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Salaam Bombay Details

1988

70
from 2952 members

Starring	Shafiq Syed, Hansa Vithal, Chanda Sharma, Raghuvir Yadav
Director	Mira Nair
Genres	Bollywood, Drama

Salaam Bombay

Shot on-location on the streets of Bombay, Mira Nair's Salaam Bombay is the gritty tale of Krishna (Shafiq Syed, a runaway discovered by Nair), a boy kicked out of his home, and abandoned by the traveling circus he had joined. In desperation, he uses the little money he has to buy a one-way ticket to the nearest city, which turns out to be Bombay. Come back a movie star, the ticket agent tells him mockingly. In Bombay, Krishna joins a small community of street kids, and gets a job delivering tea. Soon, everyone in the downtrodden neighborhood knows him as Chaipau (tea boy). Krishna wants to save five hundred rupees, enough money to get back into his mother's good graces and return home. Chillum (Raghubir Yadav), a streetwise young man who deals drugs for the local kingpin, Baba (Nana Patekar), takes Krishna under his wing. The sly but cruel Baba has a mistress, Rekha (Aneeta Kanwar), who works as a prostitute. She has a young daughter, Manju (Hansa Vithal), who has a crush on Krishna, but Krishna only has eyes for the girl they call Sweet Sixteen, a virginal teenager who is being forced into prostitution. Eventually, Baba fires the surly Chillum, and Krishna finds himself struggling to keep Chillum alive by supporting his drug habit. Many of the roles in the film are played by non-actors, including the street kids, and an actual madame who allowed Nair to film scenes in her brothel. The Harvard-educated Nair began her filmmaking career working on documentaries. Salaam Bombay, her narrative feature debut, won worldwide critical acclaim, and was awarded the Camera D'Or at Cannes. She and the film's screenwriter, Sooni Taraporevala, also collaborated on Mississippi Masala, starring Denzel Washington.~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide

Starring	Shafiq Syed, Hansa Vithal, Chanda Sharma, Raghuvir Yadav
Director	Mira Nair
Studio	ARROW FILMS
Run time	DVD: 1 hr 49 mins LOVEFiLM Instant: 1 hr 49 mins
Certificate	DVD LOVEFiLM Instant
Genres	Bollywood, Drama
Language	DVD: Hindi LOVEFiLM Instant: Hindi
Subtitles	DVD: English LOVEFiLM Instant: English
Released	Production year: 1988 To Watch Online: LOVEFiLM Instant: 19 Apr 2010 To Rent: DVD: 23 Mar 2009
Watch now	Included in all packages with LOVEFiLM Instant. Subscribe.

Critic's review of Salaam Bombay
View all critics' reviews (2)
- The streets of Bombay teem with children begging, dealing, sleeping rough, surviving. Working on a scale that would... read more on Time Out
- 44941
- - Time Out
  - 04 Nov 2008 at 00:15
Most helpful member's review of Salaam Bombay
View all members' reviews (56)
- - 21
  - 1
  Top movie
  
  This is not Bollywood infact you couldn't get further from it.
  
  A young boy who ends up living in an underground world of drugs and prostitution ... read more »
  
  Report this review
- 342
- [Highly rated reviewer]
  - a customer
  - London
  - 07 Nov 2003 at 17:05
Most recent members' reviews of Salaam Bombay
View all members' reviews (56)
- - 0
  - 0
  Incredible Acting
  
  Earnest and ultimately pessimistic view of life for the street urchins of Bombay. Presumably it's changed for the better in the last fourteen years, but I ... read more »
  
  Report this review
- 1077052
- - Cato
  - 553 reviews
  - Lydbury North
  - 30 Dec 2011 at 19:59
- - 1
  - 0
  strong excellent
  
  THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS | Show review anywayHide
  
  for me it was a great film a real hearty film with some real life issues documented in mumbai a real tough overview of real life in india and we think weve got ... read more »
  
  Report this review
- 1057663
- - a customer
  - 01 Nov 2011 at 16:28
- - 0
  - 0
  Salaam Baalak trust, an inspiration...
  
  Unbelievable..brilliant if not extremely sad and moving portrayal of life as a street child in India. Having visited a home set up by the Salaam Baalak Trust ... read more »
  
  Report this review
- 1016863
- - EmandNels
  - 1 review
  - 13 Jul 2011 at 21:17
View all members' reviews (56)
News and features
View all
Bollywood and Beyond
- 26 Mar 2007
The biggest film industry in the world isn't the one we write about here week in, week out. For eighty years, Indian cinema has dominated its own domestic market - it currently attracts a billion ticket buyers every three months, 95 percent of the local audience. On top of that, Indian films are at least as popular as Hollywood pictures across wide swathes of North Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia. With demand like that, it's not surprising that in a typical year, the subcontinent... Read more
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- Salaam Bombay
  
  Shot on-location on the streets of Bombay, Mira Nair's Salaam Bombay is the gritty tale of Krishna (Shafiq Syed, a runaway discovered by Nair), a boy kicked out of his home, and abandoned by the traveling circus he had joined. In desperation, he uses the little money he has to buy a one-way ticket ...