Salim Langde Pe Mat Ro (Don't cry over Salim, the lame) (Saeed Akhtar Mirza)

Salim Langde Pe Mat Ro (Don't cry over Salim, the lame)

Director: Saeed Akhtar Mirza; Cinematographer: Binod Pradhan

Duration: 01:46:58; Aspect Ratio: 1.333:1; Hue: 274.286; Saturation: 0.062; Lightness: 0.219; Volume: 0.257; Cuts per Minute: 5.693; Words per Minute: 85.335

Salim Langda’s (Pawan Malhotra) is the cocksure world of the petty thief. His beat lies between his home (where he feels secure but neglected) and the police station where he has to report everyday to keep his record straight (there is a sense of pride in association with the police although he is not spared the insults and humiliation of this association). Salim earns his living by receiving protection money and doing the odd job for the big bosses of Bombay’s underworld. His final ambition is to ape these underworld kings whose status he envies. It seems the easy way to make big money since he lacks the education or the ambition to do anything else. In this he is helped by his two cronies Peera (Makarand Deshpande) and Abdul (Ashutosh Gowarikar). Ideally he would like to see his family happy. His father is a retrenched textile worker, his mother has taken to sewing to make ends meet and there is a young sister to be married off.
In another way Salim Langda is an answer to the genre of ‘Muslim socials’ which portray Muslim in an acceptable and safe way.1

(Saeed Akhtar) Mirza’s investigation (‘My own self, split 500 times’) of what it means to be a Muslim in a working-class Bombay neighbourhood controlled by criminals. Despite the film’s technical excellence, the presentation of a doomed hero via a quasi-documentry, street-level realism makes the film a voyeuristic experience allowing viewers to feel sorry for the unfortunates in their city.2

The film won the 1990 National Film Award for Best Cinematography. (Virendra Saini)

Produced by: National Film Development Corporation of India (NFDC) Written by: Saeed Akhtar Mirza
Dialogue: Hriday Lani
Cinematography: Virendra Saini
Editing : Javed Sayyed
Music: Sharang Dev
Art Direction: Gautam Sen
Research: Jennifer Mirza

Cast
Pavan Malhotra - Salim, the Lame (Langda)
Makrand Deshpande - Peera
Ashutosh Gowariker - Abdul
Rajendra Gupta- Aslam
Neelima Azeem - Mumtaz
Vikram Gokhale- Salim's father
Surekha Sikri- Amina, Salim's mother
Nishigandha Wad - Anees, Salim's Sister

1. Film Review, Salim Langde Pe Mat Ro, Partho Dutta. Manushi.
2. Ashish Rajadhyaksha and Paul Willemen, Encyclopaedia of Indian Cinema (New Delhi, BFI Publishing-Oxford University Press, 1998), p. 492

Other Readings
1. Ira Bhaskar and Richard Allen, New Wave Muslim Socials and After, Islamicate Cultures in Bombay Cinema, Tullika Books, 2009.

Bhiwandi riots
Salim Langde Pe Mat Ro in Indiancine.ma

Censor Certificate

Carnac Bridge
Masjid Bundar
Saeed Akhtar Mirza: This particular shot had a quality to it: A man who thinks he owns the street, its an attitude. But if you listen to the soundtrack, there is a ship horn being blown. And obviously it shows that were pretty close to the docks. And at that time, a lot of the lumpen elements, a lot of the gangs operated by stealing from the docks.
Wong Karwai says of his film Chungking Express that it feels like a diary or a map and claims that if anyone goes to Hong Kong after watching Chungking Express, they will never get lost. This certainly seems to be the case with much of Bombay cinema. Saeed Mirza's films however seem almost like an archive of the city, which has been dispelled from celluloid existence, giving way to the flashier interiors of the Karan Johars and Yash Chopras.

In this delightful sequence from Saeed Mirza's Salim Langde Pe Mat Ro, the three protagonists banter about about on marine drive. Salim, a petty thief is a little tired of his precarious existence, of the harassment by the police and the unpredictable violence that seems to mark his life. He is contemplating starting a small business which allows him to go 'legit' and in this sequence discusses this with his friends.

Cinema has been described as the hidden archive of the urban, and if one were to look for the equivalent of the various figures of urban life in the 19th century documented by Benjamin, one would find them in different shades in Hindi cinema. This sequence captures an urban figure called the'Roadside Romeo', a combination of the flaneur and, the tapori. Like Benjamin and Baudelaire, Hindi cinema captures 'the fleeting, the ephemeral and the transient' in the thousands of eyes, in thousands of objects in which the city is reflected.

Salim(v.o.): My name is Salim Pasha. Public calls me Salim Langda. Rightly so. Why? -because my walk has a little limp.

salim

Bombay writer Salman Rushdie, no stranger to fatwas, received a death threat from “paid assassins of the Mumbai Underworld Altaf Batli and Aslam Kongo", before the Jaipur Literature festival 2012.

They were names invented by the Rajashthan Police.

"I thanked him for giving me something to laugh about.” said a senior officer of the Mumbai Police. In our crime register, “We've had a Salim Langda [‘the lame'], a Salim Kutta [‘the dog'], a Salim Tempo [‘truck'] and a Javed Fawda [‘the spade']. Lots of Batlis too, but no Kongo".

Rushdie did not come to the festival.

(And no, we will not detour to Salim-Javed)

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article2820796.ece

Too many Salims here. Turn over a slab and you'll find four.
這裡有好多的撒利姆。隨便翻塊磚頭，你就會在磚塊下面找到四個撒利姆！

Salim Chichak, Salim Kanya (cock-eyed), Salim Tempo (lorry), Salim Honda
雞頭撒利姆，獨眼龍撒利姆，天普撒利姆，本田撒利姆..

Consider this as my "photo-pass"...
就把這個當我的「照片通行證」吧..

Salim Langda. (the lame)
瘸子撒利姆

Now I'll tell you my life story.
Fully real. True.
長官，現在我要跟你說說我的生命故事。

超級真實。真的。

But, it's ok if I bluff a little, right?
但如果我有點吹牛，希望你不介意！

Do Tanki
Docklands. Shot on location.
Salim and his colleagues are contracted to steal goods from trucks lined up near the docks.
Masjid Bundar
On Dialogue, and Bambaiya
SM: While researching, I had tape recorders. I used to record and listen to the language. It's a mix of people coming from the Konkan region of Maharashtra, or Deccan, or from Rajasthan. And in the mix a common language evolved, a Hard-core Bambaiya . And it moves. You get a lot more Marathi words in the mix the moment you move up from Byculla to Lower Parel. Where as in the southern-eastern part of the city the Dakkani influence in stronger. Nukkad was the originator of writing in this language. It preceded Salim...

On casting, and the influence of Nukkad.
SM: I wouldn't to screen tests, I would do more rehearsals. I had worked with Pawan in Nukkad. He also was on the production side of things in Mohan Joshi Hazir Ho. I saw a spirit in him. And then we just shot a scene together with him, Ashutosh Gowarikar and Makrand Deshpande. It was Makrand's first film).

Abdul: Scoundrel! Won't open!
Peera: Put some pressure, Abdul! Open! Ah!
Salim: Hurry up!
Peera: Take this one.
Man1: Salim's Abdul!
Abdul: Salim bhai, what's happening?
Salim: Rajan!

Rajan: What is it, you Cripple? Why have you come into my area?
Salim: Look, Rajan. This is my loot.
Rajan: All the stuff in Rajan's area is Rajan's alone. Do you understand?
Salim: It won't pretty, I tell you!
Rajan: You threatening me? I'll swipe the number 6 on your chest, you will see everything upside down!
Peera: Rajan! It won't be pretty, I tell you!
Salim: Let it be, Peera. A dog will make noise in his own lane.

Rajan: Oye, Cripple! Just leave quietly from here. Otherwise, you will lose the other one, too. Do you understand? Move it!
Rajan: Move ...everything, everyone. Move!
Salim: I will see to you later.
Peera: It's your area, right? Bastard! Scoundrel!
Salim: Did you get hurt somewhere?
Abdul: No.

Established in 1975, the NFDC was created to aid in the making of good films in India. Salim Langde pe mat Ro is the 44th film produced by it. NFDC is collaborating with Mumbai-based Pixion Studios for the restoration of 100 films in the next three years including Salim Langde pe Mat Ro.

Minara Masjid
Title Sequence. Filmed By Binod Pradhan.

Virender Saini (who shot most of Saeed's Films) is the cinematographer of Salim Langde Pe Mat Ro. However, this title sequence was shot by Binod Pradhan. While at FTII, Saeed Mirza, Mani Kaul, Hariharan and Kamal Swaroop along with editors, cinematographers and sound recordists formed the short-lived film co-operative called YUKT. (Union of Kinematograph Technicians) in 1976. The idea was that 4 directors, 4 camerapersons: 4 Sound recordists and 4 editors would produce films together. The 4 camerapersons were Virender Saini, Binod Pradhan, Manmohan Singh and Rajesh Joshi. Ghashiram Kotwal, 1976 by Hariharan and Arvind Desai Ki Ajeeb Daastan, 1980, by Saeed Mirza were the only films produced under YUKT.
(music and credits)

salimedit

Bombay writer Salman Rushdie, no stranger to fatwas, received a death threat from “paid assassins of the Mumbai Underworld Altaf Batli and Aslam Kongo". ” before the Jaipur Literature festival 2012.

They were names invented by the Rajashthan Police.

"I thanked him for giving me something to laugh about.” said a senior officer of the Mumbai Police. In our crime register, “We've had a Salim Langda [‘the lame'], a Salim Kutta [‘the dog'], a Salim Tempo [‘truck'] and a Javed Fawda [‘the spade']. Lots of Batlis too, but no Kongo".

Rushdie did not come to the festival.

(And no, we will not detour to Salim-Javed)

The one who was really killed was Safdar Hashmi, who Salim Langde Pe Mat Ro is dedicated to.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article2820796.ece

Documentary on Safdar Hashmi
Safdar Hashmi
Safdar Hashmi
Safdar Hashmi

Azad Restaurant
Dongri
Sandhurst Road
Sardar Vallabhai Patel Road
SM: These guys are people of the night, moving around in the grey areas of the city. Lauding themselves in some hole in the wall hairdresser.

SM: This is the anarchism of the guys. Look at this! The Gateway of India, they are trying to bring it down. They're pushing against it. Now What does this mean?
Apollo Bundar
Gateway of India

SM: Loose, Purposeless, wandering around...

Mohammed Ali Road

Haji Ali
Heera Panna
Loose, Purposeless.
SM: Shopping malls, the arcades...the supposedly fancy areas of the city, they will roam. But in the night! And their own areas, during the day.

Air India Building
Marine Drive
Oberoi Hotel

SM: Matka Den.

Azad Restaurant
Dongri
SM: This location comes back in the end. It's like "a chronicle of a death foretold."
JM: The downward arrow symbol is like a metaphor.

This scene is filmed on the small traffic island in front of Azad Restuarant.
SM: This location comes back in the end. It's like "a chronicle of a death foretold."
JM: The downward arrow symbol is like a metaphor.

This scene is filmed on the small traffic island in front of Azad Restuarant.
SM: This location comes back in the end. It's like "a chronicle of a death foretold."
JM: The downward arrow symbol is like a metaphor.

This scene is filmed on the small traffic island in front of Azad Restuarant.
Sandhurst Road
Sardar Vallabhai Patel Road

On the Textile Worker Motif

SM:I constantly use the refrain of the textile worker. For me the history of the city would be incomplete if I did not reflect on the textile worker. If you look at this from a numbers point of view, 25% of the work force in the city was directly linked to the textile mills.
InAlbert Pinto I had a textile worker. (add pad.ma link) And now here i have a mill worker who has been sacked because the strike is over. He's unemployed, and I'm going to use him as my link to Albert Pinto. He represents that time, which is five years earlier where there was this incredible spirit of going on strike and taking on the world. The longest strike in the history of the world. 1982 to 1984. 2,50,000 workers on strike. It was incredible.

JM: Because he was a mill worker, out of work. What were the oppurtunities for the children? That's why he was pushed towards a lumpen profession. Mothers will not usually work in a muslim family.

SA: This is what Meena Menon writes about, but from the hindu majority point of view, that it was the decimation of the left and the retrenchment of the workers and loss of permanant employment that lead to the capture of the unemployed youth by the Right-wing (shakhas)
"Clouds swirl along the blue ridges. You can sit for days watching the light play on the shadows of the mountains, which is maybe why William Burroughs, who drank the hallucinogen yagé prepared by the Indians at the foothills of the Andes at Mocoa, in the Putomayo region of Columbia in 1953, talks so much about blue throughout his life’s work … Amongst other things, he notes a blue face, a blue wall, and plants growing out of genitals." [Michael Taussig, What Color is the Sacred? (2009.)]

Film set
Natraj Studios

(v.o.): This is my father. Used to work in the mills. There were strikes everywhere in India...the mills started again, but nobody took him again. 25 years of that mind-numbing job.
(v.o.): And I swear, they dismissed him in a minute. Just like that.

(v.o.): This is my mother. A very sweet woman. She's a mother, after all. Stitches clothes for the neighbours to earn some money for the household. A whole lifetime gone, working like this. Not a minute's rest does she get.
(v.o.): And this quiet girl, she is my sister. Anees, the household's doll. Never got anything apart from the family's love. But, one day I will give her everything. Everything.
(v.o.): Javed. He is my brother. Was. Was an electrician in a factory. Got a 440 volt shock one day. Died.

SM: later youll see a reference to Javed. He was a guy who was slightly educated. Perhaps gone to a techical school, he became an electrician some education. And even that like, with some kind of income, gets snapped when he dies, accidently.

Peera: Salaam!
(v.o.): And this is Peera. My first partner.
Peera: Pigeon! Code here!
(v.o.): And second. Abdul. Consider Peera to be my right hand. He only fears my glare. Bought black glasses after spotting them in some English film.
Abdul: Peera!
(v.o.):Sometimes even wears it in the night.
Peera: Should I cut you up instead?
(v.o.): And Abdul, just like my shadow. He's a kid, but he's very solid.

Bacchu Ki Wadi

Cafe Ashrafi
Fatima Manzil
Masjid Bunder
Shayda Marg

SM: These are all characters I met when i was doing my research. At nights this is the space where all these hoodlums hang out.
Rafique Bhai - They trust him because hes a taciturn guy. he wil not intefere and not gossip. he just does his job. And they dont mind him, they discuss their plans...

JM: This Rafique Bhai character is based on Rafique Bhai from Paradise Cafe, which is on the street near the JJ hospital Junction in Byculla. Rafique used to sit there. He was all ears, but never participated in the action. But he know everything that was going on.

SM: Oh i spent a lot of time meeting with them, having tea with them. Lots of nights. We lived in Bombay Central so it made it convenient to come home late at nights.
JM: Plus, a lot of people knew my father who was a doctor (and ran the Patrao nursing home in Bombay Central), so that was an inroad.
SA: Was Nukkad ever an inroad? Had people seen it?
SM: Oh yes, it helped a lot. That's what got me a lot of access. They had all seen Nukkad and loved it. They trusted us. It helped as a great entry point into their lives. They said, 'these guys are ok' .
JM: I don't know if we should state this, but the film was actually called Karim Langde Pe Mat Ro. And Karim Lala sent a message saying, what are you shooting? (Karim Lala on of the three mafia dons of Bombay, along with Haji Mastaan and Vardarajan, all of who began their careers in the docklands of the city.) We had practically finished shooting when this happened. So if you look carefully at scenes where Pavan is dubbed, you can see that when he's saying Karim, it's dubbed Salim.
SA: What did they say?
SM: Oh people came onto the shoot. The requested, there wasn't any dadagiri

(v.o.): This is Rafeeq bhai's hotel. Our hangout.
(v.o.): And this is Rafeeq bhai. Doesn't talk much. But keeps himself updated on everyone.
Rafeeq: Take this. And take the money along.
(v.o.): Sticks to his work. That's why everyone respects him.
Rafeeq: Hello? No. It's not ready as yet.

SM: Salim's aspirations. his heroes and role models. Untutored, unpad guys who have made it. They know politicians and filmmakers...He's on this journey. And as a viewer, you are getting a background check of what this guy is all about. Salim!

(v.o.): This is Vilas Nakashe.
Rafeeq: Will send it over as soon as it's done.
(v.o.): Does business in liquor and gambling. He comes alone, and leaves alone. A very good friend...
Vilas: Khuda-hafiz. (Goodbye)
(v.o.): ...But, a dangerous enemy.

(v.o.): And this man in the middle.
Vilas: How are you Naathu?
(v.o.): Everyone calls him Lala. Owns a jewelery store. But his real business? Buying and selling stolen goods.
Vilas laughs leaves. Lala laughs nervously.
Naathu: ...don't be scared. all this keeps happening. All this...

(v.o.): And this is Naathu.
Man: ...have been able to capture him today.
(v.o.): Running brothels and addas for gambling is his business.
(v.o.): Very hot-headed, baap. He cusses left, right and centre!
Naathu: ...beat him up nicely in the laundry.

(v.o.): Here comes Ibrahim Ansari, Emperor of Silver.
(v.o.): A smuggler. But very impressive, baap. An illiterate from the gutters has risen to the top, baap. Everyone knows him. Politicians, film stars, businessmen. Everyone.
First appearance of Ibrahim bhai

SM: There was a chap who died, who used to hang out in Bacchu ki Wadi. They new he was a christian and he was called something hippie. They wanted to give him a christian burial, but he was a foreigner. So the story goes, that they took him to the local cemetery and when stopped, they said, "you bury him, or well bury you!" And they got a priest to say the rites.

SA: its so refreshing to not see him speak with an accent!

Natraj Studio
Set

(v.o.): ...This is my friend, Johann. People call him Jaani. Jaani Hippie. Has been living in Bambai for years now. Speaks first-class Hindi. England, america. London. Paris. Don't know where he's from. Nobody knows.

Kotha

Bacchu Ki Wadi
Foras Road
Mumtaaz here wears a half-sari, an interesting variation of common costumes used in Kathak or Kathak-influenced dance performance.
Not far from Foras Road in Kamathipura was Pavan Pool, where an entire community of courtesans lived and worked. By day, rooms in the tiny houses are lived in; by night, they are emptied and lined with spotless white sheets for patrons. The courtesans in Pavan Pool, most prominently featured in Merchant-Ivory's 'The Courtesans of Bombay' were often trained in Kathak and music from an early age, with the intent of entering the profession as adults.
SM: See how far the voice over is extending...(and his world)
This is filmed in a real Kotha in Bacchu ki Wadi (Foras Road) Because of Rafique, we could request to film here for a night.
The actress, Neelima Azmi is Shahid Kapooor's mother

(v.o.): Never had I seen or heard of this bird called love. But there is a woman who rocked my heart. Here she is. Mumtaaz. Mumtaaz.
Mumtaaz (singing): He will think someone must have come in stealthily,
He would have embraced me by coming forth,
Oh! It fell down, Ram/ the bindi on my forehead
It fell down, Ram/ the bindi on my forehead(x3)
(v.o.):Mumtaaz who has a resonating voice.
the bindi on my forehead
(v.o.):Mumtaaz who has sparkling eyes.
the bindi on my forehead.
(v.o.):My Mumtaaz.
mujra

Police Station
Set

-This is my real home.
-Salim bhai! Here he comes!
-Ay, drunkard! You've come drunk again? Hawaldaar sahib, hit him, hit him. He won't improve, scoundrel.
Salute, sahib! How are you?
Salute!
Salute!

(v.o.): This is my police station. I need to come here to report myself everyday.
Salim: Hawaldaar sahib, how is it going?
Actually it hasn't been long since I have returned from the jail. (laughs) Police says they don't want any wrong-doings.
-Don't you like the open air outside?-
(v.o.): Wrongdoings! But, the most wrongdoings happen right here under everybody's nose. And they ask me to report everyday. And to whom, at that? Him?

Cop: You're lying!
Offender: It was a small case of pickpocketing, sahib!
Cop: Rascal, you pickpocket?! - Take him away.
Hawaldar: You raise your voice in sahib's presence! Come on!

SM: Look at that touch on the shoulder...did you see that? When hes been taken out.

Cop: What's it Salim?
Salim: My reporting, sahib.
Cop: Not done anything wrong?
Salim: Oh no, Sahib. Ate the jail's rice plate twice. Didn't quite enjoy it. (laughs)

(telephone ring)
Hello? Yes.
In the KolseWali lane...
Just a minute! Yes sir? Tension's increased?... But, nothing of such sort here...Sir, it is a Muslim area. We'll control it. We will hit them so hard their hide will peel off. Everyone understands the baton's language. There won't be a problem. If there is a problem, (Section) 144 will be placed. O.K. Sir. O.K. Sir.

SM: Its an attitude, Dande ki Jubaan Samajhte hai! And later on he will say, tumhari jaat hi kutti hai.

Salim: Sahib, there was a robbery in the Kolsewali lane...?
Cop: Yes, yes. So?
Salim: Did you find anything?
Cop: We'll find out.
Salim: It's Rajan's doing, sahib.
Cop: How do you know?
Salim: Insider's news, sahib.

Cop: I see.
Salim: Salute, sahib.
Did you tell give him Rajan's name?
Just you see how Rajan gets buggered now. (...how his cot gets upturned, now!) Mother******, man, he eyes my loot!

(announcement): You are being notified that Section 144 has been issued in your area. Please don't pay attention to rumors. Please maintain your health. Citizens found in possession of...(noise)...would be considered as a criminal offense. Please maintain your health.
Salim: Salute, sahib. You all here? Has something gone wrong?
Cop on road: Oy, just move!
(mumbling)
What happened?
Nothing.

Do Tanki

SM:These are real cops. our cops who were needed for bandobast (crowd control).

Mumbai
Mumbai

Cafe Ashrafi
Fatima Manzil
Masjid Bunder
Shayda Marg

This No. 9 is roaming here, too?
Don't know.
Take a paan.
So Chey miyan, is everything alright?
Hey! Fooling around during work!
So Abdul? You've reached here. How are you?

Salim: So Rafeeq bhai, whats the problem? Why is so much police around?
Rafeeq Bhai: Don't you read the newspaper, miyan?
Salim: What, Rafeeq bhai? Pulling (my leg) from down under?
Rafeeq Bhai: There has been a riot in Bhiwandi. Some people have been killed.
Salim: Who? Where they Muslim?
Rafeeq bhai: Hindu and Muslim, both.

Peera: If someone tries to be smart here, I will rip them apart.
Rafeeq bhai: Shut up, 'Khanje ki dum'! (Dagger's tail)
Rb(phone): Hello?
Peera: What's happened to Rafeeq bhai?
Rb(phone): O.K. I will send it.
Abdul: But why do these riots happen?
Salim: If trouble strikes here, our dadas will tear them apart.
Peera: This police supports them. That's why they jump around so much.

Salim: Never mind that. Let's talk business. Gokuldas' godown needs to be raided. There's a lot of loot, baap!
Abdul: But what about the police in every lane?
Salim: It will be taken care of, I'm telling you!
Peera: Chal! (Let's go). ...Khuda-hafiz, Rafeeq bhai.
Abdul: Later, Rafeeq bhai.

Salim: And Rafeeq bhai? how is everything?
Rafeeq bhai: You went to the police station day before yesterday?
Salim: Yes...need to go for the reporting.
Rafeeq bhai: Only reporting?
Salim: Yes. Is something the matter?
Rafeeq bhai: Nothing.
Salim: Later, Rafeeq bhai.

Salim: Ay, Sir! Can't you watch where you are going?
Car driver: Ay! Why did you strike on my bonnet?
Salim: Thank your lucky stars I didn't strike your face! ...Or your family would not have recognized you.
Car driver: Watch your mouth!
Peera: Ay, does your father own this road?
Car driver: What...what did I say?
Salim: Go, sahib. Go mind your own business.
Peera: 'Saala!' (scoundrel)

Salim: Just wait here. I will be back.
Anees: Going out, brother?
Salim: Yes,..need to take care of something. Why?
Anees: Don't go. We heard riots are going to break out.
Salim: Arre, Don't worry, nothing will happen to me. Your brother is 'ekdam' solid.
Mother: What would come to an end if you stayed home just one day?
Salim: You're making a mountain out of a molehill. Nothing is going to happen. Are they mad that they will start a riot here? This is our area!

Natraj Studio
Set

Father: Area!? 'Our' area? 'Their' area? Everyone has their own separate 'areas' now. Wah! (Wow)
Mother: And if something goes wrong?
Salim: No problem. We are also ready.
Father: Yes yes...ready. Absolutely ready. Ready with knives, ready with swords, ready with guns? Is this all you've learnt?
Mother: For God's sake don't begin a riot in the house! Chalo...some inside the room...
Salim: Let it be, mother. We must come to a decision today. Enough of this 'Purab Paschim'... Listen to me... Why did I not go to school or college like Javed? Why? You know why. I was 6 years old when I began practically living on the street. And I've learnt a lot there. And that you say na, 'Taleem'! (Education)
Anees: Bhai jaan! (brother!)

Father: I know what you've learnt from those hooligans. I know.
Salim: Yes Abu miya (Dear Father)...I learnt a lot from those hooligans. He iwho is not educated must use his brains to survive in this world. ...Look around, no one employs muslims. No one trusts them. Then how can they sustain themselves? I learnt how to fight at every step of the way for survival. Look at what you're saying!
Anees: Bhai jaan...

Salim: ...You're a child, Anees. What do you know about this world's pretentious ways. Arre they don't tolerate a single mistake. And you listen- If a riot breaks out here, the hooligans will rescue us. Why?- Because they are the ones who can fight. ...What do you talk!
Anees: Bhaijaan!
Salim: (to his cronies) Come on!
Abdul: Salim bhai, why do you get so angry?
Salim: Did I say anything wrong?
Abdul: No.

Bacchu Ki Wadi

Natraj Studio
Set

Peera: (sucks in a long drag)...Atom bomb! (coughs)
Jaani: (pulls next and exlaims) Hiroshima!
Salim: Jaani, what is this thing called 'Haroshima'?
Jaani: It is a city. A small bomb exploded and 5 lakh people simply turned into dust. Just like that.
Abdul: With one bomb?
Jaani: With one bomb.

Salim:(massaging his throat) But, how did you suddenly remember Haroshima?
Jaani: Because we learned nothing from Hiroshima.
Peera: What didn't we learn, Jaani?
Jaani: The value of a human. The value of a human. Hit. Kill. Riot. Hit... Kill... Riot... Hit... Kill... Riot.. .
( ...circles himself, chanting these words, coughs and collapses on Salim's shoulders.)
Jaani: Enough my friend. Enough about this hatred. Let's talk about love and romance. So, how is your Mumtaaz? So, Shah Jahan? How is going with you and Mumtaaz?
Salim: Bastard! Calls me Shah-Jahaan.

Peera: Salim bhai, did you get something? Salim!
Abdul: Salim bhai! This one.
(inaudible whispering)
Salim: Hurry!....
Abdul: This one...?
Salim: O.K. ...I'll take this one.

Do Tanki
Dongri
Nagpada

Salim: Come on hurry up!....Hold this...fast...hold...

Salim: Salaam Lala. Take it upstairs.
Lala: Hurry up. Count them.
Salim: Alright, Lala.
Abdul: See you, Seth.
Salim: Salaam, Lala.

Stranger: Salaam-waleh-qum!
Peera: Enough of respect. bring it here, now.
Abdul: Peera, I will beat you up!
Salim: Oh, Vilas bhai! Salaam! How are you?
Vilas: Guys, ... How are you?
Salim: We are fantastic, bhai!

Bacchu Ki wadi

Vilas: Salim, how much did you make?
Salim: From where, bhai?
Vilas: From Gokuldas' godown.
Salim: No, bhai. Someone must have given you the wrong news.
Vilas: Really, you wiseass? You're fooling me? (You're making me wear a hat?)
Salim: Not much, bhai. Just...for meagre expenses.

Vilas: Listen, more stuff coming in next week. Take it all, O.K.?
Salim: If you're asking us to, we'll take it all.
Vilas: I'll be off.
Salim: Bhai, kebab?
Vilas: No. I'm off.
Salim: I like Vilas.
Abdul: Me, too.
Peera: Feed us kebabs.
(random comments as they walk through)

Salim: Aunty, How are you? Business ok?
Peera: I am keepig these glasses.
Salim: Here! Handle him.
Rajan: Salim! (mumbles)
Peera: I'll get you...!
Woman: Don't go, Rajan!
Rajan: Ay! So, what's it? Why did you give my name in the police?

Salim: Scoundrel...with your cronies...jumping a lot...bastard! Go away from here or else I will cut you up and throw you away!
Rajan: Scondrel! Wiseass!
Salim: Dog! threatening me? Drunkard! Go away!
Rajan: I won't let you go!
Rajan: Naatu seth, he give my name in the police.
Naatu: So why are you roaming around open? Naseem, take him inside.
Naseem: Come inside, Rajan.
Rajan: I won't let you go! I will remember you for 12 years!
Salim: Go! Go away! I will cut you, otherwise.
Rajan: Where will you go? Where will you escape from me?
Naseem: Come on Rajan...

Naatu: Salim, people come here for peace and comfort. They don't like mess. Do you understand?
Salim: But I didn't create any mess, Naatu seth.
(Naatu tries slapping him but gets stopped by Salim. Naatu's aide rushes to them but Naatu asks him to stay away.)
Salim: Seth! Talk with your mouth. I am listening.
Naatu: So, listen. Fill it in your empty brain. Neither do I want police here, nor do I want hooligans like you here. Do you understand? Get going, now. Leave!
Naatu: Go inside!

Outside Cafe Ashrafi
SA: Theres a line in this film, Kutte ki Maut.. (A Dog's Death)
JM: Kutte ki Maut.. became Satya
SM: Ya, i wanted to make Kutte ki Maut..after this, but there was too much violence.

Masjid Bunder
Shayda Marg

Peera: Salimbhai I am not going to spare Rajan.
Salim: Had he fallen in my hands, I would have ruined his high.
Nikam: Ay! Ay, here you three!
Salim: Now we're stuck.
Peera: Don't be scared, Abdul.
Salim: Salaam, sanib! How are you?
Nikam: Hmmm. Who are you people?
Salim: What's this, Nikam sahib! Don't you recognize us?
Nikam: Scoundrel, You had been told not to form such mobs and roam around at night during the time of 144. Do you want to create trouble?
Peera: No, sahib. You're there.

Nikam(hitting Peera): No need to make any noise, understand? I'll break your teeth and put them in your hands. Bastard. Scoundrel.
Nikam(to Abdul): What are you watching, Huh? Constable! Search him.
Salim: Let him be, sahib. He's a child. (winks) Hey, Abdul! Slaute him!
Abdul: Salaam sahib!
Nikam: Come on! Get 1-2-1. Movet it! You, too. Bastards!

Salim: Shit! Today has been a messed up day.
Abdul: Salim! Sometimes I think,...
Salim: What do you think?
Abdul: Is this what we are going to be for the rest of our lives? Get beaten up by these scoundrels?
Peera: Why? Once we get our hands on a big loot, our life, too, will change. What? Just like Ibrahim bhai. Just like Naatu seth. What style. What influence. I swear.
Salim: You'll see, then. Even the uniform bearers will wag their tails around us.
Abdul: All that is fine, but...
Peera: Ibrahim bhai and Naatu seth, too started their life just like us. They had nothing. All empty. They were broke. But look where they are sitting up on the sky.
Salim: You will see, Abdul. Our time will come, too.
Peera: Understood?
Salim: I'm telling you.

Bacchu Ki Wadi
Foras Road
SM: This is at Foras Road Across. Shot from a Balcony. Apna bhi time aayenga. After this, I needed space. How do you relieve a film? You release some space

(v.o.): The riots subsided in our area.(The warm air of the riots got cold) Not much trouble happened. Section 144 got lifted. Public got back to it's business. And, police got back to it's own.
(v.o.): And the fantastic thing is that we celebrated Eid next. What public gathered on the roads! To be honest, even I did a lot of mischief.

Mohammad Ali Road

SA: Oh this song! 1988. Pakistani pop coming to india. (Hawa Hawa, but Hassan Jahangir_
SM: It was the Kolaveri of that time! Even though we didnt have the internet to back it up.
bgm: hawa hawa (pakistani pop)
cafe?

Crowding Out Cupid (outlookindia.com)
This particular scene follows the spatial logic that rules the entire narrative-a logic of constricted space that determines how characters relate to each other and their social milieu. Between Salim and Mumtaz, this means directing their amorous rendezvous to a seedy restaurant. Mumtaz's profession as a "public woman" and Salim's status as a lumpen adds another angle to this since this means that the more sanitized spaces of the city are inaccessible to them (as indicated by the scenes set in the predominantly yellow-hued restaurant).

Salim: Sit close to me. You sit so far away even in the family room as well.
Mumtaaz: UHHH! what are you doing? (resisting his leaning in for a kiss)
Salim: It is 'English' style.
Mumtaaz: No. I don't like all this.
Salim: Tsk....Falooda we could have just had down.

Stranger: Sorry.
(Mumtaaz giggles as she shuts the curtain)
Mumtaaz: Oh ho! Why don't you talk? (resisting again)
Salim: You talk. I am listening.
Mumtaaz: Do you really love me?
Salim: When do you give me a chance to love you?
Mumtaaz: Aaah! Aaaaih!
Salim: What happened?
Mumtaaz: Ring.

Mumtaaz: You never told me.
Salim: What?
Mumtaaz: Whether you really love me or not.
Salim: I love you a lot. Love you a lot. I will make a Taj Mahal for Mumtaaz!
Mumtaaz: Aaih!
Salim: What do you do? What is this? I have told you not to wear this mess when meeting me.

SM: That was Sudhir Mishras voice...Abbe!

Man: Who is it?
Salim: A hero from my 'village'!
Mumtaaz: Falooda is getting cold.
Salim: Nobody comes here to eat Falooda.
Mumtaaz: Then, why do they come?
Salim: Should I tell you that, too?
Mumtaaz: Uh-huh....Salim!...Ahhh!
(both laugh)
The space of the restaurant becomes a recurrent image across the length of the film which gives us a glimpse into the influx of modernity into the lives of the people concerned. The understanding of public space, ranging from cafes to restaurants is hinted at, alongside the frequency with which one enters such a space and the informal interactions that concretize bonds. These spaces become markers which bear witness to a range of events-from the assassination attempts to heated discussions. The family room in the restaurant multiplies as the private and intimate space for the couple and in that way it rewrites the public-private binaries governing imaginations concerning conjugality. The café, possibly in a slightly affluent area, frequented by youngsters not just becomes a space looked at with askance by the lot (Salim, Peer and Abdul), primarily because of its inaccessibility and hostile aura. When Salim finally enters the same space with his lover Mumtaaz, space of restaurant reappears as he breaks into a terrain which was hitherto evaded his grasp.

JM: You have this shot in Albert Pinto also.
SA: The Taxi Driver...
SM: No! But Albert Pinto was before taxi driver. Even Arvind Desai has this shot. I use this image of the mirror to reveal a certain kind of narcisim with the male. There a problem, which I play with. It's a leit motif with me.
Natraj Studios
Set

Passerby: A-salaamu alaykum! (Respectful Muslim greeting...may peace be upon you)
Father: Wa alaykum as-salaam.
Salim: Salaam, abbu!
Abbu: Wa alaykum as-salaam.
Ammi: Did anything happen?
Abbu: Yes. They have asked me to come after a week-ten days.
Anees: Abbu...
Ammi: But the work will get done by then?
Abbu: Yes. Let's see.
Ammi: Hmmmm.
Anees: It will happen, Abbu. I will ask for Blessings for you. It will definitely happen.

Salim: Blessings? Blessings for what?
Ammi: You abbu has given an application. For work.
Salim: Where?
Ammi: In a factory. Security guard's post is vacant.
Salim: Absolutely first class. Good. Very good, abbu. Abbu, I'm sorry for all the shouting I did the other day.
Abbu: It's ok.
Salim: Hey abbu, you will definitely get it. I am telling you. You will definitely get it.

Ammi: And, now we must also think of Anees' wedding.
Salim: Anees'? But ammi, she is still a child.
Ammi: No, baba. She is not a child. She has grown up. It is her age of marriage. There is a nice boy in the locality. Aslam.
Abbu: Who?
Ammi: Aslam Ahmed.
Abbu: Yes. Yes.
Ammi: He is a nice boy.

Salim: Do you know him?
(Anees nods yes)
Salim: What? You meet him stealthily?
Anees: What, bhaijaan! I have only seen him in passing. Why are you saying the wrong things?
Salim: How do you find him?
Anees: I don't know. But, people say that he is nice.
Salim: Is that what people say? And what do you say?
(Anees blushing, Salim giggling)

Salim: Then, I must to meet this nice man. Even I am your brother. I have duties too! No? Ammi, I will go and meet him.
Ammi: Yes. You go and meet him. If you like him, we will get them engaged next month.
Salim:(to Anees) Should I go?
Anees: Today itself?
Salim: I will go now if you ask me to.
Salim: I will meet him soon.
(exits humming 'Ek do teen...')

Bacchu Ki wadi

SM: What does a Voice Over device do? It cuts off the desert of details. You cut short... Its like a diary of Salim. His story is unfolding

(v.o.): I had promised Anees that I would have a meeting with Aslam. One day I went to meet him. It's amazing, baap! What a strange man he turned out to be!
Salim: Aslam bhai, salaam!
Aslam: Wale-qu...Salim miyan! Come. Come. Waleh-qum-assalam. Tell me. Are you well? I tried meeting you many times. I went to your home as well. But...
Salim: You know Aslam bhai, I need to roam around a lot. This is how it is for me. So Aslam bhai,... what work do you do?
Aslam: I am a proofreader in a newspaper.
Salim: what is that?
Aslam: (laughs) I correct other people's mistakes.
Salim: Oh baap! It's a dangerous job! And, all this? Fat books? Are they yours?
Aslam: Yes.

Salim: You've read everything?
Aslam: Yes, I ...Sit, please.
Salim: How much is your salary?
Aslam: Rs. 600.
Salim: That's it! Only Rs. 600?
Aslam: No! I earn Rs. 100 to 200 more on the side.
Salim: But you have passed 16 classes!
Aslam: Yes. M.A.
Salim: But, this kind of an educated gentleman needs to get more salary.
Aslam: Not necessarily. I have done M.A. in Urdu. And, this means that I can't get work easily.
Salim: Why?

Aslam: Nowadays Urdu's usage has reduced.
Salim: This means you will earn only six hundred rupees all your life?
Aslam: Perhaps. Don't know.
Salim: But, in six hundred rupees,...? Shelter, home, food, laundry...How will all this be managed?
Aslam: It will be managed. It will be managed however it is.
Salim: But it won't work for me, bhai. Anees is my only sister. I don't want any hardship, any trouble for her.
Aslam: Ok. Anees is your younger sister. You should get her married where you think is right. What can I say about this?
Salim: Sorry. I said what I thought was right. No need to feel bad.
Aslam: I understand.
Salim: Alright, Salaam.
Aslam: Khuda-hafiz.

Natraj Studios
Set

Salim: Ammi! Had you enquired at all about Aslam or just like that...
Ammi: What happened?
Salim: His salary is 600 rupees! Bombay's beggars in alleys too earn more than he does.
Ammi: Yes, but...
Anees: Bhaijaan(brother), but survival is possible with that...?
Salim: What? What did you say? Do you know anything? What will happen with just 600 rupees in this city? Nothing! And am I doing all this mind-numbing? Only for you!
Abbu: But, Anees is our daughter, too, right? Huh? We too want what's best for her.
Salim: That's all fine, Abbu. But, I'm telling you this - Anees will not marry a pauper! That's settled!
Ammi: Salim. Maybe you are saying the right thing. But, I don't know why; I feel that Anees will be happy with Aslam.
Salim: Ammi!

Chor Bazaar
Do Tanki

Salim: Give me the money.
Man: Yes.
Salim: Added this almari (cupboard) recently?
Man: Yes, sir.
Salim: Double from next week.
Abdul: Show me the shirt.
Salim: Ay! Didn't you see me?
Man2: Didn't see you, sahib.
Salim: Don't waste my time, now. Hurry up.
Abdul: What kind of stuff do you keep?
Man2: I was working, sahib.

Peera: I will come tomorrow to collect the money.
Abdul: Salim. His?
Salim: Let it be.
Abdul: Go easy on adding double water.
Salim: Abdul! I told you!
Abdul: Understood!
Peera: What are you looking at?
Abdul: What happened when you went to Aslam's house the other day?
Salim: Let it be, man. He's such a broke.

Abdul: But no matter what you say, he has respect.
Salim: To hell with respect! (Respect may go buy oil!) I need money. (to man 3) bring the money.
Man3: Salaam.
Salim: Hurry up! Am I going to stand all day for you here? Scoundrel!
Abdul: Come on, sit down.
Man3: Firstly, they take unlawful money from us. To cap it all, they lord it over us, too.
Peera: Ay! What did you say? You got nerves these days, is it? Should I give you one? Get to work!

Vilas bhai: How are you, Fantastic Trio?
Peera: Vilas bhai!
Abdul: Salute!
Vilas bhai: Sit, sit.
Vilas bhai: Hows the business going?
Salim: What's there. bhai. Work begun, businesses shut.
Paanwalla(Pan vendour): Oh, explain to them. Put them on some business. they spoil my mind here entire day.
Salim: Scoundrel!
Peera: We tell you stories. Even then, you drive us away! Come, Abdul.
Make a paan.

Cafe Ashrafi
Fatima Manzi
Masjid Bunder
Shayda Marg

(gun firing)
Vilas bhai: Down!
Paanwalla: Ya Allah!
Salim: What is all this, vilas bhai?
Vilas bhai: Nothing. Sit down. (to paanwalla)- Make a paan for Salim. With thandai.
Salim: But who were those rascals? I won't let them go, Vilas bhai!
Vilas bhai: Nothing, you donkey. They came not to hit you, but me.
Rafeeq bhai: Vilas! Are you alright?
Vilas bhai: Yes. I'm alright. Aim wasn't so good....Acche, I will cover your damages.
Rafeeq bhai: To hell with damages, your luck is good. Don't know who's blessings are with you.
Vilas bhai: Rafeeq bhai, even I have well-wishers... Few.

Natraj Studio
Set

Peera: ...And then you know what happened?
Man: What happened?
Peera: Firing started. Dhish-kyaun!Dhish-kyaun!Dhish-kyaun!Dhish-kyaun!
Abdul: Brothers! One bullet went past from his ear. Oh Jaani! 'My air got tight, then!'(I was stiff with fear.)
Peera: Abbe O! Are you a woman?
Abdul: Don't men get scared?
Peera: Did Salim bhai get scared? Such bravery! He took care of Vilas bhai, also!

Abdul: Hey Peera, this means we are big now.
Peera: How is that?
Abdul: Are hooligans ever attacked with machine guns?
Peera: Salim bhai, now this dagger and all won't work. Want to blast everyone together, O.K.? Dhish-kyaun!Dhish-kyaun!Dhish-kyaun!Dhish-kyaun!Dhish-kyaun!Dhish-kyaun!Dhis
h-kyaun!Dhish-kyaun!

Bandra
Bandstand

Salim: You're coming now!
Mumtaaz: Got a little late.
Salim: Why did you call me urgently?
Mumtaaz: Wat did you do yesterday? Did you have a fight? Did you get hurt somewhere? Why don't you talk?
Salim: No! What will happen to me? They had come to shoot Vilas bhai. Public thought they came to get me. Even I shut up.
Mumtaaz: And this is how you became a hero? Brilliant! How amazing!
Salim: You need to do all this in business! Don't you know anything? Pay your taxi and get rid of him.
Mumtaaz: No. I need to go. I need to leave soon.
Salim: You come only just now. And now you're talking of leaving? If you were in such a rush, why did you come then?
Mumtaaz: For your sake.

Salim: So, wait for a little while, then.
Mumtaaz: Really, Salim. I need to go. I need to go to work.
Salim: You have to go to work? What work do you do? Put on red cream on your face, put ghungroos on your feet and shake your hips in front of those people. That's what you call work? You work a lot!
Mumtaaz: Why don't you understand? What if you don't like it? It is still work for me!
Salim: Go! Go! Go, then! Your fans will be heartbroken, otherwise! Go away! Why are you standing here?
Mumtaaz: What things do you say! On one hand, you say you love me. And,...Alright I am leaving.
Salim: Mumtaaz...
Mumtaaz: Take care of yourself. Khuda-hafiz.

Bandra
Gazebo
Hill Road
Open House

(v.o.): Scoundrel! What amazing girls and boys! From rich families. Work, business, love, romance. Bothered about nothing! All bills on father's account. Sometimes i want to smash their faces. Never mind, Salim. This is a no-entry. Come back to our area. When I went there, I met the educated bankrupt again. What a meeting, baap!

Bacchu Ki Wadi

Man1: Abey! Hasn't come down as yet?
Man2: He has to come down!
Man1: Oye! Come down. You dare raise a finger against your own religion?
Man2: Come down if you are a man's baby.
Aslam: What are you doing? Why are you damaging things? What harm have I caused you?
Man1: What 'gadbad'(commotion) have you created in the locality?
Aslam: What gadbad?
Man1: That Muslim girls should go to college. Get a degree.

Aslam: Yes...So what wrong did i say?
Man1: This is against religion. Do you know what happens in colleges? Shamelessness and misbehaviour. You want our daughters and sisters to do all this? Is this what Islam has taught you?
Aslam: It is quite clear to me what Islam has taught you. Is lam is not against progress. Islam is not against a degree.
Man1: You dare talk back?
Aslam: You can't change my way of thinking by beating me up.
Salim: Hey! what are you doing? Beating up your own brother?
Man1: He is not our brother! He's our enemy! Religion's (community's) enemy!

Salim: Hey! Nobody's bossing will be accepted here! Aslam bhai. You go upstairs.
Aslam: No, Salim. I will tackle these people.
Salim: What will you tackle? Go upstairs, bhai. Go on now. Go upstairs.

Salim: You people want to mess around? Huh? Talk to me over here.
Man1: Yes I will.
Salim: What did you say? You know me?
Man1: Yes!
Salim: Scoundrel! Bastard! I'll knock you down once...get lost!
Man3: What are you doing? Do hooliganism?
Salim: Go, miyan. Count your days. Leave quietly. Get lost.

Aslam: There's a limit to bad behaviour. Really! Wild people! They think women's education is shamelessness or exhibitionism of the flesh. Have pulled over masks of decency.
Salim: Aslam bhai! Why did you have a problem with them?
Aslam: Because truth can't be tolerated by people. That's why.
Salim: Why do you get angry just with them, bhai? You spoke of sending Muslim girls to colleges, bhai! Did you or not? Why talk against religion?

Aslam: Who told you this is against religion?
Salim: I don't know. They said so. So,...
Aslam: They say this because the ignorant ones can be easily fooled. And when I talk about getting rid of this, you saw what happened. What...what has happened to these people?
Salim: Who do you mean?
Aslam: You. I. All the Muslims here. All of them. All of them have taken birth in the gutters. Will live like insects and pests and will die. Just like that, for no reason.
Salim: So what else are poor muslims supposed to do?
Aslam: Why....learn how to read, write. Try to become somebody. At least try.

bolega to...
popularised by Munna Bhai...
(came from nukkad)
Raju Hirani was a great fan of nukkad

Salim: Its great to say all this. Come to the streets, then you will know. Come and see for yourself, how people hate muslims. Arre, they see them as dirt. Why? They scare them. Always talking of finishing them off. Why? (mumbles)
Aslam: Yes. I know that happens. I understand their fear. But for how long must we live with this fear and doubt? Why don't they understand that India is as much theirs' as it is everyone else's?...But no. They are habituated to living in darkness. Salim miyan, if these people try even a little bit, then they would be able to come to light.
....Would you like some tea?
Salim: Ok...willd do.

Salim: Aslam bhai, why do you want to marry Anees?
Aslam: Because I like her. And she is my friend, Javed's sister as well.
Salim: You knew Javed?
Aslam: Yes.
Salim: What was he like?
Aslam: He was your brother, don't you know?
Salim: Right. But where did he have the time to talk to me? He studied all the time. Working, and...
Aslam: Javed....made of steel. He was a very strong man. These hooligans who boss around...they are all like mice in comparison with him.
Salim: What do you mean?

Aslam: What I'm saying...what I'm saying Salim miyan, its very easy to become a criminal in this city. One enters the world of crime in the snap of the fingers. Like that. The difficult one is to live a life of honesty and respect. And Javed was giving all this his best. He was a soldier in the fight for a better life, Salim. He had principles.

Antop Hill
Barkat Ali Dargah

(v.o.): Today after a long time I felt I should pray. I didn't know how to. But I tried. And to tell the truth, I felt nice inside. Very nice.

Cafe Ashrafi
Masjid Bunder
Shayda Marg

JM: Unani Churan is played by Neeraj Vora. Hes a film Director now.
Gaffar: Yunani churan! Yunani churan! Stomach ache, indigestion, it gets rid of everything! Gaffar bhai's churan is famous throughout India. Take it, brother! Take it, brother! Take it, brother!
Gaffar: Assalam-wale-qum, Achhe miyan.
Achche: Get lost...!
(turning to Peera) Yes, talk.
Peera: So, where was I? Our hero gets off his horse...(screeching)...Make me a pan Achche.
Achche: Yes...making....!
Peera: So then hero says- (gibberish)...dishkyaun...Followed?
Achche: Nothing makes sense.
Peera: I didn't understand anything either.

Gaffar: I said Assalam-waleh-qum.
Achche: Waal-qum-assalam. Why are you curdling my brains? Go away from here.
Gaffar: Ay! You have a brain?
(Peera laughing)
Achche: Hey, you...! Come back!
(turning to Peera) Yes, talk.
Peera: So, where was I?
Achche: He gets off the horse, spoke in English, don't know what not. Tell me the full story.
Peera: Right. It's where interval is. Paan, beedi, tobacco, lemon, orange
Wikipedia entry on the western

Abdul: Hey Peera!
Peera: This is a daily routine. I got my paan.
Salim: Why do you this this with him?

Rafeeq bhai: Adaab!
Inspector: How are you, Rafeeq bhai?
Rafeeq bhai: Fine. How have you been?
Inspector: And, Vilas? How is it going?
Vilas: All is fine, sahib.
Rafeeq: O brother, serve some tea here.
Inspector: Rafeeq bhai,...

Abdul: Salute, Vilas bhai!
Vilas: You threesome, How are you?
Salim: Quite alright, bhai. Bhai, why is the police here?
Vilas: For his sake. Look!
Peera: Is there a special meeting?
Ibrahim: Everything alright?
Lala: Fine.
Ibrahim: And, Patil? Rafeeq bhai!
Vilas: Now watch the miracle of the black magic!

Ibrahim: How did my man go in, Patil?
(Thier conversation is lost as music and other talking voices fade in.)
Ibrahim: I had told you alredy.
Patil can't be heard again.
Ibrahim: You should've told me, at least.
Vilas: Law and order's hands on a smuggler's shoulders!
(Vilas, Peera, Salim laughing.)
(Ibrahim and Patil laughing)
(inaudible conversation)
Ibrahim: Hey Rafeeq bhai, all alright?
Rafeeq bhai: Yes, thanks to Allah.
saeed akhtar mirza

Vilas: Did you see the power of black magic? He arrived in a local car, and left in an imported car.
(to Ibrahim): Why Ibrahim bhai, already emptied it into the bottle? (laughs)
Ibrahim: Yes...see brother...in my business, all the way from bottom till top, everyone should be taken care of. As per size, for everyone, a silver shoe, each. (laughs)
Vilas: Boss spoke the truth.
Ibrahim: Sometimes, I think I should retire. But I also think that if I retire, then many innocent people will die hungry.
Vilas: Your thinking is good.
(laugher)
Ibrahim: I don't know about good and bad, but I do think.

(mosque prayers over loud speaker)

Natraj Studio
Set

Anees: Abbu!
Abbu: Hmmm.
Anees: Here. Got it specially ironed for you.
Abbu: Really? Than you, Anees. Uh..put it there. There.
Anees: O.K. I will just get some tea for you.

Anees: Brother, wake up. Wake up! And you go with abbu, as well.
Salim: Where?
Anees: In the factory. He had given an application for work. He won't be able to manage everything alone. Come on, wake up. Wake up. Wash yourself quickly.
Abbu: Anees!
Salim: when have they called you, abbu?
Abbu: They have called at 7.
Salim: O.K. abbu. Even I will come with you.

Abbu: No.No. No problem. I will go alone.
Salim: Abbu! I told you that I am coming with you. I will get ready in one minute. What's the rush?
Ammi: He is right. Talk him along with you. It will be good.
Abbu: But, why are you giving him trouble? I will go alone.
Salim: I understand, ammi. What will public say if they see him walking in the lane with a hooligan? I am not like Javed.
Ammi: Stop this nonsense! The same thing all the time! I am tired of it! Tired!
Abbu: Amina. Amina. Amina. Look, your daughter is going to get engaged. Why do you shed tears during such auspicious days? Don't cry now, don't cry. Salim, you quickly get ready.

(Phoenix Mills - long siren)

Painting of Phoenix mill by Sudhir Patwardhan, Mumbai, 2001
蘇迪爾・帕特華漢所繪製的鳳凰坊，孟買，2001
phoenix mills

salim-javed

Lower Parel
Phoenix Mills

Salim...
- Yes, Abbu?

You think that we loved Javed more than you?

No. I just...

You do feel that way, don't you?

But it's not like that.

I didn't earn enough to send the both of you to school at the time

So, Javed thought...

he would read, write,

start his own business, then the both of you...

What i'd thought... and how things turned out.

Go. You go on. I will just pass the time here.

So soon? What happened?

Didn't get it. I knew this wasn't going to work out.

These....
- Let's go, Salim.

Abbu, you too.
Why do you do all this?

I am there!

Do you still think you'll get this job?

How does it hurt to try?
- Abbu...!

Listen...

Don't tell this to your ammi.

She will feel bad.

But, someday she's bound to find out.

We'll see about it after Anees' engagement.

Don't tell her now.

Are you coming home?

No... You go ahead. I'll come later.

Alright.

Go safely, abbu.

Haji Ali

bombay harbour
nariman point
nariman point
This is the seaside location in bombay where people come in to spend time and have a great time watching the waves

Natraj Studio
Set

Salim: Hey, smartass! Distribute the cards. As if all this drama will change his fate.
At the adjoining table, Peera is seated, typically bossing his way around fellow players; wins the hand. Abdul enters through the door.
Abdul: Salim bhai, they are showing a movie in our street..
Salim:(engrossed) Who cares about your film! (Your film may go buy oil!)
Peera: What picture are they showing?
Abdul: ...on Bhiwandi.
Player1: Haven't heard this name.
Peera: Is it a picture currently running?

This is a clip from "Salim Langde pe Mat Ro" or "Dont cry for Salim the Lame", 1986, directed by Saeed Mirza, a leftist, "parallel cinema "filmmaker. It shows a film made on the riots in bhiwandi, being shown in a basti/ slum, on TV. This scene is inspired by the documentary practice of, among others, Anand Patwardhan, who became a filmic institution of his own by showing his films in many parts of the city, in public screenings like this one.

Abdul: No, no. It's like a newsreel.
Peera: What...Sha!
Player2: On Bhiwandi? Is it a film on the riots?
Abdul: Yes.
Player2: Oh. What will they show? How they killed the men? How they mutiliated women and children?
Player1: Who will watch such a picture? When the heroine moves her buttocks, then everyone watches.
(laughing)
Salim: Bastard, idiot!
...
Abdul: I am going to watch this film.

The Documentary film on the Bhiwandi riots of 1984 screened here is by Arunabh Bhattcharjee. Voice Over by Naseruddin Shah. The character of the documentary filmmaker however is portrayed to with reference to Anand Patwardhan, who is known to screening films in large bastis and local neighbourhoods.

Even though Salim Langde...is made in 1989, Saeed predates the film and sets in against the backdrop of the Bhiwandi riots (which happended in 1984). Saeed says, that was the big one, but there were many before and many after. The anachronism is not important.

Jennifer cites MJ Akbar's Riot after Riot as a seminal book. Between 1947 and 1991, there were 45,000 riots in India. The underlying principal of the RSS was never to allow the muslim middle class to emerge.
So Bhiwandi, Muradabad, Chander, Ahmedabad, Surat, Malegaon...all the powerloom/industrial towns where Muslims ammassed some wealth to own properties and factories...riots occured.

Communal riots in Bhiwandi 1984

"In Bhiwandi, communal tension was again generated right through 1983 over the building of a massive meat processing plant-cum-abattoir on its outskirts. Though all the requsite permissions had been obtained by the firm (Al-Kabeer Exports Ltd) local BJP leader B • P. Vyas started an agitation against it on blatantly communal lines, culminating in a procession in November in which all Hindu bodies- the Mahasabha, its militant wing the Hindu Sena, the Shiv Sena, the BJP, the Patit Pawan Sanghatana participated. Congress (11members also participated in their “individual capacity”. (Dr. B P Vyas, it should be mentioned, as indicated severely by the Madon Commission Report for his provocative and dishonest role in the 1970 Bhiwandi riots),. The permission for the project was withdrawn after it was half-completed. This agitation was widely reported in the press."

From: Read the entire CPDR report;

See also Arunabh Bhattacharjee's "Blessed by the Plague"
Bhiwandi
Bacchu ki wadi
Do Tanki

Bombay-Bhiwandi Riots in National Political Perspective

Film_(v.o.): Bhiwandi, Mumbai. A fire spread throughout the city. A strange fear gripped not only Bhiwandi, but the entire city of Mumbai. The levels of violence were so high that armed forces had to be deployed to gain control. A horrible truth lurks behind these bulletins.

Film_(v.o.): They used to live here. ?__? 8 to 10 in a house. And now? But, this is not the first time this has happened. Once before too...
Man (in film):...it had burned. The situation was quite similar. We set up our homes again. We did not get anyone's help at the time. Through our own efforts,...All labourers live here. We worked like labourers. We made every house here. And, now they burnt it to ashes in 15 minutes.
Woman:(prompts) 14 years...
Man: 14 years' worth of hard work destroyed in 15 days...didn't even take 15 minutes to do it...And today, wen we see these houses, our heart gets burnt to ashes...it brings tears to our eyes. we will need to toil 15 years more to live here again, right?

Woman 2: ...there was a woman with two children...6-8 men...they hit her so badly...this is the 11 year old girl...she witnessed murders...
Film_(v..o): an eerie silence has fallen over this city...
Ammi: O Allah! Such bloody violence! What else would armageddon be?
Film_(v.o.):...and deep despair. Think. People are one, and different (from each other), too. When religion itself puffs hatred, who benefits from it? Think. If there is no enmity between Hindus and Muslims, then who creates the unrest? Who fuels these differences into enmity? Who?-

Filmmaker: Friends, you saw the film that my peers and I have made, so that the entire nation would learn what is happening.
Abbu: It is known. It is known. But, why this violence for no reason?
Viewer1: We won't let them get away with this! We will cut up each one of them!
Filmmaker: Cut up! Cut up even more! This is what they want.
Viewer2: Why? Who will get anything out of it, eh?
Filmmaker: So that people keep themselves occupied in the battles over religion. So that the real questions won't come to unmasked. ....Why don't you get enough to fill your stomach despite the hard work you put in all day? Why? ...Why are you forced to live in squalours? ...Why don't you people get work? Why can't your kids go to school? Have you ever thought of it?

Viewer2: What will we think? What will we think, brother? Our daily meals are in jeopardy here.
Filmmaker: You are right. But, why are you in jeopardy?
Viewer: But, the prices are going up so high! They seem to go up every day!
Viewer3: ..So much inflation, sahib.
Viewer4: Exactly!
Filmmaker: These are the questions I am talking about. These are the questions that get pushed behind in the Battles over religion.

Abdul: But, we know this, sahib. Do we start the unrest and violence? Why don't you give this speech to them?
Filmmaker: I would like to say this to anyone who wants to listen.
Salim: Hey,... Why did you make this film?
Filmmaker: To bring out the truth.
Salim: Are you Muslim?
Filmmaker: No.

Salim: A government's man?
Filmmaker: No.
Salim: Then, this film? Why?
Filmmaker: I am Hindu. A few people in my group are Muslim. There are people of all religions in our group.
Abbu: Look, brothers. He is right. He is right. This is how it should be. This is how it should be. Are you still..are you still not getting it? This is how it should be.

Gaffar: Yunani churan, Yunani churan... Stomach, indigestion,...it cures everything,.. Famous all over India....Take it bhai, take it now....
Gaffar: Assalam-wale-qum, Achhe ko...
Achche: Wale-qum-assalam, churan miyan. How are you doing?
Gaffar: Alright.
Peera: You're here right on time, churan miyan.
Gaffar: Why? What happened?
Peera: Achche miyan's stomach is giving trouble. Do you have anything?
Gaffar: With me? I don't have anything for donkeys.
Achche: Get lost!!!

Cafe Ashrafi
Fatima Manzil
Masjid Bunder
Shayda Marg

Achche: ...Hey, Peera! Stop this stealing soon, man!
...
Vilas: What's the matter, Salim? Is your mood not alright?
Salim: Vilas bhai, they showed a film on Bhiwandi in our locality. riot's film.
Vilas: Yes, I heard too about it.
Abdul: What a scene it was, baap! You feel scared after watching it!

Abdul: ...Innocent children were killed.
Lala: Everything in that film is a lie! Rubbish! They are fueling the public's anger! Scoundrels!
Salim: Whatever he said was right. He spoke of ending the riots. Don't know who started this fight.
Lala: The English messed it up, miyan. Otherwise, we used to live like brothers.
Vilas: Lala, the English were thrown off a long time ago. Now, what is the problem?

Lala: There still remain people who do not love the nation. Like Achche miyan. What say, Achche miyan?
Achche: I can't manage to get time off making paans. When will I think about the nation?
Rafeeq: Lala, you love your nation?
Lala: Of course.

Rafeeq: And, how do you prove it? By buying stolen goods? By becoming a partner at gambling houses and brothels?
Lala:(laughing) What, Rafeeq bhai? Did you hear him, Vilas?
Vilas: Did Rafeeq bhai say anything wrong? Lala, this nation already has a long line of nation-lovers. Why create a traffic jam? Go, do you business. Things about nation and compassion don't sound quite right coming out of your mouth.
(laughing)

(gunshots fired)
Salim: Come back, you dog! You bastard!
Salim: Vilas! Vilas bhai! Vilas! Vilas! Peera, stop a car! Quick!
Salim: Vilas! I am here. We will go to the hospital. Come!
Vilas: No! Not the hospital! Right here! I knew...
Rafeeq bhai: No Vilas...
Vilas: ...that this is how I would go!
Salim: I am here! Vilas!
Rafeeq: Vilas!

Cafe Naaz

A chronicle of a death foretold

Saeed Mirza: It's a film about a chap called Salim Langde (Salim, the lame)...don't cry for him.

Obviously, there is going to be some tamasha about him!

And obviously, knowing the title- it's not going to be a happy ending. And you are actually now going to be participating in the essay of this man, as a viewer.

The whole film is in the first person. And when I end the film, the whole point is, "whose film is this"? How could he narrate the film, if he is going to die?

So, I leave it open, as a structure.
I saw the audience as voyeurs, of the destruction of a young man called Salim. But through his journey, hopefully, they can reflect on what he's really all about.

I used the VoiceOver specifically for Salim.... I haven't used it before and I didn't use it again.
Unreliable Narrator

Nobody knows who killed Vilas, or why.

People say it was the hooligans' internal dispute.

Video game Parlour

I don't know why, but sometimes I used to feel

The arcade video games being played by Salim in this video parlour are '1942' and 'Mach Rider'.

that Vilas himself wanted to die.

He had grown tired of his own life.

(sounds from Space Invaders, the video game)

Eh, Vilas! I won't forget you!

I'll remember you until the end!

Film Set
Natraj Studio
Police Station

Salim: Salute, sahib!
Inspector: Salute.
Salim: My daily reporting, sahib.
Inspector: Oh, Salim. Good you came down. I was about to call you now.
Salim: Any special matter, Sir?
Inspector: Yes.

Salim: Did you come to know who killed Vilas?
Inspector: Your line itself is like this.
Salim: Still, sahib. He's a person.
Inspector: Will happen. One hooligan less in the police records. That's it.

Inspector: Hmm, put your thumb impression here.
Salim: What is it?
Inspector: Statement of the confiscated material.
Salim: But, I wasn't there.
Inspector: So what? I am telling you.

Salim: But, sahib, if I haven't seen it, then,...
Inspector: You dare argue with me!
Inspector: I will make you rot in the jail for the rest of your life!
...
Inspector: Make you impression! Make it! Your caste itself is a bitch! Scoundrels! All are thieves!

Natraj Studio
Set

Anees: Don't hit, brother. You will get hurt!
Salim:(between uncontrollable sobs)...Why did I not get a chance?...I got stuck, Anees...Why...Why...did I not get a chance?...I want to get out but I can't...I got stuck...got stuck...

Jaani: Forget it. Take a drag.
Salim: Jaani, why don't you go away from here?
Jaani: Where?
Salim: To your home. To your parents. To your nation. There is nothing for you here. Nothing for anyone. You go away. Go away from here.
Jaani: Can I tell you something? There no better place to die in than Hindustan(India).

This scene where a rotten, unrecognizable body of a young man is taken out from a gutter is the cinematic realization of the constant allusion of such Muslim working class neighborhoods to the wasted and discarded underbelly of the city.The cleaner's commentary puts it in context with the rhetoric of the film,however this event of police machinery taking out unidentifiable bodies from street sides and sewers is also a haunting memory embedded within the everyday life of such city spaces in India.

Salim: What happened?
Bystander: A dead body's been found. Looks like it has been rotting for a few days in the gutter.
Cleaner: Shit! My job is to remove the trash from the gutter. now, even corpses have started springing out.
Inspector: Does anyone recognize the corpse?
Cleaner: Who will recognize in this condition, sahib?

Bystander: They must have cut him up and thrown him during the riots.
Bystander2: Seems Muslim.
Cleaner: Oi...Hindu or Muslim, he's died a dog's death.
Inspector: Hey! See if there are any more bodies in the sewer.
Cleaner: Why, sahib? Isn't one body enough? Fill them up. Fill up these sewers. We are there no.

Cleaner: What...what are you looking at?
Bystander3: Just watching.
Cleaner: Watch! Look! Look! ...(laughs)
(Bystander retching)

Cleaner: Vomitting now! Didn't vomit while killing? Fight for temples and mosques. Finally fall in the gutters.
Inspector: Take him away.
Cleaner: Yes, take him away. Take him away. Take him away.

Bacchu Ki Wadi

This sequence deals with the issue of communalism and the notion of an ‘imagined community’ on the basis of commonly shared culture, music , language and so on. We see Salim and Aslam are having a conversation over the pressing problem of communalism and its roots. What is fascinating in this sequence is the soundtrack. The sound of a train passing evokes the memory of the partition and communal violence around it as trains carrying decomposed corpses is a vividly recognizable image in the memory of the people. The preceding section itself shows the sight of a decomposed corpse dumped during the riots being excavated from the manhole..Secondly when Aslam goes on talking about an imagined community harmonized by shared culture, music so on and so forth the sound of train works as an abiding modality that connects the ‘nation’. Thirdly thanks to Satyajit Ray’s persistent use of the train motif in his ‘Apu Trilogy’ thereby bringing to the fore the issue of modernity and development, the sound of a train passing by becomes important in this context as Dr Ira Bhaskar and Dr Richard Allen in their book Islamicate Cultures Of Bombay Cinema place the film under the rubric of ‘New Wave Muslim Socials’ that has reform at its heart.

Asalm bhai,... Hindu. Muslim. Why all this, bhai? Why?

Because at birth itself, every Muslim is told that Hindus are infidels.

And every Hindu is told that Muslims are dirty.

The poison of hatred and fear is fed to them since childhood.

This poison was used to split this nation into pieces, too.

You mean partition?

How did this partition happen, bhai?

Many years ago, this country was split into two by drawing a line.

India on one side, and Pakistan on the other.

Why?

So that some powerful people on both sides could rule their parts.

And, Pakistan was created.

Thousands and lakhs of Muslims were killed.

Thousands and lakhs of Hindus were killed, too.

Foolish people slit each other's throats.

Rivers of blood flowed.

The country's shoulder was severed and given the name 'Pakistan'.

Such a big mess?

Yes. A mess indeed.

And the idiots who did this

were under the illusion that people can be united through religion.

But they were wrong. Absolutely wrong.

How so?

One day, Pakistan, too, had to draw another such line.

And a new nation, Bangladesh, was born.

But, this time, Muslims fought against Muslims.

Those who made Pakistan at the time could not grasp the truth that history teaches us.

Historical experiences, music, similar aspirations...

and language alone can connect people. Not religion. Never.

Aslam: And, this is happening in this country all over again. Some people are trying to spread the poison of hatred amongst people by saying that India is solely theirs., that only on the basis of faith can people be connected. One day, even these people will be proven wrong. The world has tried for centuries to find differences between humans. Separate them. If only they had thought just for a moment how to unite people, with people.

And, this is happening in this country all over again.

Some people are trying to spread the poison of hatred amongst people

by saying that India is solely theirs.

That only on the basis of faith can people be connected.

One day, these people too will be proven wrong.

The world has tried for centuries to find differences between humans.

Antop Hill
Barkat Ali Dargah

(v.o.):Who am I? Who am I? O Lord, help me. Help me, my Lord.

Peera: Put mine on 3.
Abdul: Mine on 10. Draw it. Quick! Peera, I told you beforehand!
(v.o.): What will the poor public do? Is there a way to get out of this gutter? Out of gambling, into lottery. Government says 'Gambling bad, lottery good.' One's crime, other's law. Wow!

Matka Den

Natraj Studio
Set
?

Abdul: I lost because of listening to you today!
Peera: Why did you listen? Did I ask you to?
(v.o.): This world has been simply banged up. Don't know who has. Is there anyone who can understand this? No one. And if there is someone, he needs to be found. We're in very bad shape, baap, very bad shape..
laser blade ad

Bacchu Ki Wadi
Kotha

Peera: Go, Salim bhai! Go in! Hurry up a little!
Mumtaaz: Uh! Salim.! You here! I had come here for work. So, just like that...
Mumtaaz: It's good, though. I have been waiting for you for a while now.
Salim: For me? Why?
Mumtaaz: No need to be so innocent. Asking, why! Just a minute. I have got something for you.
Salim: What is it?
Mumtaaz: A small gift. Lighter.

Salim: For me?
Mumtaaz: Who else is mine?
Salim: Who gave it to you?
Mumtaaz: How does that make a difference?

Salim: I don't want it.
Mumtaaz: Keep it.
Salim: I told you I don't want it.
Mumtaaz: So I will keep it. What calamity has struck here?
Salim: But, I said I don't want it...

Naatu: Ay, Mumtaaz! It's time for the people to come. Don't you know that?
Mumtaaz: Just a minute, Naat Seth. I am ready.
Mumtaaz: You will need to go now, Salim.
Salim: I am going now. Can I tell you something?
Mumtaaz: Tell me quickly.

Salim: you're looking very beautiful today.
Mumtaaz: Really?
Salim: No. Lying.
Mumtaaz: Thank you. Even you are looking very nice.
Salim: Go away.
Mumtaaz: Khuda-hafiz.

Naatu: I have spoken to Patil about your man. He will get acquitted. Go now.
Salim: Salute, Seth!
Naatu: Salim. This is a place for business. Not a joint for lovers. You understand?
Salim: I understand, Seth.
Naatu: Remember it, too.
Salim: Yes, Seth.
Naatu: Then, get going. Get going.

Natraj Studio
Set

(music from lighter when its lit)

Anees: It is very nice. Who gave it?
Salim: Someone.
Anees: Someone special?
Salim: Go. Go to sleep now.

Jaani: My shoes are Japanese, these pants are English,
Russian hat on my head, but my heart is Indian.
They have left in the middle of the road, Puffing their chests in pride(x2)
Where is our destiny, where do we stop,
Only the one Above knows
The one Above knows...

(V.O.): My life was changing. And I knew, that if I tried,... if I really tried, then I too, could be like my brother Javed. ... From Salim Langde, ....to Salim Pasha.

Peera: (singing) ...like a hero...
Ae!!...What are you looking at?
Peera: Ae Abdul, don't want any nonsense haan!
Adbul: No mischief!
Abdul: Ae Salim bhai, say something to him... desperately trying to be a stud...!
Peera: (singing) ...desperately impersonating a stud...
Street payphone user: ...wear anything...yes.....10 o'clock...I'll be on my way.....in 15 minutes...
Peera: ...does it open?

Do Tanki

Street payphone user/car owner: Ae! What are you doing?
Abdul: Can't you see we're removing the wiper?
Car owner: This is my car.
Abdul: I didn't claim it was mine, did I?
Car owner: Ae! Leave it alone!
Peera: Aeee!

Peera: We're just removing the wiper. What if we took the whole car?
Car owner: Chori aur seena zori? (You steal and then you boss over me?!) Should I call the police?
Peera: Call, call!
Abdul: Call them na!
Peera: We pay the police hafta in advance every month. Understand?
Salim: Let it be. Sir, go away.
Peera: Forget the wiper.
Abdul: Come on smart ass, make yourself scarce.

Car owner(to shopkeeper): Brother...what is this happening?
Shopkeeper: This is normal these days, sir.

Abdul: This area of Bombay is the tops! Its such fun here!
Peera: Yeah....such cool breeze! And these beautiful people!
(Abdul and Peera laughing)

Air India Building
Marine Drive
Oberoi Hotel

Marine Drive

Abdul: Look at that fair girl....the fat girl's sister! (laughing)
Salim: Abdul,...
Abdul: Yes?
Salim: Why didn't you go to school?
Abdul: I went. I completed till class 2.
Salim: And after that?
Abdul: After that I enrolled inyour school!
(All laughing)
Salim: (laughing) Bastard, fool!

Salim: And you, Peera?
Peera: Me? Arre I should have gone straight to college! No school business. Just like in college boys and girls fool around hand in hand.
Abdul: One minute...(impersonating a girl) I'm fine yaar.
Peera: Ae...going where?
Abdul: (still impersonating) There.
Peera: Aye ...ae ...ae...
Abdul:(impersonating) Don't touch!

Peera: Coming for film?
Abdul: No!
Peera: Coming for discos?
Abdul: No.
Peera: Coming for videos?
Abdul: No!
Peera: Coming for patli galli? (dark alley)
Abdul: Yes, yes yes!
Peera: Got her got her got her...!
(much laughter)

Salim: Peera...What if I start some business?
Peera: What??
Salim: Just business, any work. Not robbery.
Peera: Ae....why?
Salim: I'm tired of all this.

Salim: But what will you guys do?
Peera: What will I do? I don't have anyone other than you guys.
Abdul: But Salim bhai, why are you thinking of leaving?
Salim: Anees will get married, she will have children. They should have a nice uncle. I will give them all they need. Everything. I will send them to school. I will send them to college.
Abdul: Yes, this idea is great. We should make them big people. The kinds that live in this area.
Peera: Let the whole world see... we live with dignity. We are lesser than none.

Salim: You said it right. Absolutely right. Now, say it aloud.
All: Live with dignity. We are lesser than none.
(laughter)
(repeat)

(music)
The citation to "jeete hain shaan se" and "hum kisse se kam nahin" are references to very popular songs in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Rafeeq: What's the matter, Salim?
Salim: Rafeeq bhai, I need work.
Rafeeq: But, you do have work.
Salim: No, not this hooliganism, bhai, I want real work.
Rafeeq: What kind of work do you want to do?

Cafe Ashrafi
Masjid Bunder
Shayda Marg

Salim: What will I say now? You know that I don't know anything. I am not educated. Bhai, say something. Is anything possible?
Rafeeq: You seem in a rush.
Salim: I have wasted a lot of time. Bhai, say something. Is anything possible?
Rafeeq: Why won't it be possible?

Salim: Ae bhai, where's Nazeem Ustaad?
Worker: Over there. Working on the white car.
Salim: Thank you.

Bandra
Pali Market Road
St. Johns Street

...
Salim: Salute, Ustaad.
Ustaad: Hmmm.
Salim: Will I get work here?
Ustaad: Work is done here, not given.
Salim: Rafeeq bhai sent me here.

Ustaad: Hmmm.
Salim: Ustaad, I want to learn to work.
Ustaad: What do you want to learn?
Salim: Everything. Everything that you know.
Ustaad: Everything?
Salim: Yes, Ustaad. Want to be world's top mechanic.

Ustaad: Top mechanic? Can't be that.
Salim: Why?
Ustaad: Because that's me.
(laughter)
Salim: Will do, Ustaad. Number 2 will do, too.
Ustaad: When do you want to start working?
Salim: Whenever you ask me. Today? Right now?

Ustaad: Will need to do hard work.
Salim: I will do it, Ustaad. Will do everything.
Ustaad: Will need to come everyday. On time.
Salim: I will come.
Ustaad: Skip a day and I will dismiss you.
Salim: Alright.
Ustaad: At first, your salary will be low. But, I will teach you. I will teach you everything.
Salim: When do I start?
Ustaad: Start from the 1st.
Salim: Thank you, Ustaad. Thank you.

Bandra
Gazebo
Hill Road
Open House

Mumtaaz: Did you like it?
Salim: Mmmm. It's music is nice, too. Listen to it in the night, sometimes. Think of you.
Mumtaaz: Come on! Don't ever lose it.
Salim: Where will it go? It stays right here for 24 hours.

Mumtaaz: When are you getting Anees engaged?
Salim: Soon Will do it soon. Then, our marriage.
Mumtaaz: Drink your tea. It will get cold.
Salim: You don't trust me? look, Mumtaaz. We will have our own house. Own house. It is not a dream. But, I need your support. That's all. Are you with me?
Mumtaaz: This is not so easy.
Salim: Be it difficult if not easy!
Annoyed Voice: Where do these people come from!

Mumtaaz: Why are you shouting?
Salim: Look, Mumtaaz. How can we accept defeat right at the start? Need to try, at least. Say, 'It's possible.' Mumtaaz, say that it's possible.
Mumtaaz: Maybe, it's possible.
Salim: Not like this. Say it with a smile.
Mumtaaz:(hesitantly smiles) It is possible.

Natraj Studios
Set

Salim: Wow, ammi! What an amazing thing you've made!
Ammi: You like it?
Salim: Fabulous! Ammi, our Anees will make such a beautiful bride! Hey, Anees. Will you recognize me after wearing this?
Anees: Hmm (no)
Salim: You won't recognize me?
Salim: Ah! Now I will arrange for some money! I will do first-class decorations. There needs to be excitement! Fabulous!
Anees: Bhaijaan, why spend money unnecessarily?

Salim: What did you say? You call this unwanted spending? For the first time in my life... for the first time in my life I am trying to do something for you. Don't stop me now.
Abbu: But Salim, how will you repay the money?
Salim: I will, abbu. With money earned through hard work. Don't be afraid. With money earned from my sweat and blood. You'll see.

Salim: Rashid, how are you?
Rashid: Seth has called you. Urgent! I don't know why. Just come.

Ibrahim's voice: Shankar's case needs to be closed today.
Naatu: It will be done bhai.
Ibrahim: You explained everything to the boys?
Naatu: Have told them all. Only this one remains...

Juhu Bungalow

Salim: Salaam bhai.
Ibrahim: Where have you been? Need to send a man to fetch you, now-a-days.
Naatu: Come. Understand the matter.
Salim: What's to be done?
Naatu: Shankar needs to be knocked up.
Salim: So?

Naatu: So, come outside the club around 10. You need to be there.
Salim: Boss, I won't go there.
Naatu: What did you say? Did you hear, Ibrahim bhai? And, remember. Don't ever negate me. Do as is tell...
Ibrahim: Just a minute. One minute. What has happened to you?
Salim: Nothing, bhai. Just...
Ibrahim: Hmmm. When is your sister's engagement?
Salim: Soon. In about 3-4 days.

Ibrahim: Have arranged for the money?
Salim: No. But I will see. I will do it.
Ibrahim: I am there. Why do you worry? Get her engaged with style. Now, get the job understood from Naatu. Go.
Salim: Bhai, I don't want to get into riots and violence.
Lala: Oh! You call this violence? This is business.

Salim: I know what you mean by saying this, seth. I know how your fight will translate into a real riot. Of Hindus and Muslims. Innocnet lives will be lost for no reason.
Ibrahim: What? You think we start the riots? I protect our people.
Naatu: And I protect our brothers.
Lala: A few fall here, a few there. What difference does it make?
Naatu: There is always profit and loss in business, understand?

Salim: Haven't you seen the riots?
Naatu: Who are you talking to?
Salim: Not to you, seth. I say it to everybody. I have seen the riots and their consequences, too. How one person cuts another. How one person cuts another and throws him aside. Abuse women. Kill innocent, little children. Burn their houses. You call this business? I don't want all this. Don't wait this. I don't want it.

Bacchu Ki Wadi

Salim: Aslam bhai! Aslam bhai! I...
Aslam: Salim! What's the matter?
Salim: Forgive me, it's very late in the night...
Aslam: Come. Come upstairs.
Salim: No, I am in a rush. I just came to tell you something.
Aslam: Tell me.

Salim: Do you remember you had told me that there is no need to remain in darkness? To step into the light? Do you remember?
Aslam: Yes, I remember.
Salim: Bhai, I am stepping into the light. I am stepping into the light. Khuda-hafiz bhai.

Jennifer Mirza: I don't know if we should state this, but the film was originally called Karim Langde Pe Mat Ro.

One day on location, Karim Lala sent a message saying, "what are you shooting?"
(Karim Lala was one of the three mafia dons of Bombay, along with Haji Mastaan and Vardarajan, all of whom began their careers in the docklands of the city and its neighbourhoods where this film was located.)

We had practically finished shooting when this happened.

Shaina: What did they say?

Saeed Mirza: Oh people came onto the shoot. They requested us. There wasn't any dadagiri

Jennifer Mirza: We changed the name. So if you look carefully at scenes that were dubbed, you can see that what's dubbed as Salim was originally Karim.
dignity

I am coming into the light!

My name is Salim.

I am an Indian.

I want to live with dignity.
I want to live with dignity.

With dignity I want to live.

Natraj Studios
Set

Salim: Why are you people coming here?
Peera: The Mic guy said there is a wire connected here...
Salim: I will see to all of that. Go downstairs. There is much to do!
Abdul: Salim bhai, Shenaaz is inside. If...
Salim: I told you I don't want any nonsense. Go! Go away now!
Abdul: Salim bhai! Salim bhai!

Salim: Are you happy? You will go to your own home in a few days. May you be blessed with all the world's happiness in your home.
(Anees sobbing)
Ammi: Salim has managed for everything.
Salim: Ammi!

Salim: Abbu! Now you can say with pride that Salim is your son.
Salim: I will be downstairs. Call me if there is any work to be done.
Abbu: Alright...go ahead.

Salim goes downstairs as more guests come in. He comes into the open courtyard to the tune of the hugely popular Madhuri Dixit number "Ek, Do, Teen..." being played on the music system. Salim is welcomed in a sparse crowd of dancing people by Peera and Abdul, hooting and whistling. They begin to dance. Salim is purely ecstatic. A man wearing a white and black shirt comes into view amidst the small crowd.
"Ek Do Teen", madhuri dixit, tezaab, intertextuality
Ek Do Teen, Tezab, Madhuri Dixit

Bacchu Ki Wadi

He begins to follow Salim. opens his dagger, and as Salim faces him, the man stabs him twice in the stomach. In shock, Salim almost disbelievingly sees blood on his hands. He stumbles and falls to the ground. Peera and Abdul rush to his side.

Peera:Salim bhai?
Abdul: Salim!
Peera: Stop this music!!
Abdul: Who hit you?
Peera: Blood!

(song)
There was a life, there were some dreams ...(repeat)
hundreds sacrificed for free
land is divided
they divided our land
made pieces of our land
All our sins, all our faults,
We made the innocents'

Dongri
Sandhurst Road
Sardar Vallabhai Patel Road
Near Azad Restaurant

He who said, 'let's change our ways'
he didn't even see this
he did not even see this
where the child tired and sat
...where he lays his bed
(?)

Till now the nation's plight(?) remains the same
the religion of hatred rules the land
a life had some dreams
hundreds sacrified for freedom

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