Salaam Bombay! (1988)

Director: Mira Nair Starring: Shafiq Sayed Genres: Drama Origin: India Certificate: M Languages: Hindi Running Time: 109 min

synopsis

Salaam Bombay! is the story of Krishna, a 10-year old boy who comes to Bombay dreaming of making 500 rupees to take home to his mother in the village. Once in the city, he is immediately surrounded by its madness and chaos. Policemen, madmen, middlemen, the trading of drugs and flesh, impossible movie fantasies, and everywhere there are children like himself, surviving and succumbing to the appetite of the city. The film, although carefully scripted, is a marriage of narrative and documentary. The "actors" are all chidren from the streets and the entire film is shot in working-class neighborhoods, railway platforms and the red light areas of Mumbai (Bombay). While celebrating the spirit of survival in Mumbai's street children, Salaam Bombay! is also a story of a world that denies its children the luxury of childhood, a world which is no longer innocent.