Salaam Bombay to Slumdog Millionaire
In 1988, a film centered on Mumbai’s slum-street-kids attracted international attention. It won quite a few awards at major film-festivals and even got an Oscar nomination as the best foreign film. That film was Hollywood-based director Mira Nair’s Salaam Bombay. 20 years later, British director Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire portrayed the same world and did even better, winning international awards by the dozens.
Slumdog’s astounding success made me revisit Salaam Bombay- the first movie made about Mumbai’s slums featuring Indian actors and sporting Western directorial sensitivity! But I found that despite their similar canvases, the two films presented two vastly different pictures and that’s why they made an interesting comparison study.
Salaam Bombay – as real as it gets!
Salaam Bombay doesn’t have a coherent, linear plot. It is like a stomach-churning raw slice of life in Mumbai’s seedy streets and slums. The film tells the tale of Krishna- a ten-year old boy, who ends up coming to Mumbai when the circus where he had been working winds up. Coming to the city, Krishna gets a new name- ‘Chai-Paav’ (Tea-Bread)! It is a none-too-flattering sobriquet indicating his ill-paid job as an errand-boy working at a tea-stall. The world around him is harsh, strange and sordid. The boys around him are just like him- without a family, without a home and even without a proper name! They are known by strange nicknames like ‘Keeda’(Insect), Koyla (Coal) and ‘Panvati’ (Bad luck). When they get a chance, they do small part-time jobs but mostly they just while away their time smoking, gossiping, gambling and even robbing old pensioners. Theirs is a world bereft of innocence; a world where pimps, prostitutes and drug peddlers are everyday acquaintances; a world where only survival counts. There everything else is meaningless- everything including hopes, dreams and emotions! Will Krishna ever be able to escape from the clutches of the big bad city to return to his village? Or will he be gobbled up like million others, who lost their way while trying to make something of their lives?
Salaam Bombay is not just a depressing downward spiral of a street-kid’s life; it is much more than that. It is a grim portrayal of the big city’s worst kept secrets- the slums, the red-light areas and the hopeless lives of their nameless, faceless residents. Raghubir Yadav as Krishna’s drug-addict friend ‘Chillum’, Nana Patekar as the pimp-cum-drug-peddler ‘Baba’ and Anita Kanwar as Baba’s prostitute-wife ‘Rekha’ deliver well-nuanced performances. But director Mira Nair’s real talent is evident in the way she extracts such natural and moving performances from her child- actors, most of whom were actually slum-kids! Shafiq Syed as Krishna, Hansa Vital as Baba and Rekha’s daughter- Manju and Sarfuddin Qureshi as ‘Koyla’ are simply unforgettable.
The story and screenplay were written by Mira Nair and Sooni Taraporevala by interacting with real slum-dwelling children. They made no effort to sugarcoat these real-life hard-luck stories with a feel-good twist. With its slow, unglamorous and painstakingly realistic portrayal Salaam Bombay classically followed the traditions of the art-house cinema and thus remained limited in its appeal.
Slumdog Millionaire- as unreal as it gets!
Well- skip this para if you are one of the zillion viewers who have seen Danny Boyle’s Oscar-winner a trillion times! Otherwise here’s a quick recap. Based on Indian diplomat-turned-author Vikas Swarup’s novel ‘Q & A’, Slumdog Millionaire intriguingly begins with a multiple choice question. ‘Jamal Malik is one question away from winning 20 million rupees. How did he do it? A) He cheated. B) He’s lucky. C) He’s a genius. D) It is written.” Next we see Jamal being tortured in a police cell where the cops are trying find out how an uneducated tea-boy like him got all the right answers on the TV quiz show – ‘Who wants to be the millionaire?” Then a series of flashbacks reveals how each and every question and its answer was somehow connected with some traumatic event in Jamal’s colorful life that began in Mumbai’s slums, took him all across India and finally landed him in the contestant’s seat of the famous show.
Unbelievable, incredible, far-fetched, implausible- call it what you will, but one thing is sure. Slumdog Millionaire was one riveting tale where human endurance and fate colluded together to conjure a triumph of a lifetime! It took us through the dark corridors of poverty, crime, physical abuse and sibling rivalry but it didn’t end in darkness. Instead it offered light at the end of the tunnel. Here a determined individual aided by destiny, finally fulfilled his dreams against all odds!
With a plot where convenient coincidences, unbelievable characters and factual errors galore, it is easy to see why the film has also received its fair share of brickbats. But despite those valid criticisms, the film still scored on many counts. Startling documentary, racy crime thriller, spirited romantic saga and high voltage reality-show – Slumdog Millionaire operated in various guises. Its breakneck speed, roller-coaster narrative, tantalizing suspense, atmospheric music, spectacular camera-work, taut editing, utterly believable performances and cunningly manipulative direction – everything gelled together to keep the audience glued to the screen from start to finish.
What Danny Boyle managed to do in Slumdog was to create an amazing fusion of languages, cultures and film-genres in one enjoyable mainstream movie with universal appeal. What he pulled off was not easy. Juxtaposing the reality of Salaam Bombay on the fantasy of Amar Akbar Anthony, he managed to sell the Bollywood masala in Hollywood garb!
Is it real India?
Even though I am in complete agreement with critics and viewers finding out various glitches in the story and characterizations of Slumdog, there is one thing I don’t see eye to eye with them. A significant portion of Indian intelligentsia was aghast that Slumdog’s stark portrayal of Mumbai’s slums, stations, sewers and sickos presented India in poor light. They felt films like Slumdog and Salaam Bombay focused only on the negatives plaguing India, without bothering to present its progress as an emerging economic powerhouse. It is not real India- they proclaimed! But is it so?
India- or for that matter any country is too diverse to be portrayed in totality in any one film or a documentary but that doesn’t mean that the poverty and misery portrayed in these films is unreal! The grand mansions, glitzy saris and glamorous marriage-functions portrayed as Indian culture in TV serials and Bollywood movies; for me, that is unreal!
Sure I squirmed and felt wretched and ashamed many times while watching Slumdog and Salaam Bombay. Because these films made me realize that still there are so many people in my country, who are living in subhuman conditions and not enough is being done for that! Salaam Bombay had resulted in formation of ‘Salaam Baalak Trust’ to care for city’s street-kids. I had hoped that Slumdog will do better even in that respect but instead what we are seeing is a sickening, mad rush by impoverished parents to sell off slum-kid actors to the highest bidders! Truth is always more potent than fantasy- the real slum-world is much more darker than these two films ever portrayed!
Tags: Danny Boyle, Mira Nair, Salaam Bombay, Slumdog Millionaire
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Welcome Doctor!
Doctor Sahab, congrats on ur first post as a full-time author on PFC…
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well-etched article… as a coincidence, just bought salaam bombay DVD last sunday. planned to watch it all over agn very soon… thanks for the reminder…
welcome aboard…
did read your posts on ‘chashme baddoor’ and the ‘toss up between’ reviews
have a gr8 time here :D
I don’t feel that salaam bombay doen’t have a coherent plot. The canvas of SB is bigger than that of SM. The object of SB is the “life in an indian slum”, whereas, the object of SM is ‘Jamal Malik’. SM never focusses on the hardships Jamal faces on his everyday life. instead, the movie portrays more on the important events that led him to win the KBC. The story is more inclined to entertain the international audience, rather than presenting the hardships of a slum.
SB beats SM in this aspect. Here, chai-pao is the charater who observes and sometimes, experiences the hardships that are faced by the people around him. His presence in the movie can be compared to that of an unbiased visitor to a slum who evaluates what is right and what is wrong. Moving along, he also experiences or rather, shares those hardships. The movie is a true depiction of an indian slum. The reality shown in the movie still holds true even after 20 years of it’s release.
Thanks for the effusive welcome!:)
Anand, I do agree that SB operates on a much larger canvas but precisely that’s why it is difficult for the plot to remain concise and coherent. Too many tracks, too many stories to tell! As a serious depiction of slum, street life SB is miles ahead of SD!
Doc nice meeting u and welcome to PFC.
BTW my Dad himself is a Doctor, and pretty much a movie buff like yourself.
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Also while drafting a post on Manna Dey, found an interview of urs with him, which did give me a lot of insights. And also loved some of ur reviews on not too well known flicks.
For me SDM was more like one of those 70’s and 80’s Bollywood masala flicks, you know the poor hero in a slum, against the rich bad man, and trying to make it in life. Did not hate it, but found it vastly overrated.
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If it comes to slum life, i would always rate movies like SB, Chakra much ahead of SDM.
Ratnakar, thanks for extending the welcome! BTW, I am in total agreement with you as regards Slumdog being similar to Bollywood masala flicks of the 70s and 80s. I think the ‘Burger chhaap’ Hollywood found this Bollywood masala to its liking!:)
Non-judgemental and insightful.
This is how articles ahould be written.
Thank You Doc
I don’t know why my earlier comment did not appear here. So repeating it with some modifications.
Ratnakar/ Gurudev, thanks for the welcoming comments. BTW, I too felt that SDM was just like the 70s-80s Bollywood potboilers. I think the ‘Burger chhaap’ Hollywood liked Bollywood masala and that’s why all these awards!:)
For me personally Salaam Bombay is a much better f than SM.What Salaam Bombay did not have was the “hype”.And yes there was less commercial element in it.In SM as long the kids were on screen the film the film was believeable,but after that..it turned into pure commmercial fantasy film.
You forgot one important point: Salaam Bombay was also nominated for an Oscar (Best Foreign Film). Now compare.
Salaam Bombay was hyped to an extent in the West, and did garner criticism in India. But in those days, no one really paid attention to the Oscars in India — so the effect was very muted. Although it’s generally agreed that Salaam Bombay is now not just an Indian independent film classic, its a world film classic in general.
The screenwriter, Sooni Taraporevala, who worked tirelessly with director Mira Nair, was from Bombay, and it showed in the script. Taraporevala (who recently became a director herself http://www.littlezizouthemovie.com ) is also a photographer, and one of her photos became Salaam Bombay’s poster. If you check her website she has more lovely photos from the set of Salaam Bombay: http://www.soonitaraporevala.com
I read that there is talk of re-releasing Salaam Bombay soon. I hope it happens.
welcome Dr!!!
nice comparison – both movies are reflective of their time periods too. The amazing thing is – that at lower levels nothing has changed and that ought to be noted by society’s conscience keepers – that includes you and me too!!
I Think Salaam Bombay score over SLum Dog in Casting. Though you cant juxtapose two movies together however the actors are more realistics in SM then SDM. Specially the oldest Jamal , Rubina and Salim are look suave for the character they play.
Thank you for taking time out to underline that Slumdog was not the first of its kind and much superior work has been done in the past. But what I have never understood is this being ashamed of seeing slums in our midst… This is not to state that one needs to be proud of them, or, worse still be indifferent about them. I think we are not able to aritculate the very many ambiguous feelings slums arouse and so we tend to describe our response as ’shame’. Maybe what we are really ashamed of is our continued indifference to the squalor around us and our inability to change this reality. Thus I come to an important point. As cinema Salaam Bombay is infinitely superior to Slumdog Millionaire but slumdog probably ‘helps’ us to respond to the slums and the people of the slums beyond our set response of shame or pity. It opens our eyes not just to the squalor but to the dignity in it too. It does not do it too subtly but the point is it does… And thereby provides an entry point where we, who are not really part of it, gain a ‘dignified’ entry into that world. We can thus negotiate some of our complex responses to this reality of our lives that we are not going to be able to wish away very soon. In that sense Slumdog does work as an exmaple of popular art, through its act ‘defamiliarization’it shifts our perception of a given reality.
V.P. Jaiganesh- your point about no change at the grassroot level amd Vyuti- your point about Slumdog making us see slum people in a different light are both excellent observations.
Thanks PFC for such stimulating interactions!
Great post but you have been trying to be politically correct in case of Slumdog Millionaire. It’s bad film, irrespective of the Oscars and success it achieved.
I couldn’t sit through the entire film and felt angry and insulted by it.
I was missing Mira Nair and Salaam Bombay all along.
@A. Singh:
I genuinely liked Slumdog as an escapist entertainer. But of course, the Oscar and the hype was something unfathomable.
@Dr.Mandar,
Great post!. I regularly followed your column in GN and Tabloid back in the day so it is a pleasant surprise to read your post on PFC as well. Funnily enough, each time I comment on PFC, I seem to be defending SDM !:)
Without doubt Salaam Bombay was brilliant, and Chakra was outstanding too, but SDM received most of its awards for genuine cinematic achievements, direction, cinematography, sound, music, screenplay….! So why so much antagonism towards it from the Indian film viewer! As rightly mentioned by you, despite its far-fetched premise(bollywood has inflicted worse upon us!) there is a great message of hope in the film. It seems we prefer to ignore the merits of SDM, choosing instead to whine endlessly about irrelevant issues!
Thanks for the post, looking forward to read more!
Dr. Mandar- Thanks for this post. (Made mental note about watching Salaam Bombay)
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I have said this before and say this again. As long as even one child or one person lives in those subhuman conditions, filmmakers have every right to make a movies on it.
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Instead of cringing about it, civil society should use that awareness to do something to alleviate the situation-even for that last child.
Dr.Saab- welcome aboard & yes your post reminds me that I need to watch Salaam Bomabay again somtime soon.
Hello,
I wonder if the writer of this article or any of you people here could provide me with the links of critiques of SM.I would really appreciate it because I’ve been searching for it and end up finding nothing but all positive opinions towards it.Hopefully anyone here could help me out!Thanks!
Bianca kuo from Taiwan