LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Mira Nair: Mississippi Masala
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Mira Nair (Mississippi Masala, Salaam Bombay) presents a charming, funny and touching look at the conflict between modern relationships and family traditions. The scattered members of an Indian family gather in New Delhi for an arranged marriage ceremony--an event complicated by past relationships, family secrets, cross-cultural lifestyles, and the weather. Nair fuses the loose, ensemble feel of an Altman film with a touch of Bollywood spectacle. "...one of those joyous films that leaps over national boundaries and celebrates universal human nature" (Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times). DVD in English, Punjabi and Hindi, with English subtitles; India/USA, 2001, 114 mins.
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In 1991 Mira Nair shot her film “Mississippi Masala” for Hollywood in Uganda and Mississippi. In it she tells the story of Indian immigrants in the American South who were expelled from Uganda in 1972 and must now struggle with the prejudices of experienced and reproduced racism. The daughter’s love affair with a black man brings to light all aspects of a conflict that is depicted ironically and treated seriously. Roger Ebert put it this way: “Of course it was racism that first took the Indians to Africa, where they built railroads, and racism was the reason they were thrown out again. And racism brought the Africans to America. But the fact of having been the victim of others’ racism does not make anyone immune to the prejudices fostered in their own hearts.”
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In 1988, Nair's debut feature, Salaam Bombay!, was nominated for an Academy Award. Nair's next film, Mississippi Masala, starring Denzel Washington and Sarita Choudhury, won three awards at the Venice Film Festival. In the summer of 2000, Nair shot Monsoon Wedding in 30 days. The film opened to tremendous critical acclaim and was a commercial hit internationally, as well as winning the coveted Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 2002. Nair's next film, Hysterical Blindness, gave HBO its highest original film ratings in three years and starred Uma Thurman, Juliette Lewis, Gena Rowlands, and Ben Gazarra. In May 2003, Nair directed the Focus Features production of the William Thackeray classic, Vanity Fair starring Reese Witherspoon.
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Now based in New York City, India-born Nair first made her mark directing documentary films such as India Cabaret (1985), a study of female strippers in Bombay that won Best Documentary at the American Film Festival. Her feature film Salaam Bombay! (1987) was nominated for an Oscar and won other awards. Her recent work includes Mississippi Masala (1991), The Perez Family (1995), Kama Sutra (1997), Monsoon Wedding (2001), and Vanity Fair (2004). She directed the film of Jhumpa Lahiri's novel The Namesake (2006).
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Born in India, Nair came to the United States to pursue an advanced degree in sociology at Harvard, and only picked up a movie camera as a way of documenting her subjects. For her graduate thesis, Nair made a documentary about a Muslim community in the U.S., and continued exploring cross-cultural themes in subsequent films. Soon, she crossed the line into fiction, first with "Salaam Bombay," and next with "Mississippi Masala," an interracial romance set in the American South.
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Nair was born in India, in Bhubaneshwar, Orissa, but eventually began studied sociology and cinéma vérité documentary filmmaking at Harvard University before coming to international prominence with films like Salaam Bombay! (1988), Missisippi Masala (1991), and Monsoon Wedding (2001), films noted for their spirited takes on social issues facing ethnic cultures, told with strong visuals and compelling performances. For several years, she lived in South Africa (where she is currently starting an annual young filmmaker's lab called Maisha) and is quick to present herself as an international filmmaker rather than a strictly Indian voice.
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Mississippi Masala