Salaam Bombay! 4K 1988 Ultra HD 2160p

Young Krishna's mother abandons him at the Apollo Circus and informs him that he can only return home when he can afford 500 rupees to pay for his brother's bicycle that he destroyed. The circus then leaves Krishna behind and he takes a train to Bombay, where he works delivering tee for Chacha's street bar and being called "Chaipau" by the local street children. He befriends heroin addict and drug dealer Chillum, and young Manju Golub, the daughter of Baba Golub and prostitute Rekha Golub. Krishna dreams of saving 500 rupees to return home, but Bombay street life isn't easy.

User Review

Another amazing non-Indian film about India, made in collaboration between three countries - India, the UK, and France. This means that the film is a must-see (or a must-revisit for those who have already seen it, like me).

Indian director Mira Nair's feature film debut won the Golden Camera award at the Cannes Film Festival, three awards in Montreal, and was nominated for a César, Golden Globe, and BAFTA award, paving the way for Nair's international creative career.

The film “Greetings from Bombay!” depicts the poor, dirty, miserable lives of the inhabitants of the overpopulated and neglected neighborhoods of Bombay (now Mumbai) and shows the real life of the Indian poor from all angles, without embellishment. Of course, Mire Nair is still far from her famous compatriot Satyajit Ray, who 30 years earlier brought to the screen a poetic neo-realistic story of a rural boy's entry into the big world (“The Song of the Road” - “The Unvanquished” - “The World of Apu”). But in her story about twelve-year-old Krishna, a tea delivery boy who came to the big city from the village to earn money and fell childishly in love with a 16-year-old Nepalese girl sold to a local brothel, whom everyone around calls by the pseudonym “Sweet Sixteen”, she manages to tell a sincere and even poetic story about the marginal existence on the outskirts of India's film capital.

Thanks to this film, the viewer sees life in this big city from a completely different angle. The life of simple and sometimes very poor people: simple traders and beggar children, drug dealers, police officers, and rich entrepreneurs. Bombay is a huge city, bustling with life day and night. Everyone who comes to this city dreams of something of their own, but the main thing is not to get lost in the hustle and bustle of the city and not to lose their true identity.

This 1988 drama was a real breakthrough for director Mira Nair, who later made films such as New York, I Love You, Vanity Fair, and Amelia. In 1989, this film was nominated for an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.

A brilliant but sad film in which we follow the abandoned Krishna on his quest to earn enough money to return to his village. Along the way, we meet homeless children with whom he shares his daily life, prostitutes, pimps, and drug dealers. I especially liked how Nair contrasted childlike innocence with adult cynicism and cruelty. The scene where Krishna, the “tea boy,” mourns his lost childhood and what he has become is very touching; like the drug addict Chillim, he has “forgotten” how he first came to Bombay and now sees only a life full of despair and suffering. Poverty is never neat, and in the film it is shown authentically as such. But the innocence and strength of children growing up in such conditions make them more resilient than adults. The film is about life. It shows that no matter how hard it may be, life exists in the slums and in poverty, and people live it. The film is a real gem, a collector's item. One of the best about India - from India... A must-see.

An amazing aspect is that all the children in the film are not actors, but real children living on the streets of this huge city, whom the director found herself. The film does not fall into excessive sentimentality, and at times it is difficult to believe that you are not watching a documentary. Music and realism seep into everyday life, the actors mingle with ordinary people, and the entire film is shot in real locations around Mumbai, which are simply stunning in their atmosphere. It is impossible to single out any particular actor here, because they were all amazing, but personally, I remember the characters of Irfan Khan and Raghuvir Yadav (the drug addict Chilim) the most. Although Nana Patekar, in the role of the crime boss, was also excellent.

The story moves slowly, but this only serves to draw you into their world and leave you stunned at the end - at the loss of childhood for these children and countless others. I highly recommend this film to anyone who loves India but has never been there and wants to see the real India, with all its flaws and problems. It is all so relevant today.

Info Video

Codec: HEVC / H.265 (95.8 Mb/s)
Resolution: Native 4K (2160p)
HDR: Dolby Vision, HDR10
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1

Info Audio

#Hindi: FLAC 1.0
#English: Dolby Digital 1.0 (Commentary by director Mira Nair (2003))
#English: Dolby Digital 2.0 (Commentary by director Mira Nair (2013))
#English: Dolby Digital 1.0 (Commentary by cinematographer Sandi Sissel (2003))

Info Subtitles