Gurinder Chadha’s award-winning films have earned over $300 million at the international box office. Her film credits include “Bhaji on the Beach,” “Bend It Like Beckham,” and “Viceroy’s House.” Chadha is Chair of Bend It Networks, a content creation company she co-founded with Paul Mayeda Berges which develops multicultural stories for international audiences across film, TV, stage, and digital.

“Blinded by the Light” will premiere at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival on January 27.

W&H: Describe the film for us in your own words.

GC: “Blinded by the Light” chronicles the experiences of a British Muslim teenager growing up in 1980s Luton and the impact Bruce Springsteen’s lyrics had on him. It’s about a young man’s dreams, and how he is inspired by someone from a totally different cultural background writing about their own life thousands of miles away in New Jersey.

Human connections around family, hope, and a desire to do something more than is expected of you are universal, and this film shows how music and writing transcend race and religion.

W&H: What drew you to this story?

GC: “Bend It Like Beckham” came out after 9/11 when many people across the world welcomed a joyous, authentic film that brought cultures together. “Blinded by the Light” aims to do just that at a time where many seek political gain through division and hate.

Sarfraz Manzoor, the author of the memoir the film is based on, and I share a passion for Bruce Springsteen. In 2010, we met Bruce and told him we wanted to make a film which would show how his music impacted a British Asian boy in the United Kingdom in 1987. He completely supported the idea, and after we showed him the script, he entrusted me with his songs.

W&H: What do you want people to think about when they are leaving the theater?

GC: With all of my films, I want to show how similar we are to people that we thought were different to us. I want audiences to feel a human connection to my characters and to leave feeling that the world is not only an unequal place full of problems, but also a joyous world where there is always the possibility of transcendence. And I want audiences to fully appreciate what an incredible man, writer, and musician Bruce Springsteen is — he deserves it!

W&H: What was the biggest challenge in making the film?

GC: Raising finance and getting a script right is difficult on all projects, but with this film I gave myself the challenge of creating something that would please Bruce. He placed an enormous amount of trust in me when he gave me his songs, and I wanted him to feel I had done him and his music justice.

One of the most enthralling and nerve-wracking experiences of my life was going to New York to show Bruce a cut of the finished film in case he had notes. I sat in the row behind him watching him enjoy the movie. At the end he turned to me and said, “Thank you for honoring me so beautifully. Don’t change a thing.”

W&H: How did you get your film funded? Share some insights into how you got the film made.

GC: I started developing the script with Sarfraz and my partner Paul Mayeda Berges in 2010 with the British Film Institute. With every draft we returned to the original challenge – is this a film Bruce is going to believe in? It took several years and the usual rejections from financiers that should know better, but I knew I wanted to work with partners who would understand this vision and why it was important to be made now.

I brought on Jane Barclay to produce with me because I had known Jane as a top sales agent when she ran Capitol Films. Ingenious Media has been a supporter or several of my films. I met the women at Levantine Films and admired their film, “Hidden Figures.” Alison Thompson and Mark Gooder at Cornerstone Films are valued colleagues I worked with previously.

It takes a great team that all back the same vision for a film to come together organically. I am always involved as a writer, director, and producer because I want to be hands-on at every stage from developing the script to positioning the film’s release globally.

W&H: What inspired you to become a filmmaker?

GC: When I was a journalist, I discovered it was tough to get your point of view across in the newsroom. I realized you had to be behind the camera to tell your own stories.

I started making documentaries and then feature films because I wanted to take characters that looked like me from the margins to the center of the frame. That is still what drives me — telling stories about people who are not being represented and showing audiences that we all want the same things.

W&H: What’s the best and worst advice you’ve received?

GC: The worst advice you can give someone is to not aim high for what you want. When I was 16, a school adviser told me I should aim for a secretarial course. I said I wanted to go to university to do Development Studies because I was interested in communities and economies around the world. I did that course at uni and that led me to writing my own stories and making films. It saddens me that there is never enough support for people who’d like to be writers, filmmakers, or in any creative industry. I made my first feature, “Bhaji on the Beach,” 25 years ago, and I’m still the only British Asian Woman making feature films — that is appalling.

The best advice I had was from my father. He told me he was proud that I wanted to be a voice for my community, and he supported me 100 percent. He was a true feminist, and I hope I have inherited his passion and humor.

W&H: What advice do you have for other female directors?

GC: Don’t take no for an answer. You will hear it over and over again, but if you are really committed to a project and you’re willing to put in the hard work of refining it over years and years, then go for it. You must be collaborative and learn the difference between a good note and a bad one, but never lose sight of that original creative impulse for why you have to make something. If you don’t know what that is then don’t do it, because you need perseverance, guts, and tenacity to give birth to something that you care about.

W&H: Name your favorite woman-directed film and why.

GC: That is impossible! I love so many, including Donna Deitch’s “Desert Hearts,” Jane Campion’s “Sweetie,” Mira Nair’s “Salaam Bombay!” I also love Kathryn Bigelow’s films.

The list of directors who have made films which are inspiring, moving, groundbreaking, and urgent could go on and on.

W&H: It’s been a little over a year since the reckoning in Hollywood and the global film industry began. What differences have you noticed since the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements launched? 

GC: I feel a significant change in that for years I have been trotted out to every bloody panel to talk about why we need diversity. That time is over — we don’t ever have to explain why women’s voices matter. No one can argue that cinema shouldn’t reflect the societies we live in and that when those films are made, there are enormous, international audience who are hungry to consume films that feature characters that look like them.

A big difference now is no one is saying we should do diversity as a favor because it’s good of us, they’re saying we need to be more diverse because that is our audience and if we want to stay in business and be relevant we better give our audiences what they want.