Underplayed Gems

Salaam Bombay! (1988)

Salaam Bombay! poster
Directed by
Mira Nair
Genre
drama film, crime film
Country
India, United Kingdom, France
Runtime
1h 53m
Rated
PG-13
Rating
7.2 of 10 from 123 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
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How it feels

This film follows a young boy named Krishna who is abandoned by his family and must survive on the streets of Mumbai. It shows his daily struggles for work, food, and friendship among other street children and the harsh adults around them.

grittypoignantrawatmosphericslow-pacedbittersweethumanisticneorealist

What happens

Salaam Bombay! is a 1988 Indian Hindi-language drama film, produced and directed by Mira Nair, in her feature directorial debut. Nair's story idea was expanded into a screenplay by Sooni Taraporevala. Salaam Bombay! depicts the daily lives of children living in slums in Bombay (now Mumbai), India's largest city. It stars Shafiq Syed, Raghuvir Yadav, Anita Kanwar, Nana Patekar, Hansa Vithal and Chanda Sharma. Nair's inspiration for the film came from the spirit of Bombay's street children and how they lived. Production began in early 1988, with the National Film Development Corporation of India co-financing the film. Salaam Bombay! had its world premiere at the 1988 Cannes Film Festival, where it received critical acclaim and won the Caméra d'Or. After being released worldwide on 6 October 1988, Salaam Bombay! grossed an estimated $7.4 million at the overseas box office, against a production budget of $450,000. At the 61st Academy Awards, it became only the second Indian film to receive a nomination for Best Foreign Language Film. It has also won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi, the National Board of Review Award for Best Foreign Language Film and three awards at the Montreal World Film Festival. The film was on the list of "The Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made" by The New York Times. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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