During his campaign, New York City's newly elected mayor Zohran Mamdani was known for, among many other things, his slick, cinematic videos. It's a skill he probably picked up from his Oscar-nominated mother Mira Nair, a celebrated filmmaker who has been earning international acclaim for India for decades.
From her debut feature Salaam Bombay!, which was nominated for an Oscar, to Monsoon Wedding, which won the Golden Lion at Venice Film Festival, Nair has been crafting powerful stories on screen, after kick-starting her career making documentaries.
Here are six essential films from Nair’s bold and enduring body of work – perfect for those discovering her legacy through her son’s rise.
Salaam Bombay! (1988)
After winning acclaim for her documentary films, Nair, along with her friend Sooni Taraporevala, researched and co-wrote the screenplay for Salaam Bombay!, which depicts the lives of street children in Bombay, India's largest city, now known as Mumbai.
The film follows Krishna, a young boy abandoned in the street, as he fights for survival. It was shot with real street children, blending gritty realism with emotional depth and shines a light on child labour, poverty and the resilience in urban India.
Salaam Bombay! earned international acclaim, including the Camera d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival and an Oscar nomination in the Best International Feature category.
Mississippi Masala (1991)
Nair teamed up again with Taraporevala for her next feature, a cross-cultural love story starring Denzel Washington and Sarita Choudhury. Mississippi Masala explores the unlikely romance between an African-American carpet cleaner and the daughter of an Indian family exiled from Uganda, tackling themes of migration, racism and belonging. It is considered one of Nair's most tender works.
Despite its modest budget, the film won the critics' praise, powered by Washington's and Choudhury's blistering performances. It also won several awards, including Best Screenplay at the Venice Film Festival.
While researching this film in Uganda, Nair met her husband and Zohran's father, political scientist Mahmood Mamdani.
Monsoon Wedding (2001)
One of Nair's most successful films, Monsoon Wedding revolves around a Punjabi family in Delhi and is set during a chaotic wedding where tensions and hidden scandals unfold against a backdrop of music, colour and monsoon rains.
Featuring an ensemble cast of acclaimed actors that includes Naseeruddin Shah, Rajat Kapoor, Lillete Dubey, Shefali Shah and Vasundhara Das, the film was a commercial and critical hit in India and abroad.
Accolades include the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival and Best Film Not in the English Language at the Baftas, as well as Golden Globes and Critics' Choice nominations.
The Namesake (2006)
Reuniting with Taraporevala, Nair adapted Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jhumpa Lahiri’s bestseller, which centres around the Gangulis, a Bengali immigrant family navigating life in the US.
This poignant drama explores themes of identity, cultural assimilation and the generational gap between immigrant parents and their American-born children. The powerful cast includes Tabu, Irrfan Khan and Kal Penn.
Penn plays Nikhil/Gogol who, as he grows up, fully embraces American culture and distances himself from his heritage, much to the frustration of his parents, played by Tabu and Khan.
One of Nair’s most personal works, The Namesake won wide acclaim, including nominations at the Gotham Awards and the Independent Spirit Awards.
The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2012)
Nair delivers a political thriller with this adaptation of British-Pakistani author Mohsin Hamid’s Booker Prize-nominated novel The Reluctant Fundamentalist.
A post-9/11 story, it follows Changez Khan, a successful Pakistani man working on Wall Street, whose life is forever altered after the terrorist attacks as suspicion and identity politics begin to erode his version of the American dream.
Khan is played by Riz Ahmed in a standout performance, alongside Kate Hudson, Liev Schreiber, Kiefer Sutherland and acclaimed Indian actors Shabana Azmi and Om Puri.
While the film received mixed reviews, it was widely praised for its nuanced take on geopolitics and tackling themes of tolerance and xenophobia.
Queen of Katwe (2016)
This sports biographical film is based on the life of Phiona Mutesi, who was raised in the slums of Uganda and became a chess star. Oscar winner Lupita Nyong'o plays Mutesi's mother Nakku Harri, while acclaimed British actor David Oyelowo plays her coach Robert Katende. Ugandan actress Madina Nalwanga plays Mutesi.
Nair was picked by Disney to adapt the film from a biography by American author Tim Crothers. The feelgood drama was widely praised for its strong performances.
Zohran Mamdani appears in the film as an extra, and also contributed a song, #1 Spice, under his rapper pseudonym Young Cardamom.
