Salaam Bombay!

Released Oct 7, 1988

1h 53m

Drama

List

93%

30 Reviews

Tomatometer

93%

5,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

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.

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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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Sri R

This is such a moving, real, and deep view if young boys trying to survive on the streets in India. It made an indelible impression on me. Mira Nair, the director is to be complimented. Unfortunately I can't see it anywhere. Twice I bought VHS tapes from places. But they turned out blank.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/05/23

Full Review

Audience Member

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.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/20/23

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Audience Member

Masterpiece of Bollywood

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/10/23

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bhuvanesh b

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

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

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

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/29/23

Full Review

Audience Member

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

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/21/23

Full Review

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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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Peter Bradshaw

Guardian

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

Rated: 4/5

Jun 17, 2021

Full Review

Ted Shen

Chicago Reader

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.

Sep 29, 2015

Full Review

Jay Boyar

Orlando Sentinel

Watching this picture feels more like a solemn duty than a form of entertainment or enrichment. And whether it is fantasy or reality, a movie should never be something you see as a duty.

Rated: 3/5

Sep 29, 2015

Full Review

Hilary Mantel

The Spectator

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

Apr 9, 2019

Full Review

Jeff Simon

Buffalo News

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

Apr 30, 2018

Full Review

Jason Best

Movie Talk

"The original Slumdog Millionaire"... Salaam Bombay! doesn't sweeten its depiction of poverty with feelgood fantasy, but Nair does nevertheless convey the energy and vitality that here co-exists with extreme deprivation.

Jun 25, 2017

Full Review

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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: Gabriel Auer, Michael Nozik, Anil Tejani
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