Salaam Bombay!

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Salaam Bombay!

1988

1h 53m

Drama

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

94%

Tomatometer

31 Reviews

93%

Popcornmeter

5,000+ Ratings

After destroying his older brother's motorbike in retaliation for his constant bullying, 11-year-old Krishna (Shafiq Syed) is sent to a traveling circus to earn money to pay for the bike's repairs, but soon winds up in the streets of Bombay's poorest slums. There, he befriends the drug dealer Chillum (Raghubir Yadav) and the beautiful young prostitute Sola Saal (Chanda Sharma), while trying to make enough money at a neighborhood tea stall to repay his debt to his family.

Critics Consensus

Salaam Bombay! examines life in a part of the world many viewers have never visited -- but does so with enough compassion and grace to make them feel as if they have.

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Derek Smith

Slant Magazine

Dec 12

Mira Nair brings a documentarian’s sensibility to her texturally rich narrative feature debut

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Peter Bradshaw

Guardian

06/17/2021

4/5

What strikes you is not simply its energy and vitality and its Dickensian storytelling appetite, but its fierce unsentimentality.

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Ted Shen

Chicago Reader

09/29/2015

Like Hector Babenco's Pixote the film is unsparingly gritty, but with a woman's tenderness it also grants the characters an occasional moment of grace.

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Brian Orndorf

Blu-ray.com

5h

B+

Unique in its screen energy and daring in its tonality, with Nair hoping to bring attention to a dire situation of living where life seems disposable.

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Hilary Mantel

The Spectator

04/09/2019

A warm and lively film, made by Mira Nair with only a handful of professional actors.

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Jeff Simon

Buffalo News

04/30/2018

Salaam Bombay! is an enormously moving and powerful film about life for children in the slums of Bombay.

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Kunal J

@RT62947237 4d

It brings out the other side of Bombay, beyond the glitz and glamour, and middle-class aspirations, with great sensitivity and human-touch. Each character is a part of the multi-faceted personality of the city. The movie doesn't compel you into an emotional trap, but rather makes you think and reflect without letting you too close to the characters as they "live" their dignity beyond the pity of the audience. Yet the movie doesn't fail to move you, or leave questions, and yet allows you a critical lense through which to see the harsh realities of an Indian metropolis. A truly great work of art which is brought alive by excellent direction, screenplay, camera work, and of course acting.

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06/16/2020

Had this in my DVD stack for ages; glad lockdown gave me a chance to watch. The real-life locations are great and the child actors are very natural. Would like to hope the situation for the street children is better today.

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03/30/2020

Masterpiece of Bollywood

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bhuvanesh b

@fankaar 12/30/2018

Awesome movie! Much better than the trash film Slumdog Millionaire.

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03/30/2016

Rarely has been captured the emotions of a child so real on film and for that Mira Nair, hats off!

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10/24/2015

another tale of a street kid in the slums od Bombay (Mumbai)

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Mira Nair

Director

Shafiq Syed

Krishna

Hansa Vithal

Manju Golub

Aneeta Kanwar

Rekha

Raghuvir Yadav

Chillum

Chanda Sharma

Sola Saal

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Synopsis

After destroying his older brother's motorbike in retaliation for his constant bullying, 11-year-old Krishna (Shafiq Syed) is sent to a traveling circus to earn money to pay for the bike's repairs, but soon winds up in the streets of Bombay's poorest slums. There, he befriends the drug dealer Chillum (Raghubir Yadav) and the beautiful young prostitute Sola Saal (Chanda Sharma), while trying to make enough money at a neighborhood tea stall to repay his debt to his family.

Director: Mira Nair
Producer: Mira Nair
Screenwriter: Sooni Taraporevala
Production Co: Mirabai Films, National Film Development Corporation of India, Film Four International
Genre: Drama
Original Language: Hindi
Release Date (Theaters): Oct 7, 1988, Original
Release Date (DVD): Oct 14, 2014
Runtime: 1h 53m