Salaam Bombay! (1988) on Netflix
After Krishna burns his brother's motorbike, his mother says he can return home only with 500 rupees to repair it. Stranded when the Apollo Circus leaves without him, he heads for Bombay.
- Netflix3.7/5
- IMDb7.9/1011,334 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes93%
Trailer
Plot summary
Krishna has burned his brother's motorbike, and his mother will not let him return until he earns 500 rupees to cover the damage. The Apollo Circus, where he works, moves on without him, so he travels to Bombay. Thieves there take his few possessions, and he follows them, befriending them and settling into the Falkland Road red-light area beside the Grant Road railway station. Chillum, a drug pusher and addict, helps him find work at the Grant Road Tea Stall, where he is renamed Chaipau. Saving money proves nearly impossible among the people around him, and he is drawn to Sola Saal, a teenage girl recently sold into the brothel.
Cast
- Shafiq Syedas Krishna / Chaipau
- Hansa Vithalas Manju Golub
- Chanda Sharmaas Sola Saal
- Anita Kanwaras Rekha Golub (as Aneeta Kanwar)
- Anjaanas Child at the circus
- Amrit Patelas Circus Boss
- Raju Bernadas Keera
- Chandrashekhar Naiduas Chungal
- Sarfuddin Quarrassias Koyla
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Salaam Bombay! (1988)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- On the first day of shooting Salaam Bombay!, Mira Nair received news that the child actor who had played Pixote had been shot dead in the street; she said the news made her more determined to make the film and to share its dividends with street children.
- After Salaam Bombay! was released, director Mira Nair and Stafford set up the Salaam Baalak Trust in 1989 to rehabilitate the children who appeared in the film; it now supports street children in Bombay, Delhi and Bhubaneshwar.
- At the 61st Academy Awards, Salaam Bombay! became only the second Indian film to be nominated for Best Foreign Language Film.
- Mira Nair and her creative partner Sooni Taraporevala decided from the beginning that real street children would play in Salaam Bombay!, believing professional child actors could not match the combination of childhood and knowledge in their faces.
- Child psychologist Dinaz Stafford found the street children who appear in the film and assisted the acting workshop run by Barry John; about 130 children rehearsed on the first day, and 24 were later trained in music, dance and acting.
