| Bombay Boys | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Kaizad Gustad |
| Written by | Kaizad Gustad |
| Starring | Tara Deshpande Naveen Andrews Rahul Bose Alexander Gifford Naseeruddin Shah Roshan Seth Luke Kenny |
| Release date(s) | 1998 |
| Running time | 105 min. |
| Country | India |
| Language | English/Hindi |
Bombay Boys (1998) is an unorthodox comedy film written and directed by the Indian director Kaizad Gustad. It follows the adventures of three young men in modern-day Mumbai (or Bombay). The boys are of Indian origin, but were all raised in the West. Krishna Sahni (played by Naveen Andrews) is an aspiring actor from New York who wants to make it big in Bollywood. Ricardo Fernandes (Rahul Bose) is from Sydney, Australia and is in Mumbai to search for his long-lost brother. Finally, Xerxes Mistry (Alexander Gifford), a musician from London, is looking to discover his "roots" in the land of his ancestors.
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The three meet each other for the first time at Mumbai's airport and decide to find a place together. In the course of the movie, Krishna finds out that, in order to break into the local film industry, he must first win the (decidedly risky) patronage of Don Mastana (Naseeruddin Shah), a godfather of the Mumbai underworld who's also a film producer. Mastana is a violent man who thinks nothing of impaling a lizard with a knife or shattering the skull of a fellow crime boss for making a pass at his girlfriend.
Ricardo, the serious-looking Australian, finds out the sad fate of his brother, but also manages to fall in love with Mastana's spunky moll Dolly (Tara Deshpande), igniting further flames. Xerxes, who's a Parsi, is led to embrace his latent homosexuality by their gay landlord (Roshan Seth).
Also present are the "Bombay Boys", a rock band made up of musical no-hopers led by Luke Kenny, who spend most of their time drinking and smoking pot. The band has no instruments (they break into a music store at night to practise) and no talent (their hit songs "Heyyy" and "Yeahhh" contain just one word in the lyrics, repeated over and over). Nonetheless, they are fond of asserting loudly - "We are the Bombay Boys! The coolest thing since Antarctica!". They are also apparently "huge in Bangladesh."
Bombay Boys, which took four years to complete, was filmed on location in Mumbai's bars, slums and markets. The film was made on a limited budget; director Kaizad Gustad financed the film with credit cards as well as by borrowing money from his family and friends.[1]
Quite a few critics took offence at the mocking tone of Bombay Boys, saying that it showed India through the contemptuous viewpoint of certain NRIs. However, others defended the film, saying that it was genuinely funny and that beneath the satirical surface, it was the filmmakers' loving homage to one of India's great cities. Naseeruddin Shah received positive reviews from critics for his role as Don Mastana.
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