5 Works From Mira Nair’s Filmography To Add To Your Watchlist

There are filmmakers and then there are storytellers — those who reshape identities and represent cultures without flattening them into palatable tropes for audiences. One such storyteller is Indian filmmaker Mira Nair; now widely known as New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s mother. An accomplished independent director and producer, she carved her name in records decades before her son made history as the first Muslim and socialist elected as mayor in New York City. Nair’s first feature film, Salaam Bombay!, was the second Indian film ever to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, now known as the Best International Feature Film.

Born in India, Nair studied at Delhi University, and later moved to the U.S. to attend Harvard University — her move becoming a catalyst in her nuanced depiction of diaspora in films. Nair’s works are a very realistic portrayal of the world, one that can only be brought about by complete immersion and intentional observation; be it hearty Punjabi weddings in India or the underrepresented South Asian-Ugandan diaspora. Even though some of her films are thirty-odd years old now, they remain deeply modern and forward in their approach, offering up South Asian representation that’s beautifully layered and complex. Below, EnVi has rounded up five works from Nair’s filmography you should add to your watchlist!

Salaam Bombay! (1988)

In Nair’s feature film debut, the streets of Mumbai become the most powerful movie set. The movie follows the life of abandoned children in the city. We see a young boy named Krishna (Shafiq Syed), new to the city, earn a living at a roadside tea stall to return home. Along the way, he meets a myriad of characters — a drug addict named Chillum (Raghuvir Yadav); Baba (Nana Patekar), who runs the local drug trade; his wife Rekha (Anita Kanwar), who is a sex worker; and Sola Saal (Chanda Sharma), a young girl trapped in a brothel; among many others. Having immersed herself in the street life of Bombay, Nair was able to embed reality into the movie, giving it the feel of a documentary. Her portrayal of the lives of these street kids is realistic and empathetic but never pretentious or condescending.

Mississippi Masala (1991)

Mina (Sarita Choudhury), a young Indian woman, immigrates to the U.S. with her family after Asians are expelled from Uganda by dictator Idi Amin. There, she meets Demetrius (Denzel Washington), a carpet cleaner living in Mississippi, and her eventual star-crossed love interest. From a memorable first encounter to chemistry that’s palpable, the movie follows their love story, which thrives despite racial prejudices and the complexities of interracial romance.

Monsoon Wedding (2001)

There’s nothing that compares to the chaos of a Punjabi wedding — from planning it to rehearsing for it to the actual wedding day — and Nair captures it with marked authenticity. Song, dance, comedy, romance, tragedy, and torrential rain all amalgamate into a story with a lot of heart behind it. The film portrays an India on the precipice of globalization and the changing dynamics of relationships it brings — romantic, familial, and everything in between. Culture, tradition, love, and monsoon blooms sit at the heart of this movie, one that established Nair’s brilliance with a mainstream audience.

The Namesake (2006)

An adaptation of Jhumpa Lahiri’s novel, The Namesake is a movie that lingers with you long after it ends. Gogol Ganguli, played by Kal Penn, is named after the Russian writer Nikolai Gogo. This becomes the source of his identity crisis, aided by his experiences as an American-born Indian. Nair deeply explores his alienation from his culture, his efforts of assimilation into American life, and later the reclamation of his Bengali identity. Also central to the story is the immigrant experience of Gogol’s parents, Ashoke (Irrfan Khan) and Ashima (Tabu), who journey from Kolkata to New York. The movie is a story of grief and a realistic portrayal of the tensions of immigrant identities, that is as relevant today as it was 20 years ago. 

A Suitable Boy (2020)

Mira Nair’s first foray into web series came with an adaptation of Vikram Seth’s novel of the same name, one of the longest novels written in English. Set in post-Independence India, the narrative follows Lata (Tanya Maniktala), faced with the possibility of leading a life she didn’t choose by ways of a traditionally arranged marriage. The secondary plot explores a tantalizing, forbidden romance between Maan (Ishaan Khatter) and the aging courtesan singer Saeeda (Tabu). It’s also a story of India, a burgeoning democracy, struggling between tradition and modernity — a theme that Nair seems to have fine-tuned over the years.

Interested in more stories on Bollywood? Check out our piece on Shah Rukh Khan’s filmography here!