Salaam Bombay! is the film that launched the career of the world’s most talented film directors, Mira Nair. Recounting the story of a young street child named Krishna who struggles to earn the 500 rupees he needs to return to his home village, Salaam Bombay! is reminiscent of the classic portraits of childhood by French directors Francois Truffaut and Louis Malle. Mira Nair selected her talented performers from actual Bombay street children, including Shafiq Syed who plays ten year-old Krishna in one of the most compelling performances ever by a child on screen. The film’s characters include lipstick-smeared sex workers, madmen, children who live rough on railway platforms, and men eagerly dispensing brown sugar to young addicts like candy. More than anything else, Krishna and his rag-tag gang of friends from Bombay’s streets fear being arrested by the police, and disappearing in one of the city’s notorious reformatories for children.

Salaam Bombay! is a masterpiece, and earned director Mira Nair a host of international awards. More importantly, the film revealed the story of South Asia’s millions of street children to the whole world, resulting in new projects, better schools, and more opportunities for sports, culture, and recreation for tens of thousands of destitute kids. Mira Nair became the Joan of Arc for legions of street children in India, and established the Salaam Balaak Trust to assist the children who participated in the making of the film, which continues to support creative programming for street children in Indian cities.