Happy 63rd Birthday, Mira Nair! Born today in 1957, this Indian-American film producer and film director is based in New York City, New York. She is known for her documentaries and feature films dealing with controversial subject matter.
Nair was born in Rourkela, Odisha, India. She grew up with her two older brothers and parents in Bhubaneswar, Odisha.
At the age of eleven, Nair and her family moved to Delhi due to her father transferring posts.
By thirteen she left home to attend Loreto Convent Tara Hall, an Irish-Catholic missionary school located in Simla, where she developed an infatuation with English literature.
In order to gain the best education available, Nair applied to Western schools and at nineteen she was offered a full scholarship to Cambridge University, but ultimately turned it down and instead accepted a full scholarship to Harvard University.
Before she became a filmmaker, Nair was originally interested in acting. At one point, she performed plays written by influential Indian dramatist and theatre director Badal Sarkar, a Bengali performer.
At the start of her filmmaking career, Nair primarily made documentaries in which she explored Indian cultural tradition.
In 1977, Nair met her first husband, American fine-art photographer Mitchell "Mitch" Epstein, when taking photography classes at Harvard.
At the start of her filmmaking career, Nair primarily made documentaries in which she explored Indian cultural tradition.
For her film thesis at Harvard between 1978 and 1979, Nair produced and directed the eighteen-minute 1979 American black-and-white documentary independent short film 'Jama Masjid Street Journal'.
In the film, Nair explores the streets of Old Delhi and has casual conversations with Indian locals.
In the early 1980s, with her friend, Indian screenwriter, photographer and filmmaker Sooni Taraporevala, Nair co-wrote and directed the 1988 Hindi-language, Indian crime/drama film 'Salaam Bombay!'
Using her documentary filmmaking and acting experience, Nair sought out for real "street children" to more authentically portray the lives of children who survive in the streets and are deprived of a real childhood.
Though 'Salaam Bombay!' did not do well at the box office, it nonetheless won twenty-three international awards, including the Camera D’or and Prix du Public at the 41st Cannes Film Festival in May 1988.
Later that same year, Nair and Epstein divorced. One year later, Nair met her second husband. This was the Indo-Ugandan academic, author and political commentator Mahmood Mamdani. Nair had met him while in Uganda doing research for her then-upcoming feature in the early 1990s.
The following year, 'Salaam Bombay!' was nominated for an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. Hoerver, it did not win. This occurred at the 61st Academy Awards in late March 1989.
One year later, 'Salaam Bombay!' was nominated for an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. However, it did not win. This occurred at the 61st Academy Awards in late March 1989.
Two years later, Nair directed the 1991 Indian romantic comedy-drama/independent film 'Mississippi Masala'.
Afterwards, Nair and Taraporevala continued to challenge audiences with the feature.
Like 'Salaam Bombay!', the film was well received by critics. The film later won two awards at the 48th Venice International Film Festival in September of that same year. During this time, Nair and Mamadani were married.
The following year, 'Mississippi Masala' earned a standing ovation at the 14th Sundance Film Festival in January 1992.
In 1998, Nair used the profits from 'Salaam Bombay!' to create the Indian non-profit and non-governmental organization Salaam Baalak Trust (SBT), which works with street children in India.
Nair went on to direct four more films. This was before she co-produced and directed the film of which she is best known, being the 2001 Indian romance/drama film 'Monsoon Wedding'.
The film tells of cultures and families clashing in an exuberant mix of comedy and chaotic melodrama concerning the preparations for the arranged marriage of a modern upper-middle-class Indian family’s only daughter.
The father, Lalit Verma (Naseeruddin Shah) is trying to marry off his daughter, Aditi (Vasundhara Das) in the traditional manner.
However, Aditi is having second thoughts, while her cousin Ayesha Verma (Neha Dubey), seventeen, is just beginning to realize she's attractive to boys, and her other cousin, Ria (Shefali Shah), has a shocking revelation ready. But Adit's younger brother Varun (Ishan Nair) just wants to dance.
Nair’s celebration in 'Monsoon Wedding' is ultimately joyful and cathartic; a love song to her home city of Delhi and her own Punjabi family.
Although 'Monsoon Wedding' is set entirely in New Delhi, the film was an international co-production between companies in India, the United States, Italy, France, and Germany.
Employing a small crew and casting some of Nair's acquaintances and relatives, the film grossed over $30 million worldwide on a budget of only $1.2 million.
Later that same year, 'Monsoon Wedding' was later awarded the Golden Lion at the 58th Venice Film Festival, making Nair the first female recipient of the award.
Her production company, Mirabai Films, specializes in films for international audiences on Indian society, whether in the economic, social or cultural spheres.
A longtime activist, Nair set up an annual filmmakers’ laboratory, Maisha Film Lab in Kampala, Uganda in 2005.
Since then, young directors in East Africa have been trained at this non-profit facility with the belief that "If we don’t tell our stories, no one else will".
Maisha is currently building a school with Architect Raul Pantaleo, winner of Aga Khan Award for Architecture, and his company Studio Tamassociati.
As of 2015, Nair lives in New York City, where she is an adjunct professor in the Film Division of the School of Arts for Columbia University.
The university has a collaboration with Nair's Maisha Film Lab, and offers opportunities for international students to work together and share their interests in film-making. Like Nair, Mamdani is also a professor at Columbia University.
According to her personal life, 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.
Among her credits, Nair is also for known for directing 'Vanity Fair' (2004), 'The Namesake' (2006), 'Amelia' (2009), and 'Queen of Katwe' (2018).
The common thread throughout Nair's filmmaking career was a fascination with people on the margins of society, culminating in their struggle to both conform as well as maintain their cultural identity; a struggle that the director, herself, could no doubt relate to.
Nair is a filmmaker of whom is completely grounded within the world in which she lives.
Her films often explore the conflicts inherent with families of recent immigration and ways to bridge the gap between cultures, races, and genders.
They also challenge stereotypes and generational assumptions, while remaining grounded in the values she holds close.
Nair has been active from 1986–present.
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