Bombay

There is much to say about the film "Bombay" which takes its name from one of the biggest cities in India. The film starts out as a standard, not so special, love story that has been seen in numerous films before it and felt a bit rushed too, but I'll get to that later. But as the story progresses it takes a complete 180 and a precious story of living life in the midst of enormous racial tension emerges.

The film follows Shekhar, who is from a traditional Hindu family, and Shaila, who is from a Muslim family. Shekhar falls in love after seeing Shaila walking around the village. Shaila, however, is reluctant about Shekhar, but after seeing him follow her around numerous times she eventually falls in love with her. This is the part that I felt was a bit rushed. She barely knew the guy and she decides to marry her at there first meeting. But that is just a minor complaint.

Anyways, when Shekhar tells his father that he is going to marry a Muslim he is met with a harsh reaction and leaves home. The same happens at Shaila's home, in fact her father threatens to kill her. Both Shaila and Shekhar run away to Bombay where they get married and eventually have kids.

This is where the film takes a major turn, there is a lot of racial tensions going on between the Muslims and the Hindus in Bombay and riots between the two groups start. These riots eventually bring the parents of both Shaila and Shekhar to Bombay to make sure they are all right. Unfortunately, things take a turn for the worst when a giant riot breaks out in Bombay and both groups start burning down everything. Shaila, Shekhar and there children get out of there house, but there parents aren't as lucky and they are killed. After this the children go missing and Shaila and Shekhar have to find them amidst the madness of the riots. They are eventually found and the riots end after the leaders of both sides see atrocities that are going on around them.

In the end the film turned out to be quite good. It tackled a theme of racism that is relatable to out world today. America is one of the most diverse countries in the world and there will always be some sort of racial tension around is and it was interesting to see how it plays out in other countries. It is rally amazing to see how something as small as believing in some thing different can be a good enough excuse for the killing of hundreds of people. We are all human and the judgement of our characters should not come from whether or not we believe in the same god as someone else.

This film tackled this issue excellently, and even though the first half of the movie wasn't as good as the second half it all came together quite seamlessley. It is a movie that I would highly recommend to anybody.