Bombay (1995) on Netflix
Shekhar Pillai, a journalism student in Bombay, goes back to Mangudi, his village in Tamil Nadu, and falls in love with Shaila Banu, a Muslim schoolgirl. Both fathers refuse the match.
- Netflix4.1/5
- IMDb8.1/1015,329 votes
- Rotten TomatoesNot available
Trailer
Plot summary
Shekhar Pillai, who studies journalism in Bombay, comes home to his orthodox Hindu family in their village of Mangudi, in Tamil Nadu. There he meets Shaila Banu, a schoolgirl from the village's Muslim community who is a friend of his sister, and falls in love with her. She is hesitant at first and guards her traditional boundaries, but she agrees to a secret romance. Shekhar asks Basheer for his daughter's hand, and the father refuses because of their different religions. Narayana Pillai, Shekhar's father, is furious, and the two fathers confront each other in public. Shekhar goes back to Bombay and sends Shaila a train ticket with an invitation to join him. Basheer finds the correspondence and arranges a marriage for her. She leaves the village on the ticket he sent and reaches Bombay.
Cast
- Master Harshaas Kabir Narayan
- Master Hridhayas Kamal Basheer
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Bombay (1995)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Two homemade bombs were thrown at director Mani Ratnam's house by Radical Islamist terrorists after Bombay was released, over its depiction of a Muslim woman and a Hindu man's relationship, and he was hospitalised with shrapnel injuries. The film was also banned in Singapore and Malaysia.
- Aishwarya Rai was considered for the female lead of Bombay but pulled out because the shooting schedules clashed with the Miss World pageant, a title she went on to win.
- Mani Ratnam shot a photoshoot with Vikram and Manisha Koirala but dropped Vikram for the lead because he would not shave the beard and long hair he had grown for Pudhiya Mannargal (1994); the part went to Arvind Swamy.
- Nassar, a Muslim in real life, played the Hindu father of Arvind Swamy's character, while Kitty, a Hindu, played the Muslim father of Manisha Koirala's character; Mani Ratnam cast them that way deliberately, as a statement.
- Twins Harsha and Hriday were chosen to play the protagonists' twin sons from over 70 pairs of twins the director saw but was not impressed by, and Bombay remains Harsha's only release.
- The demolition of the Babri Masjid appears in the film only through newspaper headlines and photographs, because the Censor Board did not want the makers to show the actual destruction.
