Search - Salaam Bombay! on DVD

MPAA Rating: NR Content Advisory: Violence, Adult Situations, Strong Sexual Content, Not For Children, Adult Language, Profanity Movie Release: 1988 DVD Release: 03/04/2003 Format: DVD - Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV - Closed Captioned Audio Tracks: Hindi Subtitles: English, French, Spanish SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 1 hrs 54 mins Studio: MGM Members Wishing: 7 Genres: Drama, Urban Drama, Social Problem Film

Shot on-location on the streets of Bombay, Mira Nair's Salaam Bombay is the gritty tale of Krishna (Shafiq Syed, a runaway discovered by Nair), a boy kicked out of his home, and abandoned by the traveling circus he had joined. In desperation, he uses the little money he has to buy a one-way ticket to the nearest city, which turns out to be Bombay. "Come back a movie star," the ticket agent tells him mockingly. In Bombay, Krishna joins a small community of street kids, and gets a job delivering tea. Soon, everyone in the downtrodden neighborhood knows him as "Chaipau" (tea boy). Krishna wants to save five hundred rupees, enough money to get back into his mother's good graces and return home. Chillum (Raghubir Yadav), a streetwise young man who deals drugs for the local kingpin, Baba (Nana Patekar), takes Krishna under his wing. The sly but cruel Baba has a mistress, Rekha (Aneeta Kanwar), who works as a prostitute. She has a young daughter, Manju (Hansa Vithal), who has a crush on Krishna, but Krishna only has eyes for the girl they call "Sweet Sixteen," a virginal teenager who is being forced into prostitution. Eventually, Baba fires the surly Chillum, and Krishna finds himself struggling to keep Chillum alive by supporting his drug habit. Many of the roles in the film are played by non-actors, including the street kids, and an actual madame who allowed Nair to film scenes in her brothel. The Harvard-educated Nair began her filmmaking career working on documentaries. Salaam Bombay, her narrative feature debut, won worldwide critical acclaim, and was awarded the Camera D'Or at Cannes. She and the film's screenwriter, Sooni Taraporevala, also collaborated on Mississippi Masala, starring Denzel Washington. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide

Shafig Syed - Krishna
Sarfuddin Qurrassi - Koyla
Raju Barnad - Keera
Raghubir Yadav - Chillum
Nana Patekar - Baba

Mira Nair's intimate look at Indian street kids, Salaam Bombay!, comes to DVD from MGM in this special edition release. Presented with a widescreen anamorphic transfer. Dolby Digital soundtracks in Hindi are offered in the original Mono or remixed 5.1 Surround Sound. Optional subtitles are available in English, Spanish, and French. Writer/director Mira Nair and cinematographer Sandi Sissel provide two separate audio commentary tracks. Six featurettes are included, each running about ten minutes and focusing on different members of the cast and crew over the years. "Once Chance in a Million," "A Color in the Hand of the Painter," "I Got Love," and "So Kids Like Us Can Learn Forever" are each profiles of the kids. "It Gave Me a Career" is a talk with screenwriter Sooni Taraporevala and "No Guts, No Glory" is about the Salaam Balak Trust fund. Also includes a photo gallery, original theatrical trailer, and trailers for other MGM titles. This is a highly recommended disc of an award-winning Indian film that didn't get treated to a wide theatrical release in the U.S. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide