Salaam Bombay (Widescreen Special Edition) [Import]

This is a superb film that gives the viewer a bird's-eye view into the plight of India's urban street children. It is done through the experience of young Krishna, an illiterate, country bumpkin of a boy, who is abandoned by his mother at a circus and told not to come home until he has five hundred rupees for having broken something that belonged to his brother. While Krishna is on an errand, the circus packs up and leaves town, and he is left alone to fend for himself.

Krishna uses his last few rupees to travel to a city, which by luck of the draw turns out to be Bombay. Thrust into the life of the street children of Bombay, living among the pimps, hustlers, drug addicts, prostitutes, and throw away children that proliferate in India's urban settlements, a modern day jungle, Krishna struggles to survive. His resourcefulness holds him in good stead. He quickly develops some street smarts and forms attachments. He struggles to earn and save money, so that he can return home to his mother and the family whom he misses, only to be duped in the end by one in whom he had trusted. His story breaks one's heart, as he learns some hard lessons in life.

This is a gritty look into the underbelly and plight of Bombay's poor street children, who call the gutters of its filthy urban streets home. It is filled with the sights and sounds of this urban nightmare. An Academy Award nominee for Best Foreign Language Film, this highly acclaimed film allows the viewer a peek at another culture, only to find that basic human needs and desires are universal.

This was my introduction to Mira Nair. I assumed it was her first full-length feature. She takes you into the streets of Bombay through the eyes of homeless children. It is kind of an "Oliver Twist" in India, but Nair provides a gritty perspective that has been lacking in her films since her international debut. The camera work is fantastic. You really get the sense of the teaming masses of people and the vulnerbility of these children. The Fagan-like overlord of this brood feels real, making it seem like Mira did her research.

I couldn't believe my eyes when I happened to be browsing through the foreign film DVD's and pulled out Salaam Bombay by surprise. I love this film! This is my favorite film in the whole world and in my opinion one of the best films ever made. After searching for such a long time for this film in which I finally found one used copy on VHS, having this film on DVD is a reale prize. Not only do you get the film itself and the quality of the picture is fantastic, but you get so many special features. A major highlight of this DVD is that you get special features with several of the actors that acted in the film. The features present recent interviews with Shafiq Syed the lead character in the film as well as with the other actors. These feastures are nice because you see the child actors in what they look like now and what became of their lives. You also get footage on a brief history on how the actors were recruited off the streets and the making of the film. The features also present footage with director Mira Nair and other production crew of the film. This is a really great film and the way Mira Nair shot and directed the film was very clever. This film has a documentary type quality to it and filming was done entirely on the streets of Mumbai(Bombay)so you get an upclose reality of what some of the streets of Bombay look like and the lives of the poor and the street children. This is an excellent film and I am grateful to have this DVD, may favorite film of all time!