there's a few moments in salaam bombay which seems to be shot in the same manner as those in the 400 blows.
particularly the shot when he is taken away by the police and looks at bombay through the moving vehicle...
i dont think this is coincidental. even satyajit ray was strongly influenced by french cinema.
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I'm Indian, i've managed to see 400 Blows, but not Salaam Bombay...strange. Maybe the difference is I'm Calcuttan.. French movie fans are more easily available in cal than the decadent 'rosogollas'...
there seem to be no French movie fans here in bombay. I mean, everyone knows Amelie but noone knows Antoine Doinel :(
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I agree with you although I did not notice the shot you were talking about. But after he went to the foster home or whatever it was very much in the same vein as 400 Blows. The shot that I thought mostly resembled 400 Blows was when he was running away from the place after he had just escaped. I was just waiting for a freeze frame.
shareThe final shots in both movies also resembles Les Quatre Cents Coups.
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I did see a real connection to 400 blows, the end was kind of similar, but he gets a chance to kill baba before the freeze frame. It seemed to resemble louis Buñuel's "Los Olivdados" too.
shareAs you have pointed out probably Mira Nair was influenced, to some extent, by movies like Trufaut's "le quatre cents coups" and Luis Buñuel's "Los olvidados".
Actually "Los olvidados" IMO is closer to Salaam Bombay's subject.
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satyajit ray was inspired by neo-realism the italian cinema, not the french new wave, and 400 blows is out of the new wave phase, and i have seen both the movies, dont feel any striking similarity
shareI think what's hilarious is how incredibly wrong this person is. The 400 Blows is directly in the middle of the French New Wave movement. I have seen both films as well, and studied both, and the complete fact is that yes, Mira Nair was heavily inspired by The 400 Blows. Not only are the stories similar (a rough young boy rebels against the society around him and just wants to be loved), but they are also shot similar. Look at the last shot of the film where he looks into the camera just like Doinel in The 400 Blows. They are both shot very naturalistic. Yes, Nair wasn't only inspired by The 400 Blows, but it was without a doubt (and she has said this herself) one of her inspirations.
shareThat's not entirely true about Ray. Satyajit Ray is on record saying that some elements in his later films like 'The Adversary' were influenced by the French New Wave.
Of cource, Satyajit Ray was influenced more by Italian Neorealism, Renoir's old French movis and Yasujiro Ozu's Japanese movies, but influence of the New Wave on Ray can't be denied either.