Salaam Bombay! (1988), Mira Nair's debut film turns 25 this year and to commemorate this, PVR is re-releasing the landmark film on March 22.

The iconic film was shot in real locations and features non-actors. It was an international project that chronicled the life of street children, drug -pushers, pimps and prostitutes of a red light area of Mumbai.

The narrative shown through a style earmarked as Nair's own, follows the gritty life of a Krishna aka Chaipau, a young boy who runs away to Bombay to earn money, but nurtures a wish to return to his mother one day.

`It's absolutely thrilling to bring 'Salaam Bombay!' to a new generation of young people. The story is as alive today!` Nair said.

The film won 25 international awards, including two at Cannes- the Camera D'Or and the Prix Publique (the most popular film in the festival) upon its release besides being nominated for the best foreign film at the Academy awards.

It was also India's second film submission to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and was selected as one of the Best 1,000 movies ever made by New York Times

The movie also launched the career of Irrfan Khan. Raghuvir Yadav and Nana Patekar play key roles in this movie

Apart from a re-release at PVR multiplexes as Director's Rare, the movie will also be available on a restored set of DVDs that will be issued by the movie's co-producer, the National Film Development Corporation

PVR will also release Nair's upcoming film Reluctant Fundamentalist in India in April this year.

While many from the cast have made it big either in Bollywood or television, the child actor who won a National Award for his role as Chaipau in Salaam Bombay now drives an auto on the streets of Bangalore.

For Shafiq Syed the re-release means nothing, as he has to still worry about sending his four children to school.