According to the graffiti-smeared road sign for the A505, Luton sucks. A damning verdict shared by aspiring writer Javed (Viveik Kalra), a British Pakistani teenager who bemoans the fact that he was born at the wrong time in the wrong town to the wrong family.

The latter of which is headed by his domineering father Malik (Kulvinder Ghir) who before being dumped on the dole by Vauxhall “like an old disused engine” demands that he keeps his head down, becomes an estate agent and, most important of all, “stay away from the girls”. For arranged marriages are his department.

But when his Sikh classmate Roops (Aaron Phagura) introduces him to “the direct line to all that’s true in this shitty world”, aka Bruce “The Boss” Springsteen, an internal spark starts a roaring fire which no amount of parental pressure or fascist marching can extinguish.

But is erecting a wall between himself and his family a price worth paying in order to pursue a creative future? Or can a bridge be built between both worlds? One of the many conundrums faced by Javed as he prepares to leave – what Springsteen named the title track of his fourth studio album – Darkness at the Edge of Town.

Based on the memoir of journalist and broadcaster Sarfraz Manzoor entitled Greetings from Bury Park: Race, Religion, Rock ‘n’ Roll, writer and director of Bend It Like Beckham Gurinder Chadha offers yet another comical insight into the British Pakistani experience.

The dramatic stakes may not be as high as the triple whammy of Thatcher, the National Front and mass unemployment suggest, and there may be a surplus of montages underscored by tracks of Springsteen which include the previously unreleased I’ll Stand By You, but there’s no denying its relentless optimism as personified by Viveik Kalra’s sweet smile and puppy dog eyes.

Rob Brydon and Marcus Brigstocke make fine comic cameos as a mulleted market trader and “no society Tory traitor” respectively, but it is the twin tensions between father and son, expectations and dreams, which drive the movie – and prove that, contrary to Malik, writing is not the sole preserve of “English people with rich parents”.

Director: Gurinder Chadha
Writers: Paul Mayeda Berges, Gurinder Chadha
Stars: Viveik Kalra, Kulvinder Ghir, Meera Ganatra
Peter Callaghan
Latest posts by Peter Callaghan (see all)