Mira Nair | |
|---|---|
 Nair at the 2008 IIFW Masterclass Directors Meet | |
| Born | (1957-10-15)15 October 1957 (age 68) Rourkela, Orissa, India |
| Alma mater | Harvard University (BA) |
| Occupation |
|
| Years active | 1986–present |
| Spouses | |
| Children | Zohran Mamdani |
| Relatives | Rama Duwaji (daughter-in-law) |
| Awards |
|
Mira Nair (IAST:Mīrā Nāyar; born 15 October 1957) is an Indian-American filmmaker. She is known for directing independent dramas through her production companyMirabai Films. She began her career making documentaries, but went on to create feature films. She is well known for films that sometimes touch on political themes or controversial topics such as how racial tension and prejudice are depicted inMississippi Masala. She has received two prizes from theCannes Film Festival and four prizes from theVenice Film Festival as well as nominations for twoBAFTA Awards and twoCésar Awards. Her films have also received twoAcademy Award nominations.
Nair made her feature film debut directing the drama filmSalaam Bombay! (1988), which received nominations for theAcademy Award,BAFTA Award, andGolden Globe Award for Best International Feature Film. Her next film was the romantic dramaMississippi Masala (1991), for which she was nominated for theIndependent Spirit Award for Best Film.
She directed the comedy-dramaMonsoon Wedding (2001), which won theGolden Lion at the58th Venice International Film Festival; it was also nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best International Feature Film.
She grew up in India and later moved to theUnited States, where she attendedHarvard University. She lived inUganda with her husband for a few years, but currently resides in theU.S. She is married toMahmood Mamdani and is the mother ofZohran Mamdani, themayor-elect of New York City.
Mira Nair's 1991 filmMississippi Masala earned $7.3 million, won Best Original Screenplay at Venice, and led her to meet her future husband, political scientistMahmood Mamdani. Her biggest breakthrough came withMonsoon Wedding, made for about $1.5 million and ultimately grossing over $30 million worldwide; its $13.9 million U.S. gross set aNorth American record for an Indian film until 2017, and it won her the Golden Lion—the first for a woman director. Celebrated by critics like Roger Ebert, the film cemented Nair's reputation for crossing cultural boundaries. She went on to direct works such asVanity Fair,The Namesake, and Disney'sQueen of Katwe (2016), which earned a 94% Rotten Tomatoes rating and featured her son, Zohran Mamdani—nowNew York City's mayor-elect—as music supervisor.[1]
Mira Nair was born on 15 October 1957,[2][3][4] inRourkela,Orissa (now Odisha), India,[5][6] the youngest of three children, and the only girl.[7]
Her father, Amrit Lal Nair, was an officer of theIndian Administrative Service, and her mother, Praveen Nair, was a social worker.[8][9][5] Her family is ofPunjabi origin with roots inDelhi,[10][11] and isHindu.[12] The family name "Nayyar" was changed by her grandfather, although one of her uncles continues to use it.[13][14]
Nair grew up in a "colonial-style bungalow, with [a] spacious veranda and terracotta-tiled floor". Her father, Amrit, was a remote character, who was "not much fun", and her parents later (around 1990) separated, after years of tension and fighting. Nair appreciated Amrit's love ofPersian poetry and song, but he drove his children hard, insisting that they "spend their time usefully". He also argued with her brothers, Vikram and Gautam, a lot, but being a girl, Mira was regarded as less important, and was allowed to just get on with doing what interested her.[15] Praveen had a strong influence on the young Mira, particularly her independence, confidence, fearlessness, and social awareness.[15] Nair did not directly challenge her father in the home, but in her early documentary films she attacked many of his attitudes, such as the hypocrisy of male ideas about "virtue" inIndia Cabaret (1985), and the Indian custom by which female fetuses were often aborted, inChildren of Desired Sex (1987).[15]
Nair first attended Ispat English Medium School in Rourkela, from ages 7 to 10, between 1964 and 1967.[8] Her family moved toBhubaneswar, where she lived until age 18. She attended an English-medium high school atLoreto Convent, Tara Hall inKaithu, Shimla,[16] where she developed a fondness for English literature.[citation needed]
In her teens, she taught herself to type and play thesitar; painted; wrote poetry and performed in local theatre, and was also an outstanding student.[15]
She studied atMiranda House—a college for women atDelhi University—where she majored in sociology.[a] While at university, she belonged to an amateur drama company inDelhi. There she worked with Indian theatre directorBarry John.[17] At university she performed inEquus,Habeas Corpus, and asCleopatra in Shakespeare'sAntony and Cleopatra.[15] She also did political street theatre inCalcutta with theBengali playwrightBadal Sircar.[15]
After turning down the offer of a full scholarship toCambridge University in England[9] (later saying "I had a chip on my shoulder about the Brits") in 1976,[15] aged 19, she moved to the US to attendHarvard University on a scholarship.[17][5] She enjoyed acting and continued to perform throughout her first year at Harvard. Heading toNew York City during the summer break, she worked with American dramatistJoseph Chaikin and metJudith Malina andJulian Beck, who foundedThe Living Theatre.[15]
She was admitted to the Department of Visual and Environmental Studies based on her photographic submission, but then dropped photography, preferring filmmaking. She attended the introductory photography course that was being taught by her future first husband,Mitch Epstein, in 1977, and she did some work for him on his freelance assignments.[15] She graduated in 1979.[18] Her friend and future collaboratorSooni Taraporevala was a classmate at Harvard.[15]
Before she became a filmmaker, Nair was interested in acting. While in India, she performed in plays written byBadal Sircar, aBengali dramatist and theatre director. While she studied film at Harvard, Nair also became involved in the theatre program. She won a Boylston Prize for her performance ofJocasta's speech fromSeneca'sOedipus.[7]
In 2002 Nair was interviewed by American theatre critic and biographerJohn Lahr, in which she shared much about her early life and career to this point.[15]
In a 2004 interview with FF2 Media's Jan Huttner, Nair commented on her filmmaking process:[19]
It's all in how I do it. Keeping the bums on the seats is very important to me. It requires that ineffable thing called rhythm and balance in movie-making. Foils have to be created, counter-weights. From the intimacy, let's say, of a love scene to the visceral, jugular quality of war. That shift is something in the editing, how one cuts from the intimate to the epic that keeps you there waiting. The energy propels you.
In an interview withImage Journal in 2017, Nair said that she had chosen directing over any other art form because it was collaborative. She said, "That's why I am neither a photographer nor writer, I like to work with people, and my strength, if any, is that. Working with life."[20]
In her early years, Nair primarily made documentaries in which she explored Indian cultural traditions. For her film thesis at Harvard, between 1978 and 1979, she produced a black-and-white film titledJama Masjid Street Journal. In the 18-minute film, Nair explored the streets ofOld Delhi and had casual conversations with Indian locals,[17] using aBolex camera. The film's name derives from a Muslim community near theJama Masjid, a large mosque in Old Delhi.[15]
After Nair graduated and moved to New York, American filmmakerD. A. Pennebaker, a pioneer of thecinéma vérité style of documentary filmmaking, likedJama Masjid Street Journal and helped Nair secure a grant for her next film.[15] Her second documentary,So Far from India (1982), was a 52-minute film that follows an Indian newspaper dealer living in the subways of New York. His pregnant wife waits for him to return home to India.[21] The protagonist, Ashok, slowly becomes estranged from not only his family, but also his Indian heritage. Nair directedSo Far from India as a commentary on the life of an immigrant separated from his home and suffering cultural isolation.[22] The film won Best Documentary at theAmerican Film Festival inWrocław, Poland and New York's Global Village Film Festival.[17]
Her third documentary,India Cabaret, withcinematography by her husbandMitch Epstein, opened the inauguralIndian International Film Festival, inHyderabad, in 1985. The film was very well received at the festival.[15] It portrays the exploitation of female strippers inBombay, and follows a customer who regularly visits a local strip club while his wife stays at home.[17] Nair raised roughly $130,000 for the project. The 59-minute film was shot over a span of two months.India Cabaret was widely criticized, primarily by Indian men, who objected to the portrayal of women working as strippers or those who are forced to marry. In New York some opponents tried to block release of the film onWNET.[22] The film was bought byPBS, but then rejected byChannel 13, the network's New York affiliate.[15] Nair's family,[7] especially her father, also criticized it. He said she should not have positively portrayed these women. Nair createdIndia Cabaret to reveal the prejudice shown towards sex workers.[22] Some feminists criticized her for filming these women through themale gaze, due to the sexual nature of the strip clubs. The film received several awards, including theBlue Ribbon award and two awards for Best Documentary.[22]
Children of a Desired Sex (1987) was the fourth documentary Nair directed. Made forCanadian television, this film explored howamniocentesis was being used to determine the sex of fetuses.[23] Additionally, the premise of the film seeks to bring to light the experiences of women who live in a society where there is a large preference towards giving birth to male children.[22] Despite how controversial this topic may be, Nair highlighted the struggle and the dilemma these women go through.[24]
Living inCape Town, South Africa, for around three years while her second husband took up a post at the university there, Nair worked on scripts with her friendSooni Taraporevala, and made a telemovie based onAbraham Verghese's bookMy Own Country: A Doctor's Story forShowtime.[15][24] The film tells the story of Dr Verghese's real-life experiences in treatingHIV/AIDS patients inEast Tennessee.[25] Nair also spent six weeks assisting children who lived in localtownships to make films of their lives.[15]
In 2001, withThe Laughing Club of India, she exploredyoga based on laughter. Its founder, Madan Kararia, spoke of the club's history and the growth of laughing clubs across the country, and subsequently the world. The documentary included testimonials from members of the laughter clubs who described how the practice had improved or changed their lives. Its featured segments included a group of workers in an electrical products factory inMumbai who took time off to laugh during their coffee break.[7][15]
In June 1987, with Taraporevala, Nair researched and co-wroteSalaam Bombay!, which turned out to be an enormous and exhausting undertaking.[15] Nair sought out realstreet children to more authentically portray the lives of children who survived in the streets and were deprived of a true childhood.[7][26] Mitch Epstein was co-producer andproduction designer on the film. They struggled to get financing, but eventually Nair "managed to cajole completion cash out of a French company".[15] On 19 May 1988, three days after Nair had finished cutting the film, it had its world première at the closing gala at the1988 Cannes Film Festival. It earned a 15-minute standing ovation, and won theCaméra d'Or (the first Indian film to do so)[15] and thePrix du public (Audience Prize). It was nominated at the 1989Academy Awards forBest Foreign Language Film. Although it did not do well at thebox office, it won 23 international awards.[27]
Nair and Taraporevala next worked together on the 1991 filmMississippi Masala, which told the story ofUgandan-born Indians (displaced by Idi Amin in 1972) inMississippi. Their research for the film started in March 1989, and was their first visit to Africa. Nair met her second husband, Asian Ugandan academicMahmood Mamdani, when she interviewed him inNairobi after having read his bookFrom Citizen to Refugee, about the expulsion of Asians.[15] The film centers on a carpet-cleaner business owner (Denzel Washington) who falls in love with the daughter (Sarita Choudhury) of one of his Indian clients. The film revealed the prejudice in black and Indian communities.Mississippi Masala was heavily inspired by the history of Indian emigrants in Uganda. Nair was inspired by the fact that Ugandan-born Indians often aligned themselves more with white people, especially due to the worse treatment Black Ugandans endured.[28] It was well received by critics, earned a standing ovation at the 1992Sundance Film Festival, and won three awards at theVenice Film Festival.[17]
Her next feature,The Perez Family (1995) was not a success. The producer said that it had "too much plot", and a critic wrote, "It looks like a musical after all the songs have been cut out."[15] The next one,Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love (1996), which Nair later called "an aberration", also bombed.[15] In that year, the family moved to South Africa for three years, where her career "stagnated".[15]
Monsoon Wedding, written bySabrina Dhawan, was filmed over only 30 days, using only a small crew, including some of Nair's acquaintances and relatives. Released in 2001, the film told the story of an IndianPunjabi wedding.[24] In the end, the film grossed over $30 million worldwide. The film was awarded theGolden Lion award at theVenice Film Festival, making Nair the first female recipient of the award.[29]
Nair directed the 2002television film,Hysterical Blindness forHBO. The film is a romance set 1987 starringUma Thurman in the lead role. The made-for-TV movie would prove a success for both HBO and Thurman, with the latter receiving aGolden Globe for her acting in the film.[24] This was followed by an adaptation ofWilliam Makepeace Thackeray's epicVanity Fair (2004).[19]
In 2005, Nair was asked to directHarry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, but turned it down to work onThe Namesake, reportedly after her sonZohran persuaded her that she was the only one who could direct the latter.[21][30] Based on the book byPulitzer Prize-winnerJhumpa Lahiri, Sooni Taraporevala's screenplay follows the son of Indian immigrants who wants to fit in with New York City society, but struggles to get away from his family's traditional ways. The film was presented with the Dartmouth Film Award and was also honored with the Pride of India award at theBollywood Movie Awards.[31][32] Next she directed theAmelia Earhart biopicAmelia (2009), starringHilary Swank andRichard Gere.[33] The film predominantly received negative reviews.[34][35] It was also abox-office bomb, grossing $19.6 million against a budget of $40 million.[36]
In 2012, Nair directedThe Reluctant Fundamentalist, a thriller based on the best-selling novel byMohsin Hamid, starringRiz Ahmed,Kate Hudson,Liev Schreiber, andKiefer Sutherland. It tells apost-9/11 story about the impact of the terrorist attacks on one Pakistani man and his treatment by Americans in reaction to them. It opened the 2012Venice Film Festival inVenice, Italy to critical acclaim, and was released worldwide in early 2013. It did not do well at the box office.[37][38][39]
Nair's 2016 filmQueen of Katwe, aDisney production, starredLupita Nyong'o andDavid Oyelowo, and was based on a biography of Ugandan chess prodigyPhiona Mutesi[40] written by American authorTim Crothers. The film earned much acclaim.[26] It had a budget of $15 million and grossed $10.4 million.[41][42] Nair's sonZohran Mamdani appears as an extra in the film, and one of his songs performed under hisrapper pseudonym Young Cardamom, "#1 Spice", also features in the film.[26]
A book about Mira Nair's films was published 2018 byAmardeep SinghThe Films of Mira Nair - Diaspora vérité.[43] University Press of Mississippi, ISBN 9781496821164
Nair'sshort films includeA Fork, a Spoon and a Knight, inspired by theNelson Mandela quote, "Difficulties break some men but make others."
She contributed a segment to theanthology film11'09"01 September 11 (2002) in which 11 filmmakers reacted to the terrorist attack on New York on 11 September 2001. Her film dramatises a true story, of a New York Pakistani family whose son,Mohammad Salman Hamdani, missing after the event, was suspected by police and reported by press as being one of the terrorists. When his body was eventually found months later, it turned out that he had rushed to the scene to help people escape the wreckage, and was killed himself.[44]
Other titles includeHow Can It Be? (2008),Migration (2008),New York, I Love You (2009) and her collaboration with among others,Emir Kusturica andGuillermo Arriaga on the anthology filmWords with Gods.[citation needed]
A long-time activist, Nair set up an annual film-makers' laboratory,Maisha Film Lab, inKampala, Uganda. Since 2005, young directors inEast Africa have been trained at the nonprofit facility with the motto that "If we don't tell our stories, no one else will".[45] As of 2018 Maisha was building a school with architect Raul Pantaleo, winner of theAga Khan Award for Architecture, and his company, Studio Tamassociati.[46]
In 1998, Nair used the profits fromSalaam Bombay! to create theSalaam Baalak Trust, which works withstreet children in India.[47] A musical adaptation ofMonsoon Wedding, directed by Nair, premiered at theBerkeley Repertory Theatre, running from 5 May to 16 July 2017.[48][49] As of 2015, she lived inNew York City, where she was an adjunct professor in the Film Division of the School of Arts forColumbia University inManhattan. The university had a collaboration with Nair's Maisha Film Lab, and offered opportunities for international students to work together and share their interests in film-making.[50]
In July 2020, journalistEllen Barry announced that herPulitzer Prize-nominated story "The Jungle Prince of Delhi" about the "royal family of Oudh", published inThe New York Times, would be adapted into a web series forAmazon Studios by Nair.[51][52] In March 2021 it was announced that Nair would direct a ten-episode TV series forDisney+ reimagining theNational Treasure series with a new cast.[53]
In 1977, Nair met her first husband, photographerMitch Epstein, when taking photography classes at Harvard University.[7] He was her lecturer, and they married in 1981 in India, in atraditional Punjabi wedding, despite Epstein being "a Jewish boy fromHolyoke, Massachusetts". They were together for 12 years, of which they were married for 8. They divorced around 1989.[15]
On 29 March 1989, Nair met her second husband,Indo-Ugandan political scientistMahmood Mamdani, in Nairobi, Kenya, while doing research for the filmMississippi Masala. She had read his bookFrom Citizen to Refugee, about the expulsion of Asians.[15] Nair moved in with Mamdani on campus atMakerere University, where he was teaching. They married in 1991, and their son,Zohran Mamdani, was born inKampala, Uganda, in the same year.[15] In 1996 the family moved toCape Town, South Africa, for Mahmood to take up an appointment as head of the African studies program at theUniversity of Cape Town, where they lived for around three years.[15]
In 2020, her son, Zohran Mamdani, won a seat representingAstoria, Queens, in theNew York State Assembly.[54][55] He became the mayor-elect of New York City on 5 November 2025.[56]
She has two older brothers, Vikram and Gautam.[15]
Nair has been an enthusiasticyoga practitioner for decades; when making a film, she has the cast and crew start the day with a yoga session.[10]
In July 2013, Nair declined an invitation to theHaifa International Film Festival as a "guest of honor" to protest Israel's policies towardPalestine.[57][58] In posts on Twitter, Nair wrote: "I will go to Israel when the walls come down. I will go to Israel when occupation is gone...I will go to Israel when the state does not privilege one religion over another. I will go to Israel when Apartheid is over. I stand w/ Palestine for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) & the largerBDS Mov't."[59] Nair was praised by PACBI, which said her decision to boycott Israel "helps to highlight the struggle against colonialism and apartheid."[60]
At theLos Angeles Film Critics Association Awards 1988, Nair was awarded the New Generation Award, a career achievement award, by theLos Angeles Film Critics Association.[61]
In 2012, Nair was awarded India's third highest civilian award, thePadma Bhushan, by then president of India,Pratibha Patil.[62][63]
Many of Nair's films have won awards, including:
Many of her films have also been nominated for some significant awards; a selection of these follow.
| Year | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1988 | Salaam Bombay! | Nominated -Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film Nominated -BAFTA Award for Best Film Not in the English Language Nominated -Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film Nominated -Filmfare Award for Best Director |
| 1991 | Mississippi Masala | Nominated -Independent Spirit Award for Best Film |
| 1995 | The Perez Family | |
| 1996 | Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love | |
| 1998 | My Own Country | Made for television (Showtime) |
| 2001 | Monsoon Wedding | Winner -Golden Lion Nominated -BAFTA Award for Best Film Not in the English Language Nominated -Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film |
| 2002 | Hysterical Blindness | Made for television (HBO) |
| 2004 | Vanity Fair | |
| 2006 | The Namesake | |
| 2009 | Amelia | |
| 2012 | The Reluctant Fundamentalist | |
| 2016 | Queen of Katwe |
| Year | Title | Notes (Awards) |
|---|---|---|
| 1979 | Jama Street Masjid Journal | Film thesis at Harvard |
| 1982 | So Far From India | Best Documentary atAmerican Film Festival Best Documentary at New York's Global Village Film Festival |
| 1984 | India Cabaret | Best Documentary at New York's Global Village Film Festival Awarded theBlue Ribbon |
| 1987 | Children of a Desired Sex | [23] |
| 2001 | The Laughing Club of India | [7] |
| Year | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1993 | The Day the Mercedes Became a Hat | |
| 2002 | India | Segment of11'9"01 September 11 |
| 2007 | Migration.. | Segment ofAIDS Jaago |
| 2008 | Kosher Vegetarian | Segment ofNew York, I Love You |
| 2008 | How can it be? | Segment of8 |
| 2014 | God Room | Segment ofWords with Gods |
| Year | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | A Suitable Boy | 5 episodes[78] |
| 2022 | National Treasure: Edge of History | Episode "I'm a Ghost" |
{{cite web}}:Check|url= value (help)...said she was overwhelmed to be in the city [[[Kolkata]]] she calls home. 'I was born in Rourkela but summers meant holidays in Kolkata's Cornfield road and Alipore'.
Nair herself comes from a Hindu family, while her husband is Muslim.
Published in the print edition of the December 9, 2002, issue.
