The Word of the Boss

Art holds substantial power over us and it often goes unvalued the sheer degree of its impact. The right book or movie or piece of music that hits us at the right time can have a domino effect that changes what we do with our lives. How often have we heard scientists or astronauts or engineers say they were driven to their fields by Star Trek -it’s become a cliché. Law enforcement and military personnel have similarly cited superhero comics as a profound inspiration for choosing vocations of justice and courage. Every filmmaker has that one movie they saw when they were young that lit the spark. And speaking of sparks…

Blinded by the Light is 2019’s second love letter to a specific musical icon starring a British-Asian character struggling to find himself that balances comedy with personal drama. However it’s a much more sincere film than Danny Boyle’s Yesterday, if not as witty or interesting on a conceptual level. It’s the latest film from Gurinder Chadha, the often forgotten director of Bend It Like Beckham, Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging, and a number of Indian-themed British movies, in which company Blinded by the Light comfortably sits. She’s well aware of the power of art to drastically effect the course of an individuals’ life, and while this film it can be argued overdoes it in the obsession Javed Khan (a magnetically exuberant Viveik Kalra) develops with the music and persona of Bruce Springsteen, the honest beauty of that kind of passion is fully palpable.

Javed Khan is based on a real person, journalist and filmmaker Sarfraz Manzoor, whose discovery of Springsteen when he was a teenager in late-80’s Luton inspired in him the confidence to self-actualize and pursue his dream of writing. Everything about that journey is heightened to some degree in the movie, to the point of near magical realism. Though not a musical, there are a couple times where it breaks its own rules in emanation of a musical –Javed, and sometimes his equally Bruce-obsessed friend Roops (Aaron Phagura) or his love interest Eliza (Nell Williams) (and on one occasion a typically cheeky Rob Brydon), sing or dance to Springsteen songs out in public; lyrics appear before him in the air as we feel the resonance they have; every development of his prospects and accompanying obstacle neatly aligns with a coming-of-age formula. Blinded by the Light is very romanticized, its’ dialogue often feels juvenile and its’ execution supremely unsubtle. Yet the innocent self-awareness in all this that the movie wears on its sleeve buffers the drudgery of such choices in a manner not unlike the Paddington movies.

What helps too is that despite Javed being much more engrossed in Springsteen than Himesh Patel was in The Beatles, “the Boss” is merely the dressing on a movie that is really about inspiration and identity. Javed is discovering his creative voice at the same time as he’s torn between following his dream and his guilt for what his family’s going through. Primarily, the base conflict of the film is the dysfunctional relationship between Javed and his father Malik (Kulvindir Ghir -a curious bit of casting for those who know Goodness Gracious Me and that Sanjeev Bhaskar played the father in Yesterday). And in some ways Malik is the stereotypical caricature of an immigrant parent, beholden to the traditions of the home country and determined that his son pursues a practical, financially lucrative profession. But Chadha makes sure that you understand exactly why he feels that way and empathize with his struggle to find work, after Thatcherite economic policies result in him being laid off. We also see the racism and intimidation the family endure every day, from a drunken white thug stalking Javed home, to miscreant children urinating through the letterbox of a fellow Pakistani neighbour. Conscious parallels are frequently drawn between the political and social state of Britain in the 1980s and the present. The economic uncertainty and political division (Eliza’s social activism is primarily a reaction to her staunchly conservative parents) are all too familiar, as is the openness of virulent hate that culminates in the kind of Nazi rally now commonplace in the U.S. and U.K.

With all this, the situation of the Khan family and Javed’s complex feelings towards his place in it are relatable and interesting. And the film is careful not to play him as totally righteous all the time (though it certainly leans too much that way in the second act especially). Javed is blinded by the light of Springsteen, whom as the title would evoke, he elevates to god status with his music a veritable bible with which to hone his newfound ambitions, that he often fails to comprehend or consider reality. The film realizes this a bit late, but atones for it satisfactorily nonetheless; coming to a solid conclusion that the transformative power of art is a glorious thing, but it’s not the only thing.

Obviously if you like Bruce Springsteen you’ll enjoy the use of his music here. Kalra’s a good singer but he’s got Springsteen to back him up if you don’t care for his imitations. I wish that the film had used a few more songs just to avoid repetition (namely “Born to Run”, “Promised Land”, and “Dancing in the Dark”), but it does provide fans with one previously unreleased song “I’ll Stand By You”, written originally for, of all things, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.

Blinded by the Light still makes a few too many pointless choices for me to endorse wholeheartedly, like setting up in the opening a major friction with Javed’s childhood friend Matt (Dean-Charles Chapman) and mostly wasting Hayley Atwell as the cliché encouraging teacher, a role well beneath her considerable talents. However there’s an infectiousness to its hearty nature, a joy in its celebration of the power of music, and even a boldness in how it kind of breaks down the barrier between musicals and the rest of cinema. Let’s not dismiss that.

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