Mira Nair

Mira Nair (Punjabi: ; born 15 October 1957) is an Indian American filmmaker. She has received two prizes from the Cannes Film Festival and four from the Venice Film Festival, as well as nominations for an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards, a Golden Globe, and two César Awards.

Nair began her career making documentaries, but went on to make feature films. She usually directs independent drama films, which she also produces through her company Mirabai Films, and her films often touch on political themes or controversial topics. She made her feature-length directorial debut with Salaam Bombay! (1988), which received Academy Award, BAFTA Award, and Golden Globe Award nominations. Her next film, Mississippi Masala (1991), was nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Film.

Nair has directed films such as Monsoon Wedding (2001), Vanity Fair (2004), The Namesake (2006), and Queen of Katwe (2016). Monsoon Wedding made her the first female director to win the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best International Feature Film, and held the record for the highest-grossing Indian film in North America until 2017.

Born and raised in India, Nair moved to the U.S. to attend Harvard University, and was married to photographer Mitch Epstein from the early to late 1980s. She then lived for a few years in Uganda with her second husband, political scientist Mahmood Mamdani, but they later returned to the United States. Their son, Zohran Mamdani, has served as Mayor of New York City since 2026.

Early life

Mira Nair was born in Rourkela, India, on 15 October 1957, the daughter of social worker Praveen Nair and Indian Administrative Service officer Amrit Lal Nair. She has two older brothers named Vikram and Gautam. and is Hindu. The family name "Nayyar" was changed by her grandfather, although one of her uncles continues to use it.

Nair grew up in a "colonial-style bungalow, with [a] spacious veranda and terracotta-tiled floor<nowiki></nowiki>. 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 of Persian poetry and song, but he drove his children hard, insisting that they "spend their time usefully". Mira's father also argued frequently with her brothers, Vikram and Gautam. Looking back on her childhood, Mira felt that she was not seen as being as important as her brothers because she was a girl. In her own view now, this meant she did not have to deal with the same heavy pressure or constant watching that the boys had to face from their father. Since she felt she was overlooked, she believed it actually gave her the quiet space to just get on with the things she liked doing without anyone constantly telling her what to do. She looks at that lack of attention as a bit of a lucky break that let her follow her own path. where she developed a fondness for English literature.

In her teens, she taught herself to type and play the sitar; painted; wrote poetry and performed in local theatre, and was also an outstanding student. She graduated in 1979.

Career

Before she became a filmmaker, Nair was interested in acting. While in India, she performed in plays written by Badal Sircar, a Bengali 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 of Jocasta's speech from Seneca's Oedipus.<blockquote>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.</blockquote>

In an interview with Image 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."

Documentaries

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 titled Jama Masjid Street Journal. In the 18-minute film, Nair explored the streets of Old Delhi and had casual conversations with Indian locals, The protagonist, Ashok, slowly becomes estranged from not only his family, but also his Indian heritage. Nair directed So Far from India as a commentary on the life of an immigrant separated from his home and suffering cultural isolation. The film won Best Documentary at the American Film Festival in Wrocław, Poland and New York's Global Village Film Festival. 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.

Living in Cape 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 friend Sooni Taraporevala, and made a telemovie based on Abraham Verghese's book My Own Country: A Doctor's Story for Showtime. Nair also spent six weeks assisting children who lived in local townships to make films of their lives. Mitch Epstein was co-producer and production designer on the film. They struggled to get financing, but eventually Nair "managed to cajole completion cash out of a French company".

Nair and Taraporevala next worked together on the 1991 film Mississippi Masala, which told the story of Ugandan-born Indians (displaced by Idi Amin in 1972) in Mississippi. Their research for the film started in March 1989, and was their first visit to Africa. Nair met her second husband, Asian Ugandan academic Mahmood Mamdani, when she interviewed him in Nairobi after having read his book From Citizen to Refugee, about the expulsion of Asians. It was well received by critics, earned a standing ovation at the 1992 Sundance Film Festival, and won three awards at the Venice Film Festival.

Nair directed the 2002 television film, Hysterical Blindness for HBO. The film is a romance set 1987 starring Uma Thurman in the lead role. The made-for-TV movie would prove a success for both HBO and Thurman, with the latter receiving a Golden Globe for her acting in the film. Based on the book by Pulitzer Prize-winner Jhumpa 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 the Bollywood Movie Awards. Next she directed the Amelia Earhart biopic Amelia (2009), starring Hilary Swank and Richard Gere. The film predominantly received negative reviews. It was also a box-office bomb, grossing $19.6 million against a budget of $40 million.

In 2012, Nair directed The Reluctant Fundamentalist, a thriller based on the best-selling novel by Mohsin Hamid, starring Riz Ahmed, Kate Hudson, Liev Schreiber, and Kiefer Sutherland. It tells a post-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 2012 Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy to critical acclaim, and was released worldwide in early 2013. It did not do well at the box office.

Nair's 2016 film Queen of Katwe, a Disney production, starred Lupita Nyong'o and David Oyelowo, and was based on a biography of Ugandan chess prodigy Phiona Mutesi written by American author Tim Crothers. The film earned much acclaim. Nair's son Zohran Mamdani appears as an extra in the film, and one of his songs performed under his rapper pseudonym Young Cardamom, "#1 Spice", also features in the film.

Short films

Nair's short films include A Fork, a Spoon and a Knight, inspired by the Nelson Mandela quote, "Difficulties break some men but make others."

She contributed a segment to the anthology film 11'09"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.

Other titles include How Can It Be? (2008), Migration (2008), New York, I Love You (2009) and her collaboration with among others, Emir Kusturica and Guillermo Arriaga on the anthology film Words with Gods.

Other work

A long-time activist, Nair set up an annual film-makers' laboratory, Maisha Film Lab, in Kampala, Uganda. Since 2005, young directors in East Africa have been trained at the nonprofit facility with the motto that "If we don't tell our stories, no one else will". As of 2018 Maisha was building a school with architect Raul Pantaleo, winner of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture, and his company, Studio Tamassociati.

In 1998, Nair used the profits from Salaam Bombay! to create the Salaam Baalak Trust, which works with street children in India. A musical adaptation of Monsoon Wedding, directed by Nair, premiered at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre, running from 5 May to 16 July 2017. As of 2015, she lived in New York City, where she was an adjunct professor in the Film Division of the School of Arts for Columbia University in Manhattan. 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.

In July 2020, journalist Ellen Barry announced that her Pulitzer Prize-nominated story "The Jungle Prince of Delhi" about the "royal family of Oudh", published in The New York Times, would be adapted into a web series for Amazon Studios by Nair. In March 2021 it was announced that Nair would direct a ten-episode TV series for Disney+ reimagining the National Treasure series with a new cast.

Mirabai Films is a film production company founded by Mira Nair.

Personal life

thumb|Nair and Mamdani in the crowd of their son Zohran Mamdani's inauguration.

In 1977, Nair met her first husband, photographer Mitch Epstein, when taking photography classes at Harvard University.

On 29 March 1989, Nair met her second husband, Indo-Ugandan political scientist Mahmood Mamdani, in Nairobi, Kenya, while doing research for the film Mississippi Masala. She had read his book From Citizen to Refugee, about the expulsion of Asians. He became the Mayor of New York City on 1 January 2026.

Nair has been an enthusiastic yoga practitioner for decades; when making a film, she has the cast and crew start the day with a yoga session. 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 larger BDS Mov't." Nair was praised by PACBI, which said her decision to boycott Israel "helps to highlight the struggle against colonialism and apartheid."

Recognition and awards

thumb|Nair at the 2013 [[Zanzibar International Film Festival ]]

At the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards 1988, Nair was awarded the New Generation Award, a career achievement award, by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association.

In 2012, Nair was awarded India's third highest civilian award, the Padma Bhushan, by then president of India, Pratibha Patil.

Films

Many of Nair's films have won awards, including:

1988: Audience Award, Cannes Film Festival: Salaam Bombay!
1988: Golden Camera (Best First Film), Cannes Film Festival: Salaam Bombay!
1988: National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi: Salaam Bombay!
1988: National Board of Review Award for Top Foreign Films: Salaam Bombay!
1988: "Jury Prize", "Most Popular Film", and "Prize of the Ecumenical Jury" at Montreal World Film Festival: Salaam Bombay!
1991: Golden Osella (Best Original Screenplay), Venice Film Festival: Mississippi Masala (with Sooni Taraporevala)
2001: Laterna Magica Prize, Venice Film Festival: Monsoon Wedding
2007: "Golden Aphrodite" award, at Love is Folly International Film Festival (Bulgaria), for The Namesake
2012: "IFFI Centenary Award" for The Reluctant Fundamentalist

Many of her films have also been nominated for some significant awards; a selection of these follow.

1988: Runner-up (2nd to Wings of Desire) Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards, Best Foreign Film
1991: Golden Lion (Best Film), Venice Film Festival: Mississippi Masala
1993: Independent Spirit Award for Best Feature: Mississippi Masala
1996: Golden Seashell, San Sebastián International Film Festival: Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love
2001: Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film: Monsoon Wedding
2002: BAFTA Award for Best Film Not in the English Language: Monsoon Wedding
2003: Golden Star, International Film Festival of Marrakech: Hysterical Blindness
2004: Golden Lion (Best Film), Venice Film Festival: Vanity Fair
2007: Gotham Award for Best Film: The Namesake

Filmography

Feature fiction films

{| class="wikitable"

!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

|won- Munich International Film Festival

|2016

|Queen of Katwe

|won- Africa Movie Academy Awards

|TBA

|Amri

|Post-production

Documentary films

{| class="wikitable"

!Year

!Title

!Notes (Awards)

|1979

|Jama Street Masjid Journal

|Film thesis at Harvard

|1982

|So Far From India

|Best Documentary at American 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 the Blue Ribbon

|1987

|Children of a Desired Sex

|2022

|National Treasure: Edge of History

| Episode "I'm a Ghost"

Footnotes

References

External links