SALAAM BOMBAY! Movie Review

This gritty and engaging directorial debut by Mira Nair is a lively, poignant, ultimately heartbreaking portrait of a child who begs in the streets of contemporary Bombay in order to raise enough money to return to his mother's house in the country. Using a largely non-professional cast—selected from the streets and trained in special, improvisational workshops—Nair's simple tale takes on added tragic dimension with each new obstacle and blind alley that the boy runs into. It's soon apparent that Salaam Bombay!—one of the most talked-about films at Cannes in 1988—is more than just the compassionate and moving story of one desperate child; the tightly focused microcosm of this boy's world is representative of a larger tragedy that continues to enfold impoverished young people and their families the world over. Academy Award Nominee, Best Foreign Language Film.

NEXT STOP … Mississippi Masala, Phantom India, Aparajito

1988 114m/C IN GB Shafiq Syed, Hansa Vithal, Chanda Sharma, Nana Patekar, Aneeta Kanwar, Sarfuddin Quarassi, Raju Barnad, Raghubir Yadav; D: Mira Nair; W: Sooni Taraporevala; C: Sandi Sissel; M: L. Subramaniam. Nominations: Academy Awards ‘88: Best Foreign-Language Film. VHS, LV NO