
Young Krishna's mother abandons him at the Apollo Circus and informs him that he can only return home when he can afford 500 rupees to pay for his brother's bicycle that he destroyed. The circus then leaves Krishna behind and he takes a train to Bombay, where he works delivering tee for Chacha's street bar and being called "Chaipau" by the local street children. He befriends heroin addict and drug dealer Chillum, and young Manju Golub, the daughter of Baba Golub and prostitut... (Full plot summary below)
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Young Krishna's mother abandons him at the Apollo Circus and informs him that he can only return home when he can afford 500 rupees to pay for his brother's bicycle that he destroyed. The circus then leaves Krishna behind and he takes a train to Bombay, where he works delivering tee for Chacha's street bar and being called "Chaipau" by the local street children. He befriends heroin addict and drug dealer Chillum, and young Manju Golub, the daughter of Baba Golub and prostitute Rekha Golub. Krishna dreams of saving 500 rupees to return home, but Bombay street life isn't easy.
Leave your thoughts about Salaam Bombay!.
| Time OutRupert SmithShot entirely on location with its child actors recruited from the streets, Salaam Bombay! enters into its subjects' lives with rare authority and absolute compassion. |
| Village VoiceLeslie CamhiThe director's experience making documentaries served her well as she worked for weeks with the kids who inhabit Bombay's backstreets. |
| Christian Science MonitorDavid SterrittThe movie is terrifically well acted and beautifully filmed, however, marking an auspicious feature-film debut for Indian-American director Mira Nair. |
| EmanuelLevy.ComEmanuel LevyNair's debut, winner of Cannes Festival Camera d'Or, tells the harrowing story of one boy's life among thieves, prostitutes and drug dealers. Though inspired by De Sica, Babenco, and Ray, it acheves distinctive intensity and color from its unique locale |
| TIME MagazineRichard CorlissSalaam Bombay! deserves a broad audience, not just to open American eyes to plights of hunger and homelessness abroad, but to open American minds to the vitality of a cinema without rim shots and happy endings. |
| People MagazinePeter TraversPoetic, powerful and disturbing, Salaam Bombay transcends language and cultural barriers. |
| Radio TimesDavid ParkinsonDickensian in its empathy with the poor, uncompromising in its realism and ambitious in both scope and technique, this debut feature from Mira Nair is one of the most arresting studies of street life ever made. |
| VarietyVariety StaffDirector Mira Nair, trained in America, is very much in control of her material, tells her story efficiently and has most of the cast, none of them real professionals, under total control. |
| New York TimesVincent CanbyFor a film about such hopelessness, Salaam Bombay! is surprisingly cheering. |
| Filmcritic.comChristopher NullWith Salaam, Nair proves an early ability with a camera and at getting performances out of obviously inexperienced actors, but her writing talents are much sketchier. |