Salaam Bombay!

The boy Krishna (Shafiq Syed) is abandoned by his mother at the Apollo Circus and she tells him that he can only return home when he can afford 500 rupees to pay for the bicycle of his brother that he had trashed. Krishna is left behind by the circus and he takes a train to Bombay.

Krishna is called Chaipau by the street children of Bombay and he works delivering and selling tea for Chacha (Irshad Hashmi), who owns a street bar. Krishna befriends the heroin addicted Chillum (Raghubir Yadav) that sells drugs for the drug dealer and caftan Baba Golub (Nana Patekar), and the girl Manju Golub (Hansa Vithal), who is the daughter of Baba with the prostitute Rekha Golub (Aneeta Kanwar). Krishna dreams on saving 500 rupees to return home, but the life on the streets of Bombay is not easy.

"Salaam Bombay!" is the first feature by the Indian director Mira Nair, who became famous in Brazil with the also excellent "Monsoon Wedding". The heartbreaking story follows the saga and the lost of the innocence of the boy Krishna on the streets of Bombay and is very similar to the one of Pedro ("Los Olvidados" - 1950) on the streets of Mexico City; or Pixote ("Pixote: A Lei do Mais Fraco" – 1981) on the streets of São Paulo; or the anonymous street kids ("Ali Zaoua, Prince de la Rue" – 2000) on the streets of Casablanca. The documentary style is impressive but easy to understand based on the previous career of Mira Nair.

The problem with abandoned children of Third World countries is a sad reality along decades and shameful governments usually transfer the money that could solve or at least improve this social problem to corruption. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): Not Available

Came across this film on a Public channel last night, by mistake... or should I say, by luck! Amazing film, so many layers deep, it got me thinking. I've been a fan of Mira's work since "Mississippi Masala", but had never heard of Salaam Bombay. She demonstrates in this fine film a sense of lighting and composition that's nothing short then breathtaking. The locations were rich as the characters, the acting was touching and sincere... this is a film I won't forget.

Having just returned from an extended trip to India I was keen to see a quality Indian film (not bollywood drival)and I have come across one of the most realistic and moving films I have ever seen. Having been involved in helping street kids in India I was pleased to come across this film which so accurately depicts life, love and death around a group of street boys in Bombay.

SALAAM BOMBAY is the story of a 12-year-old street boy surviving and etching out an existence on the squalled streets of Bombay. The interactions these kids have with each other made me feel I was watching a doco. The kids in India are so much like Chipau and the others depicted in Salaam Bombay its amazing. They all have there individual lives and dreams like us all but are burdened with extreame poverty.

The story lines in the film are about the prostitution business, drug addiction and homeless children. All these elements combine so as we see the people and lives behind them. These issues are rarely dealt with on such a personal and emotional level as we see in this film. This ain't Hollywood and it sure ain't Bollywood.

For me my favorite all time film. You may have difficulty in finding this film at your local video library but it truly is worth viewing.

Recently we showed this film to a group of street kids in Pune, India. They were amazed at its realism. All thought they were watching real people not actors,(These kids have grown up watching Bollywood films). This same group would have watched this film 5 times now. And all could identify with the characters.

Writer/Director Mira Nair presents the tribulations of life on the streets of Bombay, India through the eyes of a young, homeless boy. His arduous story is captured in spectacular cinematography by Nair, whose use of heavy tones and color combined with intriguing camera angels lend to the film's melancholic nature. Not a commercial blockbuster in the United States, this is moving piece of work that deserves every bit of the critical claim it received. A film that stays with you long after viewing!

Like the 'Square Circle' which came after it, Mira Nair's film is a wonderful counterpoint to traditional Bollywood cinema, depicting issues that many in India would like conveniently swept under the carpet. Filled with humanity and compassion, the film does have a parallel with Bollywood dramas as it too is about 'escapism'. However, the story shows how these dreams are illusory; the silent 'Sweet Sixteen' showing her romantic photograph - a pretence - as her brothel madam hawks her virginity to a prospective buyer; Krishna's hopes of being forgiven and returning home to his family; the prostitute Rekha's hopes of a 'family life' with the pimp Baba.

I particularly liked the way Nair paralleled childhood innocence with adult cynicism and cruelty. The final scene where Krishna the teaboy weeps for his lost innocence and at what he has become is very moving; like the drug-addict Chillum, he has 'forgotten' how he first came to Bombay and now only sees a life of despair and suffering.