Salaam Bombay! (1988)

Director:

Mira Nair

Writers:

Mira Nair (story)
Sooni Taraporevala (screenplay)
(more)

Release Date:

7 October 1988 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama

Plot:

The boy Krishna is abandoned by his mother at the Apollo Circus and she tells him that he can only return...

Plot Keywords:

Job | Tea | Street | Drugs | Prostitute

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 12 wins & 6 nominations

Cast

Shafiq Syed	...	Krishna / Chaipau
Hansa Vithal	...	Manju Golub
Chanda Sharma	...	Sola Saal
Raghuvir Yadav	...	Chillum (as Raghubir Yadav)
Anita Kanwar	...	Rekha Golub (as Aneeta Kanwar)
Nana Patekar	...	Baba Golub
Anjaan	...	Child at the circus
Amrit Patel	...	Circus Boss
Murari Sharma	...	Ticket Seller
Ram Moorti	...	Mad Man
Sarfuddin Qureshi	...	Koyla (as Sarfuddin Quarassi)
Raju Barnad	...	Keera
Irshad Hashmi	...	Chacha
Mohanraj Babu	...	Salim
Chandrashekhar Naidu	...	Chungal
Krishna Thapa	...	Nepali Middleman (as Kishan Thapa)
Shaukat Azmi	...	Bordal owner
Haneef Zahoor	...	Bouncer
Jamila	...	Woman at the bordal
Ramesh Rai	...	Barber
Shaukat H. Inamdar	...	Crawford Market Shopkeeper
Irrfan Khan	...	Letter writer
Neil Gettinger	...	Uncle Sam
Yunus Parvez	...	Hashimbhai
Habib Azmi	...	Ganga smoker
Ramesh Goyal	...	Customer at Rekha's House (as Ramesh Gohil)
Sanjana Kapoor	...	Western Journalist (as Sanjna Kapoor)
Biswadeep Chatterjee	...	Hippie Guide
Ameer	...	Ravi (as Ameer Bhai)
Ajju Kasam	...	Angry Man in Movie Theatre
Double Battery Stafford	...	Woman at the cinema
Rana Singh	...	Old man at the cinema
Dinshaw Daji	...	Parsi Bawaji
Jayant Joshi	...	Tailor
Prashant Jaiswal	...	Wedding Singer
Joyce Barneto	...	Bride
Hassan Kutty	...	Spouse
Preshit Shringarpure	...	Fat kin at Wedding
B.D. Sharma	...	Cop
Mohammed Ali	...	Handcuffed man in van
Dilip Das	...	Chiller Room Song Leader
Alfred Anthony	...	Lalua Chor
Ramesh Deshavani	...	Murtaza
Anjan Srivastav	...	Superintendent (as Anjan Srivastava)
Eric Paymaster	...	Superintendent's Echo
Sulabha Deshpande	...	Social Worker at Juvenile Centre (as Sulbha Deshpande)
Mohan Tantaru	...	Chillum II
Sheikh Haroon	...	Solasaal's first costumer

Directed by
Mira Nair

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Hriday Lani		dialogue
Mira Nair		story
Sooni Taraporevala		screenplay
Sooni Taraporevala		story

Produced by
Gabriel Auer	....	executive producer: France
Jane Balfour	....	associate producer
Mitch Epstein	....	co-producer
Mira Nair	....	producer
Michael Nozik	....	executive producer: US
Cherie Rodgers	....	co-executive producer
Anil Tejani	....	executive producer: India

Original Music by
L. Subramaniam

Cinematography by
Sandi Sissel

Film Editing by
Barry Alexander Brown

Casting by
Hassan Kutty

Production Design by
Mitch Epstein

Art Direction by
Nitin Chandrakant Desai		(as Nitin Desai)
Nitish Roy

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Hassan Kutty	....	first assistant director
Dinaz Stafford	....	first assistant director
Nilita Vachani	....	second assistant director

Sound Department
Rosemary Abitabile	....	apprentice sound editor
Margaret Crimmins	....	supervising sound editor
Dominique Dalmasso	....	sound re-recording mixer
Neal Gettinger	....	boom operator (as Neil Gettinger)
Jonathan Liebling	....	foley artist
Mary Ellen Porto	....	sound editor
Laure Sullivan	....	assistant sound editor

Camera and Electrical Department
Imtiaz Ansari	....	electrician
Mulchand Dedhia	....	gaffer
Mitch Epstein	....	second unit photography
Vangelis Kalambakas	....	dolly grip
Hiroo Keswani	....	second assistant camera
Lee Anthony Macnamara	....	first assistant camera
Kamlesh Sadrani	....	generator operator
Sooni Taraporevala	....	still photographer

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Deepa Kakkar	....	costumer

Editorial Department
Tula Goenka	....	assistant editor

Music Department
Shyam Kane	....	musician: tabla
Mark Massey	....	musician: keyboards
Emil Richards	....	musician: percussion
P. Srinavasan	....	musician: mridangam and ghatam
George Struntz	....	musician: acoustic guitar
L. Subramaniam	....	conductor
L. Subramaniam	....	music arranger
L. Subramaniam	....	musician: violin
Vijayshree Subramaniam	....	musician: voice
Ron Wagner	....	musician: drums
Jerry Watts Jr.	....	musician: bass
Ernie Watts	....	musician: horns

Other crew
Joyce Barneto	....	production coordinator: Bombay
Gloria Bremer	....	production coordinator: New York
Gisèle Grellet-Bouquet	....	production accountant
Ambrish Manilal	....	production accountant
Nilita Vachani	....	script supervisor

Thanks
Jehangir Choudhary	....	special thanks

Production Companies

• Cadrage
• Channel Four Films
• Doordarshan
• Forum Films (co-production)
• La Sept Cinéma
• Mirabai Films
• National Film Development Corporation of India (NFDC)

Distributors

• Cinecom Pictures (1988) (USA) (theatrical)
• Cinemax (20??) (Brazil) (DVD)
• Filmax Home Video (2006) (Spain) (DVD)
• Manuel Salvador
• Transmundo Films (Argentina)
• Transmundo Home Video (THV) (Argentina) (video)
• Universum Film (UFA) (2005) (Germany) (DVD) (Special Edition)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

113 min | UK:109 min | Argentina:112 min

Country:

UK | India | France

Language:

Hindi | English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Argentina:16 | Finland:K-12 | France:U | Sweden:11 | UK:15 | Canada:AA (Ontario) | Canada:G (Quebec) | Canada:R (Manitoba/Nova Scotia) | Australia:M | Iceland:L | Singapore:NC-16 | Portugal:M/16

Filming Locations:

Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

Company:

Cadrage

Trivia:

Raghuvir Yadav actually is tickling Shafiq Syed, who didn't expect it, and his laughter is genuine.

Goofs:

Continuity: Krishna starts off with eight glasses of tea. One glass is broken by Sweet Sixteen when he offers her a drink. He is then seen walking back to the tea stand with eight full glasses, but when he gets back he has seven empty glasses.

Quotes:

Rekha Golub:[To Baba] Just like a customer.

Movie Connections:

References Mother India (1957)

Soundtrack:

Chillum

A story of lost innocence

Like the 'Square Circle' which came after it, Mira Nair's film is a wonderful counterpoint to traditional Bollywood cinema, depicting issues that many in India would like conveniently swept under the carpet. Filled with humanity and compassion, the film does have a parallel with Bollywood dramas as it too is about 'escapism'. However, the story shows how these dreams are illusory; the silent 'Sweet Sixteen' showing her romantic photograph - a pretence - as her brothel madam hawks her virginity to a prospective buyer; Krishna's hopes of being forgiven and returning home to his family; the prostitute Rekha's hopes of a 'family life' with the pimp Baba.

I particularly liked the way Nair paralleled childhood innocence with adult cynicism and cruelty. The final scene where Krishna the teaboy weeps for his lost innocence and at what he has become is very moving; like the drug-addict Chillum, he has 'forgotten' how he first came to Bombay and now only sees a life of despair and suffering.