"Blinded by the Light" isn't getting the hype it deserves.

Blinded by the Light (2019) comes from Bend It Like Beckham director Gurinder Chadha. She was inspired to bring the story to life after reading the autobiography of journalist Sarfraz Manzoor, who was largely impacted by music legend Bruce Springsteen. According to the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Chadha screened the film for Springsteen himself after obtaining permission, who, upon seeing it, exclaimed, “Wow! Thank you for looking after me so beautifully. I love it. Don’t change a thing!”

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This film is for the dreamers. It’s for the adventurers, the romantics, and the writers. The "fools who dream" as Emma Stone’s hopeful Mia of La La Land once put it.

A comedy-drama coming-of-age story, this film follows Javed Khan (Viveik Kalra) as he navigates his dual life as a British-Pakistani teenager. We watch as a hesitant and frustrated Javed attends his first day at a new school in 1987 Luton, a middle-of-nowhere town in England. He’s sick of this tiny town, but it’s all he’s ever known. He’s fed up with his parents and he’s convinced going off to university in Manchester will solve his problems. He feels suffocated, like he cannot be himself around the people in his life, and it's tearing at his heart.

And then one day, he comes across something that changes him forever.

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“Bruce is the direct line to all that’s true in this shitty world,” Roops says, Javed's new Sikh friend who bestows The Boss' cassette tapes upon him.

“Seriously? What does he know about our world?” a doubtful Javed questions.

Javed proves to speak too soon; within a breath, he is swept away by the beautiful musings of the legendary singer. Yet he’s ten years too late — while he and Roops, the only other visible South Asian in their school, are dancing about to “The Promised Land,” their classmates are getting down to the likes of Guns N’ Roses. The cultural divide is made all the more evident when the duo pleads with the school’s student radio host to play a channel featuring Springsteen’s songs — 24/7. The George-Michael-lookalike responds incredulously, remarking that Springsteen is "old news" and "what your dad might listen to."

Only Javed’s dad (and Roops’, most likely) didn’t listen to Springsteen. Though Malik (played by Kulvinder Ghir), left Pakistan at a young age in the pursuit of a better life for himself and his family, he still keeps his cultural roots close. As a result, it’s pretty obvious Javed was never exposed to Western pop culture like Springsteen when he was young, emphasizing the novelty and excitement of discovering a great artist for the first time — and one whose lyrics resonates with you, no less.

Take the words of “Dancing in the Dark,” by Springsteen himself.

"I check my look in the mirror / Wanna change my clothes, my hair, my face / Man, I ain't gettin' nowhere / I'm just livin' in a dump like this / There's somethin' happenin' somewhere / Baby, I just know that there is."

The first of many Javed listens to, this one arguably hits him the hardest. He’s tired, he’s aggravated, and he isn’t happy with his circumstances. But he still believes there’s a way out. And for him, that’s anywhere but Luton. Javed makes his disinterest with the town pretty clear with his poem, “Luton is a Four Letter Word” written for his A-level English class. This class proves to be his key to opening up the world to him — namely, its teacher, Ms. Clay (Hayley Atwell.) Quickly establishing herself as a no-nonsense mentor, she encourages the aspiring young writer to keep going, to keep pushing.

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This film is filled with strong characters: from Malik, the strict, thick-skinned but worrisome father, to Matt (Dean-Charles Chapman), Javed’s loyal rockstar best friend who’s dealing with father-son struggles of his own. I cannot even begin to describe how phenomenal all of the women are; Javed’s mother Noor (Meera Ganatra) is sweet and quiet, but strong nonetheless, serving as the unsung hero that keeps the family together. Javed's sister, Shazia, surprises us, living a life of her own unbeknownst to her own brother. Ms. Clay, previously mentioned, is intelligent and unwilling to give up on the greatness she sees in Javed. And then there’s the love interest — Eliza (Nell Williams). She's a social activist, witty and observant, who comes from a classic Thatcher-era and “tory traitors” household.

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According to the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Blighted by the Light did not, unfortunately, see a kind release. The film made $4.5 million at the box office on its opening weekend, putting it in ninth place in comparison to other films’ accumulations from the same weekend. It's marked as Warner Brothers' least performing movie of the year, after the studio set aside a whopping $15 million budget for it, the AJC reports. Blinded by the Light is performing behind even The Lion King, which is seeing its FIFTH weekend in theaters. Whether you want to hear this or not, the majority of America does not care to see films about us brown folk unless it is promoting the stigmatized idea of how we "should be" portrayed in film (CC: taxi drivers, funny sidekicks, token minorities, or simply fresh off the boat with the thickest accent you’ve ever heard.)

The film is realistic but also has its cheesy moments, complete with sing-alongs and dancing and running through the streets. But those moments fit well, preventing the story from becoming too serious while also including very real accounts of intense racism.

Coming from someone growing up in America but having Pakistani and Indian roots, I strongly feel like this film told our story well, and it’s a shame it isn’t doing better at the box office. But its astounding reception, at least, proves white audiences are ready to hear these stories; they just need to do better at actually going out to see them.

“My hope is to build a bridge to my ambition, but not a wall between my family and me.”

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