The Indian film, `Bombay`, is directed by Mani Ratnam set in the backdrop of Hindu-Muslim riot regarding Babri Masjid. The movie stars Arvind Swamy and Manisha Koirala. The film is centred on the controversial events. It concentrates on the period of December 1992 to January 1993 in India. At that time the argument or controversy surrounding the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya was at its peak. The religious tensions in the city of Bombay eventually led to riots and the whole population divide in to two i.e. Hindu and Muslim. Shekhar played by Arvind Swamy is Hindu. He is studying journalism in Bombay. He returns to his village where he comes across Shaila Bano played by Manisha Koirala. She is a Muslim. The story focuses on their relationship in the middle of religious tension. The film caused big controversy upon release in India as well as in abroad, for the depiction of inter-religious relations. The film is screened in various festivals including the Philadelphia Film Festival in 1996. There it was an audience favourite. Although the film was banned in Singapore, Pakistan and Malaysia upon release.

The movie is available in Tamil, Telegu and also Hindi.

Synopsis of the Indian movie `Bombay`
The story starts somewhere in a village in Tirunelveli district in Tamil Nadu. Shekhar played by Arvind Swamy is the son of traditional Hindu parents in the seaside village in Tamil Nadu. He is a student of journalism. In one of his trips to the village he sees Shaila Bano played by Manisha Koirala and falls for her at the first sight. Shaila seems shy and keep safe distance from Shekhar but very soon she starts liking Shekhar. Finally, after some meetings they both fall in love. They decide to live the whole life together but their parents` were against to it. But they are so much in love with each other that they can not even think of being apert.

Shekhar proposes in front of Shaila`s father. But both the fathers vehemently oppose. Shekhar`s father gives him ultimatum that if Shekhar marries Shaila then he has to leve his father as well as family. Shekhar gets angry on this and comes back to Bombay. They made a plan to elope and get married. Shaila gathers courage and escapes from the village. She joins Shekhar in Bombay. Shekhan and Shaila get married and start a new life in the city. They are more than enough happy with each other and start their family with full of joy and faith. But unfortunately they get parted from their family.

Some time later, Shaila becomes pregnant. She gives birth to twins, Kabir Narayanan and Kamal Basheer. The twins are raised in both the religions. They named the babies according to both the religion including each one`s father`s name. Shekar is still in the journalism line, while Shaila manages home beautifully. The family lives happily for six years in Bombay. Everything is going perfect and they start to better their relation with their respective homes. The relatives rather two fathers visit their house. The grandfathers are very happy to see the grandchildren. In the meantime, religious riots starts in Bombay where Hindu and Muslim both fight and hundreds of population died in the city. Shaila and Shekhar become very worried as their children do not have a specific religion. Because of the growing tension in the city the two kids and their grandfathers get scared. They eventually get separated and Shekhar and Shaila lose their sons in the riots. Their fathers dies in a blast where Shekhar filnds Shaila and start searching for their sons. Shekhar reports a lot of the riot but all in vain. Eventually in an incident the two brothers meet and they start searching for their parents. In the last scene four of them meet while after a drastic incident the riot is about to stop.

Cast and crew of `Bombay`
The star cast of the film `Bombay` includes Arvind Swamy, Manisha Koirala, Tinnu Anand, Naseer, Sonali Bendre, and Prakash Raj. The movie is written, directed and produced by Mani Ratnam while it is also co-produced by S. Sriram and co-written by Umesh Sharma. Music is given by A. R. Rahman while cinematography is done by Rajiv Menon.

Awards for `Bombay`
The Indian movie `Bombay` is an award-winning movie, which has got numerous numbers of awards from different heads. In the year 1996 the political film society awarded Mani Ratnam a special award for his film `Bombay`. The film also got two national awards as best editing and best feature film on national integration as well. A. R. Rahman got the filmfare award in south as best music director in the year 1996 while in the year 1995 the film got best film as critic`s choice and the heroin Manisha Koirala got best performer award.