Salaam Bombay!

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Salaam Bombay!

Directed by	Mira Nair
Produced by	Gabriel Auer, Mira Nair
Written by	Mira Nair Sooni Taraporevala
Starring	Shafiq Syed Hansa Vithal Chanda Sharma Anita Kanwar Nana Patekar Raghuvir Yadav
Music by	L. Subramaniam
Distributed by	Cinecom Pictures (USA)
Release date(s)	13 September 1988 (Toronto Film Festival)
Running time	113 min
Language	Hindi
IMDb profile

Salaam Bombay! is a 1988 Hindi film directed by Mira Nair. The film chronicles the day-to-day life of children living on the streets of Bombay. Despite the movie's often dark subject matter, Salaam Bombay! is ultimately a tale of hope and perseverance. The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

1 Plot Summary
2 Cast
3 Awards and nominations
4 Trivia
5 External links

[edit] Plot Summary

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Salaam Bombay is the story of Krishna, Manju and other children living hand-to-mouth on the streets of Bombay. Sometimes they can get temporary jobs, but mostly they have to beg for money and keep out of the way of the police.

The primary character, Krishna arrives in Bombay looking to earn 500 rupees to repay his mother for destroying his brother's motor-bike. Originally Krishna is apprenticed to a circus, but after they pack up and move on, leaving him behind, he makes his way to Bombay. Krishna is illiterate and, in spite of his circumstances, far too trusting of those around him.

Almost immediately Krishna is robbed. He follows the thieves and winds up befriending them. One of these thieves, a drug dealer and addict named Chillum, helps him get a job at a tea stall. Here Krishna acquires a new name, "Chaipau", meaning "tea boy." In spite of his work at the tea stand, Krishna and his friends are forced to take odd jobs to survive. When Krishna loses his position as a tea boy, he also resorts to begging and petty theft.

One of the stops on Krishna's tea route is a brothel; he befriends some of the inhabitants. He quickly becomes acquainted with Baba, the mastermind overseeing criminal activities in their corner of Bombay. While Baba presents himself as benevolent to outsiders, he is actually controlling drug and prostitution rings. He also employs Krishna's friend, Chillum, as a dealer. Baba's common law wife, Rekha, is a prostitute; their young daughter, Manju, lives with them in the brothel and witnesses everything that occurs there.

One of the madams hires Baba to "tame" Sola Saal ("sixteen years"), a young girl who has been kidnapped and forced into prostitution. Baba accomplishes this by completely misleading the girl into believing he loves her and wants to rescue her. Krishna really does fall in love with Sola Saal, however, he is powerless to save her from the brothel.

Chillum's drug use escalates; he is eventually fired by Baba and resorts to begging in the streets to score enough money for a fix. He ultimately dies from his addiction; Krishna and his friends oversee his funeral. Krishna will later discover that before dying, Chillum stole all of the money he was saving to go home, in spite of their friendship.

One night, while returning home with their friends after working at a wedding, Krishna and Manju are apprehended by the police. Manju is sent to an orphanage. When Rekha tries to reclaim her, she is told that she has permanently lost custody, and that Manju will be adopted by a reputable family. Krishna, on the other hand, is accused of theft and taken to a juvenile detention home. He soon escapes the home and returns to the streets to continue his quest to earn the rupees and return home.

Krishna tries to convince Sola Saal to run away with him. However, she has now been completely "tamed" by Baba, and refuses to leave. Krishna hides while Sola Saal is sent out to entertain her first client.

Rekha, distraught over the loss of Manju, packs her bags to leave. Baba attempts to stop her and becomes violent. Krishna, happening upon the scene, kills Baba by stabbing him in the back with a knife. He and Rekha flee into the crowds celebrating the festival of Ganesha -- the Hindu deity in charge of removing all obstacles.

[edit] Cast

Shafiq Syed - Krishna/Chaipau
Hansa Vithal - Manju
Chanda Sharma - Sola Saal
Raghuvir Yadav - Chillum (as Raghubir Yadav)
Aneeta Kanwar - Rekha
Nana Patekar - Baba
Raju Barnad - Keera
Chandrashekhar Naidu - Chungal
Sarfuddin Quarrassi - Koyla
Mohanraj Babu - Salim

[edit] Awards and nominations

1989 Nominated Oscar Best Foreign Language Film
1990 Nominated BAFTA Film Award Best Film not in the English Language
1988 Won Golden Camera,Cannes Film Festival
1989 Nominated César Best Foreign Film. César Awards (Meilleur film étranger)
1990 Nominated Filmfare Award Best Director
1989 Nominated Golden Globe Best Foreign Language Film
1988 Won Lilian Gish Award Excellence in Feature Film. Los Angeles Women in Film Festival (Tied with Elysium (1986).)
1988 Won Jury Prize Montréal World Film Festival (Tied with The Dawning (1988).)
1988 Won Most Popular Film Montréal World Film Festival
1988 Won Prize of the Ecumenical Jury Montréal World Film Festival

[edit] Trivia

Most of the young actors who appeared in Salaam Bombay! were actual street children. They received dramatic training at a special workshop in Bombay before they appeared in the film.
In 1989, director Mira Nair established an organization called the Salaam Baalak Trust to rehabilitate the children who appeared in the film. Most of them were eventually helped. The Trust is still in existence, and now lends support to street children in Mumbai/Bombay, Delhi and Bhubaneshwar.
Filmed on location in Bombay.
This was the movie showing in the theatre during the movie Scenes from a Mall, starring Woody Allen and Bette Midler.