Chiller room
Saw this excellent Mira Nair debut movie Salaam Bombay!, and was wondering if the lead actor, 11 year old character called Chaipau (meaning tea and bread, in the movie hes working as a runner distributing tea for a tea stall) playing a street kid in Mumbai is really an actor. My suspicion was right, hes actually a street kid as like many other kids in this movie and no scene was shot in a studio.
I like such movies, non-fiction, real-life, albeit harsh more factual. Although I don't admire the intent of Mira Nair, as with this and noticeably in Monsoon Wedding, of showing only a bad picture of India. I am not contradicting myself, but there are things shown in her movies which are not needed and don't contribute to the story line. May be they are to be taken objectively or esthetically, or I'm missing the point. Nonetheless, Salaam Bombay! deserves all the accolades it has received.
(Chiller room is the term in the movie for a Government run center for development of children, which is shown as no better than a prison.)