Born in a small Indian town and educated at Harvard, Mira Nair describes her life as having been spent "between two worlds". Primarily concerned with telling the stories of people on the margins of society, she has made four nonfiction films examining aspects of Indian life, winning best documentary prize at the American Film Festival for "India Cabaret" (1985), a controversial portrait of strippers in a Bombay nightclub.

Nair's highly acclaimed first feature, "Salaam Bombay!" (1988), was a riveting and uncompromising tale of urban street life in the tradition of Bunuel's "Los Olvidados" and