Cinema is not supposed to always be serious and dramatic. Sometimes it needs to be happy and even put a smile on your face. Like this story of a Pakistani teenager living in England in the 80s and having not only to face the racism of his peers but also the pressure of his very traditional family who want him to closely follow the customs of their mother country.
So what can Javed (Viveik Kalra) do in Blinded by the Light in order to manage to grow up and be his own person? Well, help comes from an unexpected place when a classmate of his gives him two Bruce Springsteen cassettes. Javed immediately falls in love with the music and especially with the lyrics which seem to be speaking directly to his heart and answering the questions that he has about life.
By listening to Springsteen, Javed becomes more confident in all areas of life: he gets a girlfriend (something that he'd never have done in the past), he gains the courage to face the people who treat him badly, he even turns his back to his father and his backwards ways. Most important of all, however, is that he understands what his true calling is: he aims at becoming a writer.
Gurinder Chadha (familiar with the subject of growing up in movies such as Bend it like Beckham (2002) and Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging (2008)) gives a light-hearted glance at rather serious topics, making Blinded by the Light an optimistic, pleasant (and sometimes over-the-top) coming-of-age story which never forgets, however, to pay its respects to the mastermind that is Bruce Springsteen. Naturally, the film is filled with The Boss's songs making it simultaneously a story of a boy who jumps over obstacles, as well as a story about the influence that a great artist can have on anyone's life.
What makes the film more interesting, though, is the fact that it is based on the true story of Sarfraz Manzoor, who has been a Bruce Springsteen fan for more than 30 years, has seen him live more than 150 times and has also followed his dream and has become a successful journalist; not a bad message for -obsessed- people everywhere.
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