Title:"Salaam Bombay!"
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Video stores can be a lot like NBC's coverage of the Atlanta Olympics: dominated by American content, with anything else tucked away in an inconvenient place. If your video store has "Salaam Bombay!" you'll find it in the dusty corner with the other subtitled films. But don't let that put you off: this debut film by director Mira Nair won the New Director Award at the 1988 Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for the Academy Award in 1989 for best foreign film."Salaam Bombay!" is the story of Krishna, a 12 year old boy who is left behind by the traveling circus in which he works. He finds his way to Bombay and becomes a child of the streets, working odd jobs to scrounge up the 500 rupees his mother is demanding in order to return to his family. In the meantime, Krishna develops a new family of pimps, prostitutes, junkies, and street kids. Although these friends educate him on life in the big city, he never loses the desire to return to his family and small town. He also maintains his generous nature, giving gifts and lending money even though it constantly delays his journey home.
In the tradition of Truffaut's "The 400 Blows," Nair highlights the amazing resilience of children in the worst of situations. Krishna perseveres a grim scenario, and still finds the energy to create a glimmer of hope in the most despairing around him. But as that hope is extinguished in each of his closest friends, Krishna finds himself, finally, at his breaking point.
Not only is "Salaam Bombay!" a fascinating story, but it is a remarkable window on the subtleties of Indian life. When Krishna walks around delivering glasses of chai (tea) to local residents and workers, you gain a better understanding of the ways Indians relate to one another. Nair also uses scenes of Indian bureaucracy and chaotic religious festivals to give the viewer a feeling of the loneliness and anonymity that are part of everyday life in the streets of this vast and overpopulated country. But Nair's most brilliant accomplishment is her ability to portray the lives of the Bombay underclass without resorting to sentimentalism. Viewers are privy to the secret moments of joy that make each of the characters' lives bearable. Nair avoids preaching to her audience, and instead leaves them feeling like they've just spent time experiencing the roller coaster lives of real people -- people they can relate to despite the obvious differences.
Have you seen this film? How many wrenches would you give it? (The more wrenches, the better a Tool for Thought it is.)
Tripod members give this film 3.7 wrenches so far.
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