A British teen born to Pakistani immigrants* has his life changed by Bruce Springsteen in “Blinded by the Light,” an ‘80s-set coming-of-age tale directed by Gurinder Chadha and inspired by the life of British journalist Sarfraz Manzoor.

Viveik Kalra plays Javed, a 16 year-old in a forgotten corner of Thatcher’s England. He’s kept a journal for years, writes poetry and is part of no one’s tribe at high school.

Back at school after summer break, Javed hits the trifecta*: His new English class has a teacher (Hayley Atwell) who’s about to discover his talent; one of his female classmates, Eliza (Nell Williams), will soon do the same; and in the hallway he collides* with a stranger whose Walkman contains “the direct line to all that’s true in this terrible world.” Roops (Aaron Phagura), befriending* the lonely Javed, puts cassettes* of “Born in the USA” and “Darkness on the Edge of Town” in his hands and knows the music will do the rest.

Overwhelmed by racism on the street and the constraints* placed on him by his father, Javed finds himself outside in a nighttime windstorm, his Walkman on and his mind engulfed by “Dancing in the Dark.”

Becoming obsessed with this new music while others are growing curious about his writing, Javed is drawn to denim jackets and red bandanas*. His hair gets taller. And, he starts quoting Springsteen lyrics in any circumstance, sometimes loudly.

Javed and Roops hijack the school radio station, and put “Born to Run” on the loudspeakers. The songs have encouraged Javed to stand up to racist bullies and lean in to kiss Eliza.

Javed’s home life is painted in broad strokes but is honest, a story we’ve seen a million times of parents who expect their children to ignore* the culture they’ve brought them to and honor the values of the land they left.

Playing the stern father, Kulvinder Ghir has a fairly thankless* job, but the character is deepened by unexpected job loss. What good is leaving your homeland to make a better life for yourself, if you wind up not being able to pay for your daughter’s wedding?

Father and son have a falling out*.

In the end, thanks both to Kalra’s performance and to some of the best writing in the screenplay, “Blinded by the Light” finds a solution and ties it all together.(SD-Agencies)