CARPE DIEM

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Directed by: Mira Nair

Salaam Bombay an Academy Award nominated 1987 film by Mira Nair captures the wanderings of Krishna, its kid protagonist on the streets of Bombay. It is a poignant story about poverty and the loss of innocence. Through the experiences of Chaipau (Krishna) played by Shafiq Syed, we see a world that we always knew existed yet were seemingly afraid to acknowledge.

Krishna works in a circus that is winding up and leaving for its next stop. Sent out on an errand by the domineering manager,the free-spirited Krishna returns to find that the circus and his mates have left leaving him behind. Left all alone this child no older then 10 boards a train to a ‘bada shehar’(big city). He arrives in Bombay and is robbed almost immediately. In time he comes to find companions among fellow street children and gets a job as a ‘tea boy’ delivering tea and biscuits to the shops and brothels in the vicinity of Grant Road railway station. He befriends Chillum (Raghubeer Yadav) who works for Baba (Nana Patekar), a drug dealer who also has a stake in prostitution rings in the locality.

The movie while essentially an account of an individual’s strife to stay afloat in the big bad city also poses some serious questions on the state of our Government institutions. In a stirring sequence the disconsolate prostitute mother pleads with the in-charge at a government reformatory for the return of her child..the daughter who she says is the only soul she has in the world. The denial of the child’s custody on the grounds of her profession followed by the superb repartee almost a whisper from the anguished mother, “Sarkar kaise maa ban sakti hai?” (How can the Government play mother?) brings a lump to the throat. All the characters in the movie are surrounded by overwhelming circumstances and it is their resilience that shines through.

Salaam Bombay is dark and often disturbing but the director wouldn’t have had it any other way. There isn’t a flippant way to tell such a powerful story. The destitution, the streets, the images couldn’t be starker. The intense closing frame of Chaipau finally breaking down in despair ensures that the film stays with you long after the credits have rolled. The individual actors are at ease in their roles. It is hard to find flaws here. Because in the end the story and its message leave much more of an impact than any aesthetic attributes could. Salaam Bombay is compelling stuff. Don’t miss it.