Director Mira Nair’s 1991 Mississippi Masala serves up an engaging interracial rom-com with a biting subtext on racism within communities of color. The story opens in Kampala, Uganda, circa 1972, with dictator Idi Amin ordering the expulsion of East Asian residents whose forefathers were imported from India by the British to build railways in their colonial outpost. Now, says Amin, Africa is for Africans.
Jay (Roshan Seth) is an African, born in Uganda, but he’s of Indian descent and therefore the wrong color. Deeply embittered and heartbroken, Jay leaves Uganda with his wife, Kinnu (Sharmila Tagore), and their young daughter, Mina (Sahira Nair).
Flash forward 17 years: now 24, Mina (Sarita Choudhury) loves her parents but chafes under the cultural restrictions of the local Indian community. Kinnu runs a liquor store, Jay constantly writes letters to Uganda hoping to have his property reinstated, and Mina works in an Indian-owned motel (in fact, many East Asians expelled from Uganda by Amin acquired motels in the American South).
Mina literally runs into carpet-cleaning business owner Demetrius’s (Denzel Washington) van in a minor multi-car accident and later that evening sees him again at a nightclub where she is on a family-approved date with a humorless Indian suitor.
When Demetrius’s ex-girlfriend shows up with a new beau, the still-smarting Demetrius asks Mina to dance, holding her close while eyeing his ex. What begins as resentful retaliation soon flowers into real romance as Demetrius invites Mina to meet his family.
As their relationship progresses, however, it soon morphs into a Romeo and Juliet-tinged tale, with Mina’s parents—former victims of racism themselves—opposing their daughter’s involvement with a Black man, and the larger circle of Indian and Black family members and acquaintances being drawn into the dispute.
Demetrius is initially surprised and offended; he accepts white racism as a given (calling it a “tradition” in the South) but notes that only a few shades of color separate him from Mina’s family. And Mina is torn between her family’s wishes and the desires of her heart.
Presented with a luminous 4K digital restoration, extras include a new audio commentary featuring Nair, a new conversation between actor Sarita Choudhury and film critic Devika Girish, new interviews (with the director of photography Ed Lachman, screenwriter Sooni Taraporevala, and production designer and photographer Mitch Epstein), and a booklet with an essay by critic Bilal Qureshi and excerpts from Nair’s production journal.
In Mississippi Masala, Nair draws on her documentary filmmaking background to capture vibrantly colorful scenes that celebrate the epicurean delights that make life worth living—food, dance, music, love—while also tackling broader questions of racism in melting-pot America. Recommended for programming a directed by women film series and film studies professors looking to spotlight Indian filmmakers.