

Song cues become intolerably literal Independence Day marks a falling out between Jay and his father, Malik ( Goodness Gracious Me’s Kulvinder Ghir). Jay begins unironically reciting Bruce lyrics in place of dialogue. The lyrics to Dancing in the Dark appear as on-screen text, flashing up karaoke style, spinning around Jay’s head.

The film’s puppyish enthusiasm – for both Springsteen and the unifying power of music – is potent.Ġ2:40 Watch the trailer for Blinded by the Light - videoīut the reliance on his back catalogue is both its greatest strength and its biggest weakness.

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To her credit, Chadha knows how to please a crowd. The characters and the world around them feel slight, but the emotional rush is real as Jay leans in for his first kiss while Prove It All Night roars a crowded street party that erupts into a chorus of Thunder Road has a similarly joyful effect.
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It unfolds as a series of Springsteen-soundtracked set pieces, each shamelessly engineered to maximise catharsis, cheering and possibly weeping from the audience. It is gleefully dorky, hopelessly earnest, sincere, quite possibly to a fault. Let it be said now that writer-director Gurinder Chadha’s unabashed “feelgood” jukebox musical is not cool. Manzoor has seen Springsteen in concert more than 150 times, and has previously explained that he never had a cool role model to influence his tastes. An aspiring writer with a proud, domineering father, Javed’s desire for independence is further stirred when he starts sixth-form college and a new friend, turbaned Sikh Roops (Aaron Phagura), introduces him to the music of Bruce Springsteen.Īlready considered unfashionable dad rock by the late 80s (“Synths are the future,” insists best friend Matt), the Boss might seem a slightly strange beacon for Jay to be drawn to (or indeed blinded by), but the film, a coming-of-age tale about the escape route that music can provide for a suburban teenager, is based on the memoirs of journalist Sarfraz Manzoor, and also co-written by him. “M ake loads of money, kiss a girl, get out of this dump.” The year is 1987, the dump is Luton, and the humble dreams belong to British Pakistani teenager Javed, aka “Jay” (Viveik Kalra, handsome and likably guileless).
