In Conversation With Mira Nair

BAFTA and Academy nominated director Mira Nair is a sociology Major, turned filmmaker, who skipped studying at Cambridge, to go to Harvard University on a full scholarship. Starting her film career as a theatre actor, in plays, she then went on to making documentaries. Her Salaam Bombay! film where she worked with children of the Mumbai slums, caught the international eye, with 2 prizes at Cannes, and got her the trifecta of awards nods with a BAFTA, Oscar and Golden Globe. Her sought out film Mississippi Masala starring a young Denzel Washington with Sarita Choudhury, was a Sundance hit, and a seminal film on race relations, between Black and Asian families. She enlisted Bollywood legend Rekha, as part of her Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love, a bold film which caused quite a stir in conservative circles. Her runaway hit Monsoon Wedding remains a much loved classic, that is being turned into a theatrical piece. Turning down Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Mira made The Namesake based on the Pulitzer Prize winning book, with Irrfan Khan, Tabu, and Kal Penn, and worked with Riz Ahmed on The Reluctant Fundamentalist and with Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o and David Oyelowo in Queen of Katwe, both adapted from books. Mira is In Conversation with LIFF’s director Cary Rajinder Sawhney MBE, and is currently working on the post production of A Suitable Boy, the BBC One TV adaptation of Vikram Seth’s epic novel.