Bombay

Bombay, a film by Mani Ratnam follows the story of Shekhar, a student who studies journalism at a university in the city of Bombay. Shekhar is the son of a very Hindu family, his father is very well know in his town and appears to be very well respected. On one of his trips back home he see a girl and becomes totally infatuated with her. He even follows her through the woods in the rain because he just wants to meet her and say hi. The girls name is Shaila, her family is heavily Muslims and her father is the leader of the opposing village that has had issues with Shekhar’s fathers’ village. Shekhar is adamant on meeting her and even dresses up like a woman and gets on their little boat just to talk with her. Eventually they spend some time together and fall in love. Shekhar is serious about marrying her but the issue their fathers have with each other and the deal with conflicting religions is something they seem to be unable to overlook. With the threat of being apart forever and feeling like his family is preventing him from being happy, Shekhar opts to leave his family and invites Shaila to come with him and marry him in Bombay. This is a concern for the families of Shekhar and Shaila because the city is a dangerous place, and in the midst of a religious conflict. There is violence breaking out between radicals from both the Hindu and Muslism and a couple with mixed religious backgrounds is not looked upon with much favor. However, eventually they do become married, move to the city and have two boys; they inform their families of their new grandchildren and the joy of raising new members of a new family becomes apparently more valuable to the families of Shekhar and Shaila. The two fathers come to visit and the joy of their children’s union and additions to the family is more to them then the petty disputes of religion. When the cities conflicts rise to a boiling point and an all out riot ensues, both Shekhar, Shaila, their fathers and the two boys wind up separated in the midst of a large fire and military action. The whole thing comes to a halt when Shekhar willingly demands that someone set him on fire. He just wants his boys back and the fighting to stop. The city and it’s people should be worried about fixing it and each other and not about what the other person chooses to believe.

            I thought the movie was okay. I didn’t necessarily like it but it wasn’t bad either. The first half of the movie I though was almost musical-ish. There were quite a few songs with very elaborate dance numbers that almost looked like music videos. The story line was good though, I liked how the two fathers would argue about what religion to teach the boys too.