I am not afraid of languages, says Mira Nair

New York based Indian film director and producer Mira Nair has been continuing to mark her presence in world cinema with the finest of movies.

Kamna Arora

Mira Nair – a name every Indian is proud of. The Indian film director and producer based in New York has been continuing to mark her presence in world cinema with the finest of movies. “For me, there is nothing like NRI cinema or Indian cinema”, explained Mira Nair when asked if there was any difference between the two worlds of cinema. Her unconditional love for filmmaking, as well as her mother country, could be easily felt when the NRI filmmaker said she does not fix languages for her films. In fact, she used three different languages (English, Hindi and Punjabi) in almost each dialogue of her film ‘Monsoon Wedding’. She is neither afraid of using different languages, nor experimenting with the concepts. Speaking on the last day of the first-ever Pravasi Film Festival held in the country, Nair completely discarded the idea of making films with keeping Oscar or any other award in mind. The accomplished filmmaker revealed that she loved to make films on human conditions. It is important to create roles in which you can see yourself, insisted Nair, who can be thanked for making Punjabi weddings quite popular abroad with her ‘Monsoon Wedding’. It is a great challenge to adapt a novel into a film, admitted Nair, when she described her experience of making ‘The Namesake’, which was adapted from Jhumpa Lahiri`s novel. After the movie won accolades in the festival, Nair also described the ‘state of melancholy’ she was going through while making this film, which depicts the struggles of first-generation parents and their American-born children. The filmmaker is now set to adapt Mohsin Hamid`s novel ‘The Reluctant Fundamentalist’ into a film. Nair is all set to release Amelia, the biopic starring Hilary Swank as Amelia Earhart, in March 2010. She is also planning a musical version of ‘Monsoon Wedding’ and of course, her ‘Shantaram’ is one of the most-awaited projects. Elaborating her experiences, she also talked about her Maisha Film Labs in Uganda, which is dedicated to support visionary screenwriters and directors in East Africa and South Asia. Nair was born in Bhubaneswar in 1957. She received her education from both Delhi University and Harvard University. In 1988, her debut feature, ‘Salaam Bombay!’, caught huge attention and it was just the beginning for the lady who went on to make hits such as ‘Mississippi Masala’, an interracial love story. She further created ripples in India with her sensuous ‘Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love’. Of late, her ‘Monsoon Wedding’, ‘Vanity Fair’ and ‘The Namesake’ won many hearts.