groups that could spoil a wedding.
Blinded by the Light captures the youthful exuberance of Javed, Eliza, and Roops in nods to Bollywood film’s traditions of characters breaking into song and dance numbers and in the pranks and adventures of the trio as they mature. Although the one glaring fault is rectified in the end, the lack of development of Malik’s own identity crisis and comparisons to Javed’s struggle to grow needed a bit more fleshing out.
Blinded by the Light, a Warner Bros./New Line Cinema release, runs a music-packed, “Allegro” of 117 minutes and is rated PG-13 for thematic material and language, including some ethnic slurs. In addition to Springsteen’s classics, the film also has strains of late 1980’s boy-band music. Inspired by the life of the Guardian journalist Sarfraz Manzoor, who also co-wrote the script with Chadha, Blinded by the Light won the Truly Moving Picture Award at the Heartland Film festival in 2019. Blinded by the Light opens in theaters August 16 and promises feel-good fun and plenty of music.
