Mira Nair’s Filmography: Top Films by Filmmaker Mira Nair

Mira Nair is a world-renowned Indian-American film director and producer. Born and raised in Rourkela, India, Mira went on to study at Delhi and Harvard universities. She began her career as a stage actor in India before moving to Cambridge, Massachusetts, where she transitioned to documentary films at 20 years old, with films such as So Far from India (1983) and Children of a Desired Sex (1987). Her narrative feature debut, Salaam Bombay! (1988), won the Camera d’Or and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language film.

A resourceful and determined independent filmmaker who casts unknowns alongside acclaimed actors, Mira has directed many films, including Mississippi Masala (1991), Hysterical Blindness (2002), Vanity Fair (2004), The Namesake (2006), Amelia (2009), Queen of Katwe (2016), and A Suitable Boy (2020). She also directed a segment of the anthology film New York, I Love You (2008). She is the founder of the production company Mirabai Films and the Maisha Film Lab, an annual filmmaking workshop in Uganda.

Director Mira Nair has an extensive filmography of over 19 films, documentaries, shorts, and TV series. Some of her top titles include:

1. 1. Jama Masjid Street Journal (1979). Mira’s thesis project at Harvard, Jama Masjid Street Journal is a short black-and-white film shot in the cinema vérité style, with Nair having conversations with Old Delhi locals.
2. 2. India Cabaret (1985). During Mira’s early career, she made numerous documentaries, including India Cabaret, which documented the experiences of cabaret dancers in Bombay. The film won several awards and recognitions in international film festivals.
3. 3. Salaam Bombay! (1988). Mira’s first narrative feature film, Salaam Bombay! tells the story of the resilience of children in the streets of Bombay. Mira’s vérité roots show clearly in this film, which was shot on location with natural sound and dialogue written in the Hindi-language slang of Bombay. Salaam Bombay! won the Camera d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival and received an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film.
4. 4. Mississippi Masala (1991). This film focuses on an interracial love story between an Indian woman (Sarita Choudhury) and a Black man (Denzel Washington), a first-time pairing in a Hollywood film. Several studios were deeply hesitant about the lack of a white protagonist. Still, Mira forged on, and the film’s “never before” romance turned out to be precisely why Mississippi Masala resonated with audiences and remains impactful to this day.
5. 5. The Perez Family (1995). The Perez Family tells the story of a group of Cuban refugees who happen to share a last name and decide to pose as a family to make their immigration easier. The film was based on a 1991 novel of the same name by writer Christine Bell.
6. 6. Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love (1996). Mira co-wrote, co-produced, and directed this film, which, at the time, was controversial in India for its erotic and sexual content. The film was nominated for the Golden Seashell award at the San Sebastián International Film Festival.
7. 7. Monsoon Wedding (2001). Mira wanted to make a film inspired by Bollywood wedding movies that offered a “real” depiction of a Punjabi wedding. The result is her widely acclaimed ensemble film Monsoon Wedding, where multiple characters and subplots become hopelessly entangled at a wedding. The film won the Golden Lion award at the Venice Film Festival and received a Golden Globe nomination. Mira recently directed a musical version of Monsoon Wedding at the Berkeley Repertory Theater, where it had an extended, sold-out run.
8. 8. Vanity Fair (2004). An adaptation of William Makepeace Thackeray’s 1848 novel, Mira’s 2004 Vanity Fair made changes to the source material’s plot to update the story for the screen. The film was nominated for the Golden Lion at the 2004 Venice Film Festival.
9. 9. The Namesake (2006). The Namesake details the difficulties of a family of Indian heritage—the Indian-born parents and their two American-born children—as they navigate their own identities in New York City. Based on a novel by Jhumpa Lahiri, the film was nominated for a 2007 Gotham Award.
10. 10. Amelia (2009). A biopic about the life and drive of pilot and aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart, Amelia begins as a series of vignettes and culminates with Earhart’s tragic disappearance.
11. 11. The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2012). Based on Mohsin Hamid’s 2007 novel, The Reluctant Fundamentalist chronicles a Pakistani man’s experiences in the United States in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. Mira cast a then-unknown actor, Riz Ahmed, as the lead, and the film screened at several high-profile film festivals.
12. 12. Queen of Katwe (2016). Queen of Katwe tells the true story of Phiona Mutesi, a Ugandan girl with an aptitude for chess who eventually became a Woman Candidate Master after the World Chess Olympiads.
13. 13. A Suitable Boy (2020). A BBC miniseries adaptation of Vikram Seth’s 1993 novel, A Suitable Boy is set in post-independence India and chronicles the experiences of four North Indian families.

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