[I knew] zero, zilch, nada, the actor admits to EW.
At our premiere the other night, we got the chance to meet Bruce, Kalra says.
I was totally unaware hed be there.
Credit: Nick Wall/Warner Bros.
I fell to the floor and started bowing to him.
But I just said, Thank you very much for coming.
Hedidnt have to be there.
Nick Wall/Warner Bros.
He also didnt have to give us the rights to his music for next to no money.
The obsession became Kalras as well.
I was listening to Bruce so much.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: This is your first feature film.
It was a whirlwind experience.
You had to sing Born to Run in your audition, then?Yep.
It was pretty bonkers.
Gurinder was like, Yeah, were gonna sing now.
But it was a beautiful thing.
This is inspired by Sarfrazs story, and he co-wrote the screenplay.
How much did you get to interact with and get insight into Javed from him?
I spent quite a bit of time with Sarfraz before we started shooting.
I remember we were going to meet at the British Library.
He said, Lets meet at the British Library.
Later, he [said], Actually, lets go to Luton.
Ill show you around my home town.
And then he did.
He walked me around the town.
He showed me loads and loads of his original poems.
It was an amazing moment to have that.
Youve chosen to become an actor, which is a similar nontraditional, creative career path as writing.
Did you face similar resistance or struggles as your character?
Was that something you could relate to?Zero.
I was very lucky.
Ive got very supportive parents and family.
What was amazing about this script was that it resonated with me more than anything else Id ever read.
Can you tell us about shooting those scenes?
What was going through your mind?Yeah, thats mostly down to the filmmaking and the camerawork.
Were they playing the songs for you while filming those sequences?Yeah.
The Walkman worked, so I was using that.
I also had earpieces in from time to time, blasting up music.
Sometimes it would play out loud as well, sometimes it was a combination of all of them.
I had no experience of anything like that.
That was something we did in the build-up to getting onto set in the rehearsals.
It was me, Aaron, and Nell.
Then wed start practicing these weird 80s dance moves.
By the time we got into filming, I was used to the madness.
Then it felt normal.
Did you have a formal choreographer on set?No, not really.
It was a more organic process.
Was the Born to Run sequence a multiday shoot?
Any particular memories from shooting it?I just remember it being absolutely bonkers.
So it was certainly a long time, but the results are pretty euphoric.
You wear some distinctive outfits, rocking Bruces flannel and denim.
Did you like your look?
I shoved that costume on.
It was amazing for that period.
Its certainly a big old puddle of fashion travesty, wasnt it?
I dont think I could go anywhere near denim again.
On set I was untucking my stuff every three seconds.
But I guess its nowhere near as bad as wearing something like a corset in a period drama.
That was something Ive been continually realizing.
They werent costumes back in the day.
But yeah, totally different world for me.
Inspiration comes from lots of different places.
Just the idea of seeing someone that looks like yourself reflected back within a TV screen is really cool.
Stuff like that, just seeing myself mirrored within popular culture.
Its three minutes of joy, and it talks about the struggles of growing up.
