BORN IN THE UK
Inside the true story of a boy who escaped racism in his British hometown thanks to the music of Bruce Springsteen — and got the Boss to give a thumbs-up to his movie
IN his 1984 track “No Surrender,” Bruce Springsteen famously wrote, “We learned more from a threeminute record, baby, than we ever learned in school.” Sarfraz Manzoor knows that feeling.
Growing up as one of four siblings in the grim, post-industrial British town of Luton (30 miles north of London) during the 1980s, Manzoor was caught between the cultural expectations of his
overbearing Pakistani-immigrant mother and father — Rasool Bibi and Mohammed Manzoor — and his own desires to escape the everyday racism that was part of his stifling surroundings.
As a 16-year-old, Manzoor’s school wasn’t giving him any solutions to face that lonely battle. It was the Boss who gave him the spark that started a fire. And the result, all these years later, is the film “Blinded by the Light,” now in theaters.
“My best friend, Amolak, gave me tapes of Bruce’s live boxed set,” Manzoor, 48, tells The Post. “The intro to ‘The River’ is just him talking about growing up and going at it with his dad. I was a Top 40 kid and nobody talked like that. Then there’s ‘Thunder Road’ and the last line, ‘It’s a town full of losers, I’m pulling out here to win.’ I saw myself in that line. I remember thinking, ‘I can’t believe Bruce has been to Luton!’ ”
Manzoor wrote about his personal ambitions, the struggles of his family, and how Springsteen’s music helped him bridge the gap in his 2007 memoir “Greetings From Bury Park.” It’s the basis for the new movie, directed by Gurinder Chadha (“Bend It Like Beckham”).
Key to the coming-of-age film is the lead character Javed (based on Manzoor) and his strained relationship with his father, who worked long hours in Luton’s Vauxhall car factory before being laid off in 1986. That father-son
relationship is something that’s echoed in Springsteen’s own life — and many of his songs.
“My parents raised me with the knowledge that I was only in the UK because my dad made the decision to leave Pakistan,” says Manzoor. “So you can’t tell them to go f - - k themselves, because they’ve done too much for you already. But at the same time, I wanted to be my own person.
“Springsteen was quite helpful in that respect, because songs like ‘Independence Day’ and ‘My Father’s House’ are songs with so much empathy.” That made him feel more understanding of his father and his sacrifices.
Manzoor and Chadha first approached Springsteen with the idea for the film in 2010 at the London premiere of “The Promise,” a documentary about the making of 1978’s “Darkness on the Edge of Town” album. The duo knew he would be there and were hoping to get pictures. But the Boss made a beeline for Manzoor to tell him how much he enjoyed “Greetings From Bury Park.”
Chadha says they later learned that Springsteen got a copy of the book from biographer Dave Marsh. “He also knew Sarfraz from being in the front row of so many shows,” she adds.
“I thought, ‘OK, this is the moment. I’m gonna do a movie deal with Bruce right now in five seconds, before he moves on.’ ” Chadha introduced herself as the director of “Bend It Like Beckham” (“I’ve heard of that film,” he replied) and pitched the movie on the spot.
The Boss was on board, in theory, and seven years later, Springsteen signed off on a final script, as well as allowing producers to use his music. Twelve Springsteen songs are included in the film’s soundtrack.
“I had to write him an e-mail asking for permission to do this, and I knew it could change my life,” says Manzoor. “If he said ‘no,’ my life would go one way, and if he said ‘yes,’ it would be a very different road. I had to channel everything I knew, everything I felt about Bruce, but it couldn’t be thousands and thousands of words. I think I cut it down to about 1,000 in the end.”
While Manzoor wrote a more personal plea covering his father and the power of Springsteen’s lyrics, Chadha wrote her own letter touching on the film’s portrayal of racism in 1980s Britain, and its political parallels with the present.
“I was so disgusted by the xenophobia in Britain after Brexit,” she says. “People thought they could get on buses and yell at black women who have been working in our hospitals all their lives. I just thought, ‘I’m not having this. I’ve got to do something about this.’ I wanted to make something that was going to challenge the politics of hate and division. I think that really helped Bruce agree to making this film.”
A few weeks later, the director got Springsteen’s response: “I’m all good with this.”
Manzoor was giddy on hearing it. “I wanted to tell my wife,” he says, “but she was asleep, and we’d had a massive argument that night — about something petty like bin bags and recycling. I couldn’t do it, because I didn’t think she could make the gear change required, so I was leaping around on my own!”
Back in 1987, when Manzoor’s Boss obsession was dawning, he was hugely out of step with the times. Electronic music was in vogue, and the British boy-band Bros was beginning to dominate the charts. “I remember having really big arguments — with girls mostly — about who was better. It was Bros versus Boss,” says Manzoor.
He and his pal Amolak even adopted Springsteen’s look, with Amolak sporting cowboy boots and a stars-and-stripes bandanna. And, despite knowing it would horrify his Sikh parents, he even cut his hair, beard and removed his turban — all key parts of the faith.
Manzoor managed to loosen the ties that bind enough to leave Luton in 1989 for Manchester University, where he pursued his interest in journalism. His first story in the Manchester Evening News was published in May 1995. But his father had suffered a heart attack just days before, and died days after, missing his son’s triumph — and subsequent success as broadcaster, documentarymaker, and now, co-screenwriter for “Blinded by the Light.”
Manzoor — who has two children with his wife — calls the relationship with his mother as “a work in progress,” but there’s no doubt that he has won the respect of his hero. “Even when we showed Bruce a rough cut, he said we shouldn’t change anything,” he says. “Dave Marsh said to me, ‘You know why Bruce gave you his music? It’s because Bruce doesn’t trust many people . . . but he trusts you.’ ”
Chadha and Manzoor were reunited with Springsteen on another red carpet on Aug. 7, when Bruce surprised the cast and crew by turning up at the Asbury Park premiere of the film at the Paramount Theatre. Manzoor had first visited Asbury Park as a teen in 1990. Springsteen also joined his old friends Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes for an impromptu set at an after-party.