Search - L. Subramaniam :: Salaam Bombay!: Music From The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

A FILM NOT SOON FORGOTTEN...

Lawyeraau | Balmoral Castle | 01/04/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is a superb film that gives the viewer a bird's-eye view into the plight of India's urban street children. It is done through the experience of young Krishna, an illiterate, country bumpkin of a boy, who is abandoned by his mother at a circus and told not to come home until he has five hundred rupees for having broken something that belonged to his brother. While Krishna is on an errand, the circus packs up and leaves town, and he is left alone to fend for himself. Krishna uses his last few rupees to travel to a city, which by luck of the draw turns out to be Bombay. Thrust into the life of the street children of Bombay, living among the pimps, hustlers, drug addicts, prostitutes, and throw away children that proliferate in India's urban settlements, a modern day jungle, Krishna struggles to survive. His resourcefulness holds him in good stead. He quickly develops some street smarts and forms attachments. He struggles to earn and save money, so that he can return home to his mother and the family whom he misses, only to be duped in the end by one in whom he had trusted. His story breaks one's heart, as he learns some hard lessons in life.This is a gritty look into the underbelly and plight of Bombay's poor street children, who call the gutters of its filthy urban streets home. It is filled with the sights and sounds of this urban nightmare. An Academy Award nominee for Best Foreign Language Film, this highly acclaimed film allows the viewer a peek at another culture, only to find that basic human needs and desires are universal."

Still the best!

James Ferguson | Vilnius, Lithuania | 12/20/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This was my introduction to Mira Nair. I assumed it was her first full-length feature. She takes you into the streets of Bombay through the eyes of homeless children. It is kind of an "Oliver Twist" in India, but Nair provides a gritty perspective that has been lacking in her films since her international debut. The camera work is fantastic. You really get the sense of the teaming masses of people and the vulnerbility of these children. The Fagan-like overlord of this brood feels real, making it seem like Mira did her research."

A rose in the gutter

Brian Hulett | Oinklahoma | 02/15/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Wow, what a tremendous story of innocence lost, of the anonymity of the powerless poor in the big city, and of the global theme of vices that trap such lost souls and suck them dry. This is a monumental film that touched me on so many levels that I can't put it all into words.



Almost the entire film takes place on the streets of Bombay, far from the "Bollywood" silliness of musical melodrama that we in the US usually associate with Indian cinema. These are runaways, prostitutes, junkies, and thieves, but director Mira Nair refuses to treat any of them as props or cliches, showing them as nothing less than fully fleshed human beings. The lead character is an innocent little boy who finds himself thrust into this world, and he becomes closest to two equally innocent young girls who are also on the verge of being swallowed up by the filth around them. Their journey through these few weeks is heartbreaking and chilling, and the ending will stay with you for quite some time.



Mira Nair has gone on to direct several feature films, including Indian-American productions like "Mississippi Masala" with Denzel Washington, but this is far more realized than that one, partly because the characters are more real and partly because the story is much more perfectly and completely told. In "Salaam Bombay!" the actors are mostly street people, several of them so malnourished it hurts to look at them. The realism of the players reflects the unblinking realism of the story, ultimately condemning the situation while celebrating the humanity of the people involved.



This film should be required viewing for anyone who says they like movies."