Why Springsteen matters

Fondly called ‘The Boss’ by fans all over the world, Bruce Springsteen is a legendary songwriter who has produced musical fables about hope, love, loss, and family, creating a voice that has helped people relive pages of their own stories.

Blinded by the Light (2019), directed by Gurinder Chadha, is a cinematic interpretation of Springsteen’s musical fandom and the societal influence of his lyrically rich songs.

Inspired by a true story, the film follows the transformative journey of Javed, a British-Pakistani teenager, when one of his friends, Roops, introduces him to Bruce Springsteen with two cassettes, and proclaims that ‘The Boss’ knows everything about life’s experiences and truths.

Viveik Kalra plays Javed, a shy teenager growing up in a Pakistani family in the UK in the 80s, navigating his family’s value systems and his own flair for writing poetry. As he reaches adolescence, his headstrong father loses his job and his mother takes up extra work to make ends meet. Seeing all this, he is confused about his interests. As an immigrant, he is singled out in college as a ‘Paki’ and also forced to contribute financially at home, shrinking the space for his own creative thought.

On a stormy night, he reaches a breaking point, dumping all his poetry in a garbage bin. Back in his room with no one to turn to, Javed finds respite when he plonks a Springsteen cassette into his Walkman. Springsteen’s The promised land plays, and as he hears the words ‘If I could take one moment into my hands/Mister, I ain’t a boy, I’m no man’, he is overcome by the realisation that someone out there genuinely understands what he is going through.

Finding a poet from a different part of the world, speaking wisely through a cassette, he is excited about facing the world again. This moment defines his purpose in a ruthless world. Javed runs to collect all the crumpled sheets of his poetry lying on the streets, determined to write more.

The on-screen translation of the excitement is enjoyable. Wall projections and word animation in this crucial scene of self-realisation underline the lyrical strength in the film. The lyrics play an integral role in guiding Javed’s instincts, moving around his head at odd moments in the day, like a tape playing somewhere. Springsteen’s songs are temporal encapsulations of memories, existential transitions, and emotional whirlpools. Each of his songs — ‘River’, ‘Dancing in the dark’, ‘Hungry heart’ — comes in at a special moment in the film, with ‘Born to run’ choreographed to a daytime reverie of Javed and his friends singing and running on the streets.

The evolving philosophical core of our living and expression is often guided by ‘pop-culture’, the songs we hear, the books we read, and the films we watch. Javed starts to dress up like Springsteen and incorporates lines from his songs into the knotty situations of his life as a manner of coping. Influenced by Springsteen’s music and a college teacher who encourages him to continue writing, he writes his first article on Springsteen for the college magazine, much like the protagonist in the film ‘Almost Famous’ (2000).

Springsteen’s music is timeless. The raw honesty is not just evident in his words but also in the natural vibrato and softly coarse baritone of his voice. His approach to music composition is simple, often carrying a leitmotif line, which makes it more approachable. The arrangements are marked by an old-fashioned charm, with the sounds of the harmonica, saxophone, acoustic guitar, as also the signature telecaster guitars, bells, and piano.

In the film, Roops and Javed urge the college radio RJ to have a ‘Bruce Springsteen Hour’ in the daily college radio broadcast. To their dismay, the RJ says, “We play only the music of today that the college crowd can connect with.” This makes us ponder — good music for today’s youth need not necessarily be ‘trending music’. Why not a recall of the work of music veterans?

Through her film, Gurinder suggests that music binds people from different walks of life, nurtures friendships, and voices out their feelings. One’s crease of worry is just a click away from being felt by someone in another corner of the earth. Music finds us in times of emptiness, when listening is the only way of being heard in the world.

Life and times

Bruce Springsteen was born in New Jersey, USA. As a child, he was deeply influenced by Frank Sinatra’s singing on the radio and Elvis’s performance in ‘The Ed Sullivan Show’.

Springsteen gained worldwide popularity with the albums — ‘Born to Run’ (1975), ‘Darkness on the Edge of Town’ (1978), and ‘The River’ (1980), his first album to top the Billboard 200
chart. He has released 21 studio albums over a career spanning six decades, featuring his backing band the E Street Band. ‘Born in the U.S.A.’ (1984) was his most commercially successful album and, as of 2024, the 23rd best-selling album of all time.

He has received numerous accolades, including 20 Grammy Awards, two Golden Globes, an Academy Award, and a Special Tony Award.

Moving lines

Promised Land

Mister I ain’t a boy, no, I’m a man

And I believe in a promised land

Born to Run

We gotta get out while we’re young

‘Cause tramps like us, baby we are born to run

Dancing in the dark

You can’t start a fire without a spark

Even if we’re just dancing in the dark

Badlands

Talk about a dream, 

try to make it real 

You wake up in the night with a fear so real

Blinded by the light

Mama always told me not to look into the sights of the sun

Whoa, but, mama that’s where the fun is