Bombay

     The 1995 Bollywood film Bombay, which is directed and written by Mani Ratnam, is a love story centered around the real life incidents involving the tensions and riots which occurred over the co-existing Hindu and Muslim religions in Mumbai, India. The young protagonist lovers, a Hindu man and Muslim woman, fall in love, marry, and move to Mumbai, despite the disapproval and rejection they receive from the strongly Religious convicted families. As the two lovers form a new life and a family of their own in Mumbai, present-day Bombay, their parents, especially fathers, coincidentally visit at the same time to make amends with their children. During the visit in which the parents reunite with their children and each other, ending the family feud between the rivaling fathers, Bombay erupts in violent riots between Hindu's and Muslim's over the conflict of which Religion is the prime belief of India. The riots intensify, leaving the parents of the young lovers dead from a fire and the their two sons lost and lone in civil-warring Mumbai,India. Director Mani Ratnam does an admirable job of using the Bollywood style of song and dance to depict and tell his story of love, forgiveness, and the real joys, in which define a beautiful life among the stupidities and pointlessness that corrupts the world. The basis of a love story centered around such a pivotal and violent event in India's history, is an ingenious strategy in regards to showing how violence and pointless disagreements poison and destroy life's beautiful joys of family and love. Despite the pain and loss experienced by the protagonists throughout the riots of Bombay, the couple finds a happy Hollywood-type resolution as the film ends with reuniting of their unharmed sons, in addition to the emphasis of the tragedies of pointless violence that is demonstrated through the father's impassioned closing speech.

     The themes of Bombay are pretty evident as violence, especially over differences over Religion, is destructive In addition to theme of violence and it's destructive nature, the perseverance and strength of love is a paramount theme echoed throughout the movie as love is the on thing that unites the film's protagonists, and is the on unwavering symbol of goodness that still stands in the end among all the chaos, hate, and death.

     Overall, despite the foreign Bollywood style of incorporating multiple song and dance montages, which seemed to at times distract from the film's plot and story flow, it was an enjoyable film. Even as much as some of the montages seemed to distract my interest in the film at certain points, they as equally, at certain points, helped add to the film's draw and and strengthen film's message and themes, as the montages seemed to depict emotions and experiences that wouldn't have been as powerful if told through direct simple dialogue.