Staying away from Hollywood, Mira Nair has traveled the world to raise money for her films.
Mississippi Masala was made for $7 million, financed by British TV’s Channel 4 and other sources. More original than Nair’s debut, Salaam Bombay!, the film introduced a new subject, the transplanted Indian population in the South, contributing to the relevant issue of what is home.
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The story begins in Uganda, in 1972, when the monstrous Idi Amin expelled Indians from the country. Jay (Roshan Seth), a prominent lawyer in Uganda, his wife Kinnu (Sharmila Tagore) and daughter Mina (Sarita Choudhury)and are forced to leave. Jay is told by his black nationalist friend: “Africa is for Africans.” His loss is visually accentuated by the lushness of the African countryside and the vibrancy of its colors–a staple of all of Nair’s work.
A furor erupts when Mina falls in love with Demetrius (Denzel Washington), a black who runs a carpet-cleaning business. Their romance becomes the film’s Romeo and Juliet centerpiece, overshadowing the more interesting context. Indeed, Nair neglects broader issues–there’s no real sense of how the exiled Indians mix with each other or with the black community.
Nair shows considerable skills in telling a hot-spiced romance (masala is an Indian word for a mix of hot spices), and while the mise-en-scene is often lacking, the film remains consistently engaging due to its subject matter and the performances of the two leads.
When the affair is disclosed, it sparks a controversy, challenging the biases and prejudices of both Indian and black communities. Up until then, the Indians co-existed in sort of a superficial harmony with the blacks.
Nair, however, doesn’t deal with an obvious irony: Many Indians grew up in Uganda and had no contact with India, but they still identify themselves as Indian. In Mississippi, they are exiles twice removed–their exile from a homeland they never really knew should connect them to the black people. Yet a color-caste system is evident: Lighter-skinned than the blacks, the Indians abhor the notion of interracial romance. Jay’s resentment of Demetrius goes back to a painful split from his best friend in Uganda. It takes one more visit for Jay to finally release himself from inner exile.
Unlike Spike Lee’s 1991 Jungle Fever, which also dealt with interracial romance, Nair’s treatment is non-judgmental, taking neither a moral ground nor faulting any group with racism. The soundtrack, a mixture of African, Indian and blues music, reinforces the film’s title and themes.
Released at a time when national boundaries in Europe and other regions were falling apart and the definition of home changing, Mississippi Masala was a timely movie about displacement, distorted memories, and frail identities. Nair seems to imply that, despite separatism, the U.S. still remains one of the few societies where different races can really co-exist.
Highlight:
The movie features a memorable nocturnal phone conversation that’s scorchingly sexy and suffused with physical longing.
Directed by Mira Nair
Written by Sooni Taraporevala
Produced by Mira Nair, Studio Canal Souss
Cinematography Edward Lachman
Edited by Roberto Silvi
Music by L. Subramaniam
Production company: Mirabai Films
Distributed by The Samuel Goldwyn Company (US)
Release date: September 18, 1991
Running time: 118 minutes
Budget $5 million
Box office $7,332,515