Bombay (1995)

Ace filmmaker Mani Ratnam has attempted a film on inter-religion marriage and the aftermath of communal riots and came out with flying colors. Ratnam has struck all the right chords here as nothing in this film looks out of place and almost all characters have given their very best.

Arvind Swamy shows that he has what it takes to be the numero uno in the industry after his superb performance in Roja while Manisha Koirala is indeed very good here as a Muslim girl torn between her family and her Hindu lover and then a distraught mother of lost twins. None of the actresses portray vulnerability on screen like she does. Nassar is good as the hero's father while Kitty pitches in another believable performance as the heroine's Muslim father.

Music is excellent and I understand why after Bombay, Ratnam chooses A.R. Rahman as the music composer for most of his films. Cinematography is breath-taking and the scenarios of the rural India and the suburban Mumbai have been captured genuinely and beautifully.

Bombay easily goes down in cinematic history as a classic and it does show some disturbing pictures of the aftermath of the Hindu-Muslim riot like charred, deformed bodies of little children after being burnt down which is truly heart wrenching and might melt even the stone-hearted.

Just brilliant! Give it a shot.

Fmovies: This story of love and marriage between a Hindu man and Mospem woman was very well done. Even though I could not get the English subtitles to work on my DVD player, I was able to follow the plot with a little help from the package notes.

The portrayal of the Hindu/Moslem religious riots of 1992/3 was very well done. It was an excellent portrayal of the violence, horror, bloodshed and suffering in so many such acts of violence in too many time periods, for too many reasons, and between too many groups of people. The thing uppermost in my mind was how Christian fundamentalists could want to import such horrors and such suffering to the United States - but I guess Christian fundamentalists do not watch movies like this.

A typical Mani ratnam movie with a warm beginning and after the interval has some good interesting storyline developing.

The initial romance between Arvind and Manisha is sweet and the second half where they get embroiled in the dirty politics leading to bomb blasts leads to interesting things. Though there seems to be some bloodspill shown, its not very harsh tone. Hospital scenes where people are searching for their missing ones is heart warming. Its a good communal movie which showcases that violence does not give any win and that if people unite, its stronger than what anti-socials can do.

Nazar gives a good performance, so do all the other people in the cast. A.R.Rahman's music is excellent and make a good collection.

Bombay fmovies. Bombay was something excellent, it was natural, it happened, more over every one played their part well, making it a success, even people who worked in the backstage. The Great Director choose his subjects well. Prakash Rai who was offered a small role....was excellent too..the budding star at that time.

You can also see the set, the expression of the actors who acts as the public, or who just appear once, they still do their best, you can also watch some scene where the crowd appears. great direction, he could manage all that too, we need more movies like these, we need more directors and actors like these, to make a great movie of time.

First having heard the music and later having eyewitness information from the 1993 riots in Mumbai from my wife (who was in her early teens at the time), I sat and watched this movie in my home on what happened to be India's 60th Independence Day anniversary. I must admit I was stunned and baffled and all that, especially from the magnificent depiction of an impossible love story. The riot scenes in the second half of the film are also quite moving, but the end of the film lacks some of the momentum found elsewhere.

Nevertheless, this is a movie worth watching, especially in the company of Indians, since it contains a lot of symbolism hardly understandable to "us" foreigners.

Wallah! What a movie. Shakes and stirs u till the final moment. I saw it and was amazed at how naturally ManiRathnam captures emotions and brings the whole theatre alive with Superlative Direction, Excellent Music, Super dialogues,etc.....!! Truly worth watching!!