India (2): The Lives of Street Kids in Mumbai

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India (2) The Lives of Street Kids in Mumbai

• Salaam Bombay

Migrant populations flock to the outskirts of
cities to find work. (source)
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Outline

• Background (1) Mira Nair and the Children
• Background (2)
• Bombay Bollywood
• Colonial Influences
• Religion
• Questions
• Salaam Bombay

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Mira Nair and Salaam Bombay

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Mira Nair

• Born in Bhubaneshwar, Orissa in 1957 (middle
  class family)
• Attended the University of New Delhi (Sociology
  and Theater)
• Went to Harvard in 1976 (Sociology) (source)

• Salaam Bombay (1988)
• Mississippi Masala (1991) Indian immigrants in
  relations to Afro-Americans
• Kama Sutra A Tale of Love (1997) based on an
  Indian classic
• Monsoon Wedding (2001) Indians and immigrants
• Vanity Fair (2004)
• The Namesake (2006) Indian immigrants

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Salaam Bombay! History of Production

1. Interviews of street kids in Bombay.
2. Out of these interviews emerged a screenplay that
   was a composite of several lives.
3. Then many 24 out of 150 of the children were
   enlisted for weeks in a daily workshop, not to
   teach them "acting" (for that they already knew
   from hundreds of overacted Indian film
   melodramas), but to teach them how to behave
   naturally in front of the camera. (source)

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What happened to the children?

1. "Our whole attitude was to meet them halfway and
   help them realize their own self-worth and
   dignity," said Nair in a interview with The
   Christian Science Monitor (12 Oct 1988, p.19).
   "We wanted to help them create opportunities
   they want for themselves." Responding to this
   respectful approach, some children entered
   school, some returned home to their villages,
   some got jobs, and some have stayed on the
   streets.
2. Nair uses proceeds from the film to open learning
   centers for street children in both Bombay and
   Delhi. (source)
3. The films interviews

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Salaam Bombay!

• Awards
• the New Director's Award at the Cannes Film
  Festival in 1988 an Academy Award nomination for
  best foreign film in 1989
• Neo-Realism A departure from Bollywood Musical.

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Bollywood

• come back a movie star.

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Traces of Colonial Influences

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Traces of Colonial Influences

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Traces of Religion? ?

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Traces of Religion? ? Parade of Ganesh

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Questions

• 500 rupees How does Krishna go to Bombay? Why is
  he away from home? Why does he go to Bombay and
  what does he want to do there? (clip 711//chap
  8, 114100 )
• A migrant in a city What is Krishnas first
  experience of Bombay? (clip 1) Is there a pattern
  in his life there? Does he grow in the film?
• Street kids and migrants in a city How does he
  relate to the people he meets in Bombay? (e.g.
  Manju, Sweet 16, Manjus mother, Chillum the
  other street kids.) e.g. Why does Krishna fall in
  love with Sweet Sixteen? Is there a common
  pattern in their lives?
• Religion, Culture and the Government How do
  Bollywood musical, religion and the government
  influence the kids in the film?

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Major Themes

• Major Theme 1 Migrants in the city
• Major Theme 2 comradeship and betrayal
• Major Theme 3 Other Social factors
• (Language Differences and Illiteracy
• slums in Bombay, government inefficiency
• Colonialism/tourism -- in the background)

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(1) Migratory identity in Salaam Bombay

• Migratory identity people drifted to the
  metropolis, lost in the crowd, e.g. shots of the
  train station
• -- Chaipau his name (Krishna) no home address
• -- Chillum completely lost ? Mixture of language
  illterate
• -- the sweet 16 no name,
• no language

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Salaam Bombay survival

• How do Krishna and the other kids survive?
• Skin chicken, clean chicken coops ? keeps a
  sense of beauty and love
• rob an old man,
• serve in a rich mans
• wedding party

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Major Themes in Salaam Bombay

• Desire for home
• e.g. Krishna
• -- tries to write home
• -- needs 500 rupees so that he can go home
• -- forms a family in Bombay (Chillum, the
  other children).
• What about Manjus
• family?

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Salaam Bombay The migrants in a city (2)

• Manjus family
• Baba child-abuser and pimp (chaps 12, 15 )
• Mother loving but cannot help (happy moments
  when the father is not around)
• Manju lonely and in desperate need of love.
  (e.g. clips 8, 9, 12, 14//chap 13, 14)

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Manju reaching out in her own ways
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Salaam Bombay a series of betrays
Baba
His wife Manju

• Chillum

Krishna
The other street kids
The Sweet Sixteen
The circus boss
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Major Themes (2) Vicious Circle?

• Comradeship, betrayal and rebellion/survival--
  Pattern of Repetition
• Drug-dealing the death of the previous drug
  dealer, Chillum and then another Chillum.
• Cheating Manjus mother cheated, The Sweet
  Sixteen
• Some are self-destructive and some, surviving
• Chillum has no friend cheats Krishna with his
  bank.
• Krishnas setting fire as a way of rebellion
  against his brother, and then against the
  whorehouse

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Major Themes 3 Social Factors

• Why are Baba and his wife not named?
• Why do people call Krishna Chaipau?
• What roles do Krishna God play in this film?
  And the Chiller room? (clip 20, 22)
• Who sends the two kids to Chiller room?
• How is the chiller room presented?

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Bollywood Mixture

• hybrid culture and identity (e.g. Chillum,
  Manjus danceclip 3 Ms. Hawaii in the movie
  clip 6/chap 4, 6 2100 )

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Salaam Bombay social factors

• State intervention Chiller Room (Childrens
  Home)
• drug, prostitution and Bollywood
• traces of colonial influence
• cricket, tourists, statues, movies
• Religion helpless. E.g. Ganesh (ending)

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The Role of the Government

• Disciplines only to lead to violence,
  indifference of the guards and endless
  procrastination in bureaucracies
• Self-righteous intervention of Manjus family.

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Patterns in Krishnas Life survival, fun,
betrayal.

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Fun with the Spinning Top

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Left Behind
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The Ending?

• Left alone
• Weeping
• Spinning top
• Looking up at the camera --calm

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References

• Roger Elbert. SALAAM BOMBAY!

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Next week stories of 3 girls and a young woman

• During the time of partition -- in Earth
• Over the issue of marriage in Gainda