Young Krishna struggles to survive among the drug dealers, pimps, and prostitutes in the back alleys and gutters of India.
Young Krishna's mother abandons him at the Apollo Circus and informs him that he can only return home when he can afford 500 rupees to pay for his brother's bicycle that he destroyed. The circus then leaves Krishna behind and he takes a train to Bombay, where he works delivering tee for Chacha's street bar and being called "Chaipau" by the local street children. He befriends heroin addict and drug dealer Chillum, and young Manju Golub, the daughter of Baba Golub and prostitute Rekha Golub. Krishna dreams of saving 500 rupees to return home, but Bombay street life isn't easy.—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
The story of Krishna, Manju, Chillum, and the other street children of Bombay. Sometimes they can get temporary jobs selling tea, but mostly they must beg for money and keep out of the way of the police, but they can almost never avoid trouble.—Mattias Thuresson
Fed up of being endlessly bullied by his older brother, Krishna sets fire to his motorbike, and his furious mother takes him to the nearby Apollo Circus and informs him that he can only come home after he earns Rs.500/- to pay for the damaged bike. Krishna agrees to this and finds employment with the circus. One day the boss sends him on an errand, and he returns to discover that the circus has packed up and departed. Alone, not knowing where to go or how to earn the 500 rupees he needs, he travels to the nearest big city: Bombay. Immediately robbed of what little he has, he follows the thieves and befriends them. He ends up in Bombay's notorious red-light area of Falkland Road near Grant Road Railway Station. One of the thieves, Chillum, a drug pusher and addict, helps him get a job on the "Grant Road Tea Stall" and changes his name to "Chaipau." He soon discovers that saving money among his new associates in his new surroundings is next to impossible. He also has a crush on young prostitute Sola Saal; he sets fire to her room and tries unsuccessfully to elope with her--which earns him a beating and relieves him of his job. He then works odd jobs to feed himself and look after Chillum, who cannot live without his drugs. He and his pals also break into an elderly Parsi man's place in broad daylight to rob him. One night several of his friends return home to get apprehended by the police and taken to a juvenile home, but Krishna escapes and returns to his world of drug pushers, pimps, and prostitutes. Will he ever be able to return to his mother?—rAjOo ([email protected])
This is a superb film that gives the viewer a bird's eye view into the plight of India's urban street children. It is done through the experience of young Krishna, an illiterate, country bumpkin of a boy, who is abandoned by his mother at a circus and told not to come home until he has five hundred rupees for having broken something that belonged to his brother. While Krishna is on an errand, the circus packs up and leaves town, and he is left alone to fend for himself. Krishna uses his last few rupees to travel to a city, which by luck of the draw turns out to be Bombay. Thrust into the life of the street children of Bombay, living among the pimps, hustlers, drug addicts, prostitutes, and throw away children that proliferate in India's urban settlements, a modern day jungle, Krishna struggles to survive. His resourcefulness holds him in good stead. He quickly develops some street smarts and forms attachments. He struggles to earn and save money, so that he can return home to his mother and the family whom he misses, only to be duped in the end by one whom he had trusted. His story breaks one's heart, as he learns some hard lessons in life.
This is a gritty look into the underbelly and plight of Bombay's poor street children, who call the gutters of its filthy urban streets home. It is filled with the sights and sounds of this urban nightmare. An Academy Award nominee for Best Foreign Language Film, this highly acclaimed film allows the viewer a peek at another culture, only to find that basic human needs and desires are universal.
