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.
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.—Kenneth Chisholm ([email protected])
1987. Sixteen year old Pakistani-British Javed Khan, who has just started sixth form college as what he sees as his only "way out", hates most everything about his life in Luton to where his parents long ago emigrated from Pakistan for a better life, the hills above the highway where he and his longtime best friend, Caucasian Matt, have spent much time in it representing life away from town. He hates how Thatcherism has decimated the livelihood of the working class, to which his family belongs. He hates how his traditional father regulates everything in his life, including which classes he takes, how he spends his social time, that he is to hand over any money he earns for the family as a collective - more so now for his oldest "sister" (really his cousin) Yasmeen's upcoming lavish wedding - that he will arrange for a wife for him when the time comes, and that everything is in the goal of him working in a white collar "suit wearing" profession in Luton when he reaches adulthood. He hates the overt racism - some of it anti-immigrant in general, but much of it anti-Muslim or anti-Pakistani directed - in town, not all of it hurled solely from skinheads. He hates how his father and his other Pakistani friends and relatives turn their heads to that racism to maintain a sense of decorum in not wanting to rock the boat. And he hates that his father increases even more pressure on the family as a whole to pick up the slack when he, after sixteen years, is laid off from his automotive factory assembly line job. Javed's one sanctuary is writing poetry - "crap" in his own estimation - about how he feels about his life in general. Javed's life takes slight turns when his English teacher Miss Clay - English which his father doesn't even know is one of his courses - encourages him to continue writing as being "his" outlet to express himself, crap or not, and when one of his few other South Asian classmates, Roops, introduces him to the music of Bruce Springsteen, considered largely by his peers the music of their parents. Javed feels Springsteen is talking directly to him in in the lyrics relating to his own life. While Matt always vows to find him a girlfriend, Javed, in his increasing confidence through Springsteen, gets up the nerve to approach classmate Eliza, a political activist who he has longed for from afar upon first sight. The question then becomes if Javed, who is beginning to find his own voice in that connection to Springsteen, can reconcile this newfound "freedom" against the other aspects of his life, especially the control wielded by his father.—Huggo
Javed (Kalra) is a Pakistani teenager who experiences racial and economic turmoil while living in Luton in 1987. He writes poetry as a means to escape the intolerance of his hometown and the stubborn views of his traditional father. When a classmate introduces him to the music of Bruce Springsteeen, Javed sees parallels between the singer's powerful lyrics and his own working-class environment.
n 1980, young Javed Khan (Ronak Singh Chadha Berges) is with his best friend Matt (Billy Barratt), who just got a new bike. Javed writes in his journal about how the Russians have been occupying Pakistan, which forced his family to relocate to Britain. He and Matt have dreams of going to London together when they are older. The boys then ride the bike together.
Seven years later, Javed (now played by Viviek Chadra) lives in Luton with his parents Malik (Kuvinder Ghir) and Noor (Meera Ganatra), and sisters Yasmeen (Tara Divina) and Shazia (Nikita Mehta). Javed has an interest in contemporary rock music, which Malik does not approve of. He rides his bike to see Matt (now played by Dean-Charles Chapman), who is returning from a trip to Ibiza with his girlfriend Emma (Kit Reeve). After giving him a gift, Malik comes nearby and reacts with disgust at Matt and Emma making out. Javed goes back home to receive birthday gifts from his family. He secretly wishes to escape his town, as well as to make a lot of money and to kiss a girl.
Javed writes lyrics for Matt's band, as well as his own poems on the side. Matt critiques Javed's work for being depressing. Javed expresses his desire to go to Manchester University so that he can definitely leave Luton.
Javed begins his first day at a new school. Malik embarrasses him in front of the other students by loudly ordering him to stay away from girls, as well as to find a Jewish friend to be successful. Javed feels out of place, as he is one of only two Pakistani students attending the school. He bumps into the other student, Roops (Aaron Phagura), who says he is listening to "The Boss". Javed then goes to Ms. Clay's (Hayley Atwell) class where he develops a crush on an activist student named Eliza (Nell Williams). Ms. Clay wants to teach her students how to develop their writing skills, which is something that Javed takes interest in. He talks to her after class about what he has written.
During lunch, Javed sits alone since he doesn't know anyone. Roops approaches him and gives him two Bruce Springsteen cassettes, as he calls Bruce "the key to all that is true in this shitty world."
On his way back home from school, Javed passes a racist punk spray-painting "Pakis Out" on a wall before he spits on Javed. He then starts to follow Javed until he runs up to Matt's apartment door to be greeted by him and Emma. They invite him to a party to go to later, but when Javed brings it up at dinner, his father forbids him from going. Later, the family gathers with other Pakistani friends, but a group of young boys outside mock the family by peeing through their mail slot and calling them "Pakis".
Javed wants to write for the school paper, but he is rejected since the head of the paper doesn't care to read his work. When he gets home later, the family watches the news about General Motors laying off a large number of employees, including Malik. He comes home in frustration. This, along with the constant racist berating and Malik's inability to understand his son, takes a toll on Javed's nerves, and he tells Shazia that they were born in the wrong time, place, and family. He even throws his poems out because he feels like giving up. When he goes back to his room, the Springsteen tapes fall out of his backpack. He decides to give them a listen, and he hears "Dancing in the Dark" for the first time. The lyrics immediately grab him, like something inside him has been awakened. He then listens to "The Promised Land" as he goes outside to recover his poems, and after hearing more of Bruce's songs, Javed feels as though his life has just changed.
Javed goes to school and excitedly tells Roops how he listened to both tapes and feels as though Bruce knows exactly how he feels. He becomes inspired to continue writing, and he even brings his collection of poems to Ms. Clay for her to read. Naturally, Malik disapproves of Javed listening to The Boss. The family is then visited by a neighbour, Mr. Evans (David Hayman). He found one of Javed's poems in which he speaks against the National Front, who are planning a march. As a former WWII soldier, Mr. Evans sympathizes with Javed's feelings and tells him he wrote a brilliant poem. However, Javed's parents are less appreciative.
Javed returns to the head of the school paper with a piece he wrote on Springsteen. He insists that it be read, so the head gives it a shot. Meanwhile, Malik becomes aggravated over the mounting bills he cannot pay, and he is even more stressed out since Yasmeen is set to be married, and he doesn't think he can pay for the wedding. He has the rest of the family pool their money together to support each other. Javed goes around town looking for a job, while still listening to more Bruce.
Javed goes to a restaurant with Roops, when they are forced out of their seats by three racist punks. Javed realizes he left a tape on the table and goes to get it, but even as one of the punks refuses to give it back, Javed retaliates by proudly quoting "Badlands" with Roops, and they walk out of the restaurant the better men.
At a local flea market, Javed meets Matt and his father (Rob Brydon), who also shares Javed's love for The Boss. Javed asks Matt's dad for a job since he operates the place, and he says he can give him something but it wouldn't pay a lot. He then sees Eliza there with her friends, and, with Matt's dad's help, Javed sings "Thunder Road", which charms Eliza and the crowd. However, Matt's dad starts to mock Matt for his lack of musical know-how, which deeply upsets him, especially since Javed doesn't back him up. This causes a rift between the two friends.
Javed works up the nerve to ask Eliza out on a date. She picks the place to go, which is a rave spot. Javed doesn't feel right about going in, so he nearly ditches the date until he listens to more Bruce. He sings "Prove It All Night" to let Eliza know he is staying, and the two share their first kiss. The next morning, he leaves a poem taped to Eliza's window, which she loves.
During Ms. Clay's class, she tells Javed that she loved his poems. She mentions having a friend at the Luton Herald, and she can get Javed in to have unpaid work experience, which he is thankful for.
Javed and Roops want to join the school's radio station to play non-stop Springsteen as a regular show, but the station's head denies them. The boys later sneak into the station after the head leaves, and they play "Born To Run" for all the school to hear, while locking the door to the station to prevent anyone from stopping it. The two then go out on the town with Eliza after school for a fun time out, which ends as they come across the town's mosque which has a severed pig's head hanging from it in another racist act of intimidation.
Eliza invites Javed over for dinner to meet her parents. They are NOT subtle about their thoughts on the pair, as they believe that Eliza always brings home any type of guy that might provoke them. Javed tries his best to hide his discomfort, even as they prove so inconsiderate that they insist on serving him alcohol even after their daughter tells them it's against his religion.
Javed and Roops are called into the Headmistress's office about the radio station prank, but after giving her an apology, they don't get in any serious trouble for it. He later gets into an argument with Malik over working for the Herald without pay, which Malik complains is a waste of time regardless of the work experience to be gained. As he walks home by himself, Javed sees Matt, who is still not talking to him. When he finally does, he expresses his dismay for Javed not defending him in front of his dad when Matt has stuck up for Javed against racist pricks before. Javed notices that Mr. Evans overheard everything, and his advice to the boy is that "good friends deserve to be heard." With this advice, Javed goes to apologize to Matt, and Matt gets excited when he learns that Javed now has a girlfriend.
Javed has Eliza over his house to make out, but they are seen by Shazia. She promises not to tell their parents on the condition that Javed does something that she wants to do. Javed agrees and later takes her to a dance hall for a daytimer dance party with other British Pakistanis where they can be themselves without their parents' interference.
At the Herald, Javed is asked to cover a story about the mosque, in which he receives payment. He keeps this information from his parents.
On the day of Yasmeen's wedding, Javed learns that Bruce is coming to Wembley, and it may be his one chance to see him live. Hoping to secure tickets before they are sold out, he runs to buy tickets from Emma with the money he earned at work, only to find that he needn't have rushed considering that there are plenty and selling relatively slowly. While the family is driving to the wedding, they are stopped by police as the National Front is making their march, calling for an all-white Britain. Eliza is among the protesters there. Malik and a friend of his get out of their car and are attacked by NF members. Javed rushes to the scene to find his father injured and on the ground. Later, Javed is chastised for not being there, and he admits that he got the concert tickets with money from work. Furthermore, the situation escalates when Mr. Evans arrives to congratulate for his Herald story that headlines the front page. Malik is angry that Javed is stirring up trouble in his eyes for publicly defending the mosque instead of keeping a low profile like everyone else and having his own money that he didn't give to the family, and Malik takes the tickets and rips them up. Javed angrily tells Malik he doesn't want to be his son, and that he wants more out of his life and leaves in anger. The words stun Malik and Noor.
At school, even Eliza can't believe that Javed abandoned his family for concert tickets. He says they shouldn't be together because of them, and she berates him for using his family as an excuse. In class, Ms. Clay tells Javed that she submitted a piece of his work for a contest, and he was selected to be part of a field trip to visit Monmouth College in New Jersey for their writing program. Ms. Clay also notes that he would be close to Asbury Park where Bruce grew up. Javed knows his father wouldn't let him go, so he turns it down. However, he changes his mind and tells Malik that he plans on going. Malik tells Javed that if he leaves, he is not to come back. Refusing to be intimidated, Javed proceeds to pack his bags.
Javed and Roops take the trip to the States to visit Jersey and Asbury Park, an itinerary which proves to help his entry through Customs when the officials pleased at foreigners coming to visit the Boss' hometown. It inspires Javed to write something new. Back home, Noor tells Malik that he needs to fix things with his son, as he left his own family and country at a young age as well. After that argument, Malik finds and reads one of Javed's poems, "Father and Son."
Javed is picked to read his winning paper to the school. Eliza talks to Noor and gets Javed's whole family to show up in support. Javed sees his family and delivers his reading without looking at the paper. He talks about how he heard "Blinded By The Light" and was reminded of Malik and his own father, and how he thinks Bruce would understand how Malik felt about his anger toward his own dreams not going out as planned to provide for his family. Everyone is moved, and they applaud Javed. He reconciles with Eliza and thanks her for inviting his family. Malik then talks to Javed and admits that he has listened to Bruce, and he admires his lyrics about being a good person and respecting your family.
Javed is set to go off to his university. He bids Matt farewell and receives a demo CD with new lyrics that Javed wrote. After saying goodbye to Noor and Shazia, Javed prepares to drive off with Malik. He starts playing Pakistani music on the radio, but Malik changes it so that they listen to "Born To Run" together. As they drive out of town, Javed sees his younger self waving to him.
We then see pictures of the real Javed Khan, who has seen The Boss in concert over 150 times and has met him personally. He is also still great friends with Roops (also pictured) to this day.
