"Bombay" raised a lot of controversies and saw a commercial success during its release. The film sets an example of a technical brilliance and superb handling of a heart touching story for which it stands out as one of the best achievements of 90s, which got pretty forgotten in the usual buddy buddy movies like "Dilwale Dulhaniyan Le Jayenge" or "Kuch Kuch Hota Hai." The harshness and the human sentiments found in this movie haven't been so far achieved to this date.The film is set under the Hindu Muslim riots enraged in 1992-1993 which engulfed many innocent people and families. One such family shown in the movie is that of Arvind Swamy, a Hindu, and Manisha Koirala, a Muslim who get married despite the fury of their families as they belong to different religions. They have moved to Bombay from a small village of south India, and have a twin sons. The riot shatters the family, kills the parents in laws, and the couple search the lost children under the horror of riots where the people are slain in the light of day, houses burned and goods looted. The film ends with the end of the riots and uniting of the family.The horrors of the riots that mutilated the innocents were the best realized parts of the film. The film just disgusts showing the inhumane activities done in the name of religions, and criticizes the leaders who are killing hundreds of innocents enraging such riots. The film nowhere becomes mild in showing this, for which the film deserves a full commendation. Besides, the film remains outstanding for the brilliant performances and technical aspects. Manisha Koirala looks pretty, innocent, and just gives a beautiful and touching performance. So is Arvind Swami. The acting of Master Harsha and Hriday is full of innocence and touches you. Either the depiction of the beautiful village near the sea beaches or the terror of the riots, or the choreography of the song numbers, the film is excellent in every aspect of techniques.Rating: 4 stars out of 4

First having heard the music and later having eyewitness information from the 1993 riots in Mumbai from my wife (who was in her early teens at the time), I sat and watched this movie in my home on what happened to be India's 60th Independence Day anniversary. I must admit I was stunned and baffled and all that, especially from the magnificent depiction of an impossible love story. The riot scenes in the second half of the film are also quite moving, but the end of the film lacks some of the momentum found elsewhere.Nevertheless, this is a movie worth watching, especially in the company of Indians, since it contains a lot of symbolism hardly understandable to "us" foreigners.

This is a film about the ethnic divide in India set during the 1994 Hindu-Muslim riots in Mumbai (Bombay).The direction is slick, the script excellent and the songs brilliant. You will not often find an Indian Commercial film which is entertaining and has a thoughtful message.While the ending might be idealistic and slightly unrealistic, it gives us hope that one day we will set aside our differences. The message is also not rammed down our throat, so overall go and watch this movie!

This movie is often compared to Spielberg's "Schindler's List", as the one and only movie which actually works in this context and how Spielberg could have made it to express his strong pathetic and political emotions. What a shame that "Bombay" haven't got such a big audience.The true life epos tells us the story of the Muslim-Hindu conflict 1995 in Bombay from the viewpoint of a young Muslim-Hindu couple doomed to leave their home town and families. This movie was made in the south, in Madras, shortly after the riots, and was immediately synchronized in Bombay to Hindi for the big audience. During the next three hours (the typical hindi movie length) everything works out fine, until the last thirty minutes where the Bombay riots suddenly break up everything. Mani Ratnam is the one and only director how dares to bring a song (every Hindi movie is a musical) during the very realistic war scenes, where such a scene actually works. Scenes where you are immediately reminded to how you would have shaken your head or laughed if this was just "Schindler's List". Imagine the jews singing in the last 30 minutes. Or the Trier train dance scene (for which you have to see "Dil Se") cut to the end. Not so here. They sing about the cruelty of war. Stop fighting. Crying, laughing, singing, dying, very close together. Where Trier sinks into unbelievable and childish anti-dead sentence pathos, Ratnam is still with the people, full of positive power. Incredible. A must see from one of the most important directors world-wide.