Salaam Bombay (Widescreen Special Edition)
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Anita Kanwar, Chanda Sharma, Hansa Vithal, Raghuvir Yadav, Shafiq SyedBrand: SYED,SHAFIQ
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); Hindi (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Format: Anamorphic, Color, DVD, NTSC, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 113 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2003-03-04
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
Movie Reviews of Salaam Bombay (Widescreen Special Edition)
Movie Review: Life for Homeless Children on the Streets of Bombay
Summary: 5 Stars
Mira Nair shows the realities of living on the streets in Bombay where children sleep under bridges and sell tea to the prostitutes in brothels as they try to earn money to live from day to day ... Primarily, the film revolves around Krishna, a young boy of 11 years, who left his village to work on the streets of Bombay to earn 500 rupees to pay back his brother, whose bicycle he destroyed. He becomes part of a group of kids who hang out together and look out for one another ... They associate with drug dealers and prostitutes. While the film does show how drugs can destroy lives and how young innocent girls are lured into prostitution there is also a truthfulness and innocence which is conveyed ... The film depicts how the kids survive amidst poverty and how they manage to create a sustainable lifestyle with some semblance of happiness and a wonder for life despite having next to nothing in a material sense.
One of the best extra features on this DVD is the commentary by the director. Mira Nair provides insights into how many of the unique scenes were shot. She discusses particular angles and views used by the camera to capture the pure honesty of this lifestyle. She also describes difficulties encountered and how they were resolved, the major one was meeting the budget, the other was was getting big name actors and actresses for the key roles. Fortunately the subject matter was of such importance, a large British studio Filfour agreed to help fund the project if Ms Nair could raise 51% of the budget herself. Another plus was, the subject of the film was deemed a "governement film" and therefore she received funds as well as access to areas which otherwise would be denied, such as the children's home where street kids were taken after arrested. Ms Nair managed to get a popular male stage actor who had never done films to play one of the lead roles and to her delight, he has since become one of India's most famous leading male film actors. She also snared a popular female television soap opera star to play the female lead ...
One of the most unusual but appealing elements in this film is how Ms Nair used actual street children to be the key actors in the film. She held auditions and made selections then held seven week long workshops where they learned their parts via pictures of scenes which they memorized. Another captivating aspect of this film is how real streets with shop keepers and shoppers were filmed along with the real train station and the natural activities which fit the storyline of the film. This film is a magnificent study of a way of life that few people can imagine but it is all too common in poverty stricken areas of the world. Through this film, Mira Nair has brought the attention of the world to the plight of homeless children in India. She has made a great contribution to improving their lives on many levels. Due to her efforts, trusts have been established in Bombay and other major cities to educate and assist these children. The film itself is a mix of documentary and fiction which captures the intimate details of their reality in vivid color, detail, and honesty. This is a most highly recommended film. Erika Borsos {pepper flower}
Summary of Salaam Bombay (Widescreen Special Edition)
Story of the street children of Bombay in which a deserted 10 year old tries to earn money to get back home.Genre: Foreign FIlm - Indian
Rating: UN
Release Date: 11-JAN-2005
Media Type: DVD
Mira Nair (Monsoon Wedding) adds her angry voice to the cinema of forgotten children in this wrenching drama of an 11-year-old boy (real-life street kid Shafiq Syed) who heads to the big city and joins a sea of homeless kids and down-and-out adults scrambling to survive the pitiless streets. The fantasy of Bollywood dreams hangs just out of reach in posters, movies, and radio tunes, momentary respites from the hard reality of a world ruled by brutal pimps and drug dealers. In the tradition of Los Olvidados and Pixote, former documentarian Nair's feature debut is shot entirely in the slums of Bombay with a largely nonprofessional cast from the same streets. Though the drama is at times misty and melodramatic, her clear-eyed look at the mercenary world around these ultimately fragile forgotten children earned her the Caméra D'Or at Cannes in 1988. --Sean Axmaker
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