| Photos (see all 16 | slideshow) |
| Shafiq Syed | ... | Krishna / Chaipau | |
| Hansa Vithal | ... | Manju Golub | |
| Chanda Sharma | ... | Sola Saal | |
| Raghuvir Yadav | ... | Chillum (as Raghubir Yadav) | |
| Anita Kanwar | ... | Rekha Golub (as Aneeta Kanwar) | |
| Nana Patekar | ... | Baba Golub | |
| Anjaan | ... | Child at the circus | |
| Amrit Patel | ... | Circus Boss | |
| Murari Sharma | ... | Ticket Seller | |
| Ram Moorti | ... | Mad Man | |
| Sarfuddin Qureshi | ... | Koyla (as Sarfuddin Quarassi) | |
| Raju Barnad | ... | Keera | |
| Irshad Hashmi | |||
| Mohanraj Babu | ... | Salim | |
| Chandrashekhar Naidu | ... | Chungal | |
| Krishna Thapa | (as Kishan Thapa) | ||
| Shaukat Azmi | ... | Bordal owner | |
| Haneef Zahoor | |||
| Jamila | ... | Woman at the bordal | |
| Ramesh Rai | ... | Barber | |
| Shaukat H. Inamdar | |||
| Irrfan Khan | ... | Letter writer | |
| Neil Gettinger | ... | Uncle Sam | |
| Yunus Parvez | |||
| Habib Azmi | ... | Ganga smoker | |
| Ramesh Goyal | (as Ramesh Gohil) | ||
| Sanjana Kapoor | ... | Western Journalist (as Sanjna Kapoor) | |
| Biswadeep Chatterjee | |||
| Ameer | (as Ameer Bhai) | ||
| Ajju Kasam | |||
| Double Battery Stafford | ... | Woman at the cinema | |
| Rana Singh | ... | Old man at the cinema | |
| Ali | (as Ali Bhai) | ||
| Dinshaw Daji | |||
| Jayant Joshi | |||
| Prashant Jaiswal | ... | Wedding Singer | |
| Joyce Barneto | ... | Bride | |
| Hassan Kutty | ... | Spouse | |
| Preshit Shringarpure | |||
| B.D. Sharma | |||
| Mohammed Ali | |||
| Dilip Das | |||
| Alfred Anthony | |||
| Ramesh Deshavani | |||
| Anjan Srivastav | (as Anjan Srivastava) | ||
| Eric Paymaster | |||
| Sulabha Deshpande | ... | Social Worker at Juvenile Centre (as Sulbha Deshpande) | |
| Mohan Tantaru | |||
| Sheikh Haroon |
Directed by | |||
| Mira Nair | |||
Writing credits(in alphabetical order) | ||
| Mira Nair | story | |
| Sooni Taraporevala | screenplay | |
| Sooni Taraporevala | story | |
Produced by | |||
| Gabriel Auer | .... | executive producer | |
| Mira Nair | .... | producer | |
Original Music by | |||
| L. Subramaniam | |||
Cinematography by | |||
| Sandi Sissel | |||
Film Editing by | |||
| Barry Alexander Brown | |||
Casting by | |||
| Hassan Kutty | |||
Production Design by | |||
| Mitch Epstein | |||
Second Unit Director or Assistant Director | |||
| Hassan Kutty | .... | first assistant director | |
Sound Department | |||
| Margaret Crimmins | .... | supervising sound editor | |
| Jonathan Liebling | .... | foley artist | |
| Mary Ellen Porto | .... | sound editor | |
Editorial Department | |||
| Tula Goenka | .... | assistant editor | |
Music Department | |||
| Emil Richards | .... | musician: percussion | |
| L. Subramaniam | .... | conductor | |
| L. Subramaniam | .... | music arranger | |
| L. Subramaniam | .... | musician: violin | |
| Ernie Watts | .... | musician: horns | |
| Jerry Watts Jr. | .... | musician: bass | |
Thanks | |||
| Jehangir Choudhary | .... | special thanks | |
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Like the 'Square Circle' which came after it, Mira Nair's film is a wonderful counterpoint to traditional Bollywood cinema, depicting issues that many in India would like conveniently swept under the carpet. Filled with humanity and compassion, the film does have a parallel with Bollywood dramas as it too is about 'escapism'. However, the story shows how these dreams are illusory; the silent 'Sweet Sixteen' showing her romantic photograph - a pretence - as her brothel madam hawks her virginity to a prospective buyer; Krishna's hopes of being forgiven and returning home to his family; the prostitute Rekha's hopes of a 'family life' with the pimp Baba.
I particularly liked the way Nair paralleled childhood innocence with adult cynicism and cruelty. The final scene where Krishna the teaboy weeps for his lost innocence and at what he has become is very moving; like the drug-addict Chillum, he has 'forgotten' how he first came to Bombay and now only sees a life of despair and suffering.