Viveik Kalra

IS PLAYING A BLINDER…

I’m trying not to get too stars-inmy-eyes-y,” says Viveik Kalra. The 20-year-old from Windsor is taking nascent fame in his stride after being plucked from obscurity to star in Sundance hit Blinded By The Light, Gurinder Chadha’s adaptation of Sarfraz Manzoor’s memoir, in which he plays the Bruce Springsteen-obsessed Javed, a British teen of Pakistani descent, growing up in grey 1980s Luton.

How did you get involved?

Gurinder saw me on a TV show called

Next Of Kin. The audition process was lovely, apart from having to sing, which was incredibly intimidating. I sang ‘Born To Run’, which, I didn’t realise, is one of the most iconic songs of all time, but not knowing [that] made it slightly easier.

Were you familiar with The Boss?

No. I’d heard his name, but I hadn’t heard any music at all. I wasn’t particularly excited to listen to the music initially; I’m not gonna lie. But then I did start, and I got into it a little bit, and then I really got into it. The man is a poet.

Has he seen the film?

He did see the film. Gurinder went to show it to him, and she was sitting slightly behind him. She was looking at the side of his face to see the wrinkles by his eyes, to see if he was smiling – and he was. He gave her a big hug and a kiss on the cheek and said, “Thank you for looking after my work so beautifully.”

Has it changed things for you?

Let’s just say that life’s going all right, and I’m very grateful for that. While we were at Sundance I read a headline that said that the two biggest sales there were Mindy Kaling’s Late Night and Gurinder’s film – two Asian woman turned out to be the biggest hitters at the festival. That was a wonderful thing to be a part of.

ETA | 9 AugusT / BlindEd By ThE lighT opEns nExT monTh.