Abandoned by the travelling fair for which he works, 11 year old Krishna takes a train to the nearest city - Bombay. He is initiated into the ways of the city by various members of a children’s street gang and, determined to save up enough money to get home, begins work at the bottom of the street hierarchy as a “Chaipau” or tea-boy. Through his eyes we glimpse a Bombay never seen in traditional Indian studio-based films, a city of madness and cacophony, where flesh and drugs are traded and everywhere there are children like Krishna, surviving and succumbing to the appetite of the raging metropolis. Movingly acted by real street kids this film is an eloquent addition to the cinema’s portraits of troubled childhood.
Credits
Collection metadata
ACMI Identifier
38500
Language
Hindi
Subject categories
Advertising, Film, Journalism, Mass Media & TV → Foreign language films
Anthropology, Ethnology, Exploration & Travel → Bombay (India)
Economics, Philosophy, Politics, Religion & Sociology → Homeless children
Family, Gender Identity, Relationships & Sexuality → Homeless children
Feature films
Feature films → Feature films - India
Food, Health, Lifestyle, Medicine, Psychology & Safety → Homeless children
Foreign language films
Places → Bombay (India)
Sound/audio
Sound
Colour
Colour
Holdings
VHS; Access Print (Section 1)
MPEG-1 Digital File - 2MB Rate; Copy