Blinded by the Light (2019)

In England in 1987, a teenager from an Asian family learns to live his life, understand his family and find his own voice through the music of American rock star Bruce Springsteen.

Director:

Gurinder Chadha

Writers:

Paul Mayeda Berges, Gurinder Chadha

Stars:

Viveik Kalra, Kulvinder Ghir, Meera Ganatra

2 wins & 3 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Viveik Kalra	...	Javed
Kulvinder Ghir	...	Malik
Meera Ganatra	...	Noor
Aaron Phagura	...	Roops
Dean-Charles Chapman	...	Matt
Nikita Mehta	...	Shazia
Nell Williams	...	Eliza
Tara Divina	...	Yasmeen
Rob Brydon	...	Matt's Dad
Frankie Fox	...	Colin Hand
Hayley Atwell	...	Ms Clay
Sally Phillips	...	Mrs. Anderson
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Sofia Abbasi	...	1980's Local Resident
Asheq Akhtar	...	Butcher
Vincent Andriano	...	Billy

Storyline

In 1987 Britain, Javed Khan is a British-Pakistani college arts student in Luton in a family with a domineering father. Depressed by his oppressive family life and feeling he has no future in a hostile community, a newfound friend introduces Javed to the music of Bruce Springsteen. Touched by the rock star's powerfully eloquent affinity of his own feelings, Javed is inspired to reach out for his own dreams with his own talents. However, although Javed finds friends he never expected in this personal quest, he also finds himself butting heads with his newly unemployed father who stubbornly refuses to understand his son's new aspirations. In this conflict of values in a troubled time, Javed must decide what is truly important to him while his family struggles to understand what has changed and what remains with a new generation feeling born to run.

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Plot Keywords:

bruce springsteen | 1980s | semi autobiographical | british asian | reference to bruce springsteen | 

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Taglines:

For Everyone Who Has Ever Wanted to Dream. You're Not Alone.

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Music

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for thematic material and language including some ethnic slurs.

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

UK USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

16 August 2019 (USA)

Also Known As:

Blinded by the Light

Filming Locations:

The Mall Luton, Mall Management, 37 The Mall, Bedfordshire, Luton LU1 2LJ, United Kingdom

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$4,333,305, 18 August 2019

Gross USA:

$11,667,236

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$16,273,382

Company Credits

Production Co:

Bend It Films, Ingenious Media, Levantine Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

118 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Rob Brydon, who plays Matt's Dad, is a Bruce Springsteen fan in real life and in January 2018 surprised regulars at the Half Moon in Putney by singing a version of "Thunder Road" with singer-songwriter Martyn Joseph.

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Goofs

An establishing shot shows an arriving airliner over a sign that reads "Newark Liberty International Airport." However, the story is set in the late 1980's when the airport was named "Newark International Airport." "Liberty" was added to the name in 2002 after 9/11.

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Quotes

Malik: Stay away from the girls. Follow the Jews!

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Connections

References Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence (1983)

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Soundtracks

Don't You Want Me
Performed by The Human League

User Reviews

Blinding by Springsteen

Saw this as a secret screening at Cineworld as part of there unlimited series. I can understand by the reviews are so mixed as it a very marmite film, I enjoyed the comedy one liners by the main character's dad, absolutely hated the middle 'Grease' homage at which point I was ready to walk, but it pulled it back slightly for the end. The 80's soundtrack is cracking, and as a 80's boy bought up listening the same stuff and having been bought up on a strong diet of Spingsteen by my old man growing up, I related strongly to it. It's not something I would see again, but I'm glad I did at the same time if that makes sense. Not bad at all and better then the mostly negative reviews on here.