'Blinded By The Light' A Review

Blinded By The Light is a coming of age dramedy about aspiring writer Javed Khan(Viveik Kalra) the son of Pakistani immigrant parents struggling to find himself and his place in 1987 suburban England. His friend Roops(Aaron Phagura) gives him Bruce Springsteen tapes which inspire Javed to get out of his shell and pursue his passions.

Kalra gives a great open and emotional performance at the center of this almost-all-diagetic-musical. His enthusiasm, youthful searching, and inevitable self-involved angst are relatable without ever being tiresome. Meera Ganatra and Kulvinder Ghir as Javed's parents also give nuanced, uncompromising performances, a wonderful balance is struck with his family between cultural expectation and the inevitable individualism of the west. The supporting cast are all engaging but it is Javed's journey and the music of The Boss which are the film's real stars.

The music of The Boss, justly, dominates the soundtrack mostly played onscreen by Javed with some more involved dance or heighten set pieces that really weave in perfectly with the story, elevating it, but not distracting or completely breaking the fourth wall like in a conventional musical. Although mostly a feel-good story the film doesn't shrink from the racial conflicts of the time, also resonant today, but never tips the scales into the overwrought or melodramatic.

A fun, inspiring love letter to Springsteen and the power of music.

See It.