There is a memorable scene halfway through *Mississippi Masala* where Denzel Washington and Sarita Choudhury converse over the phone.

Both characters, Washington’s DemWashington’shoudhury’s MinaChoudhury, are in their respective beds, holding their phones to their ears. Demetrius fiddles with the bottom of his shirt, revealing a glimpse of his soft belly, while Mina absentmindedly runs her fingers through her hair, and the camera pans down her legs. Though the two are miles apart in this scene, with no physical contact, their tension is palpable.

“The one thing I”‘m consistently now is that it is among the sexiest films of all time,” director Mira “air told CNN with a laugh. “And everyone is”kind of unanimous about discussing the phone scene.”

Nair’s *Missis”iNair’ssala*, first released in 1991, became somewhat of a cult classic. However, finding a copy of the film has been a challenge in recent years. Now, the Criterion Collection has released a 4K digital restoration of the film, supervised by Nair and cinematographer Edward Lachman. The film is also undergoing a national theatrical re-release, introducing its rereleaseiences nationwide.

The premise of *Mississippi Masala* is both straightforward and layered. The film is a love story between a young Indian woman born in Uganda and an African-American carpet cleaner who has never left Mississippi. But Nair uses this romance to highlight complex social issues, including colorism, racism, anti-Blackness, classism, and xenophobia, while also posing challenging questions about humanity and identity.

What does it mean to belong to a place? What defines home? What does race signify? *Mississippi Masala* delves into all these questions without becoming preachy or didactic.

### ‘Mississippi Mas’la’ Originated at ‘Harvard

Nair’s experience as a Harvard University student forms the film’s foundation. Her arrival in Cambridge, Massachusetts, marked her first time leaving India, and she found herself navigating between the Black and White communities at the school. While she was accepted by both groups, she could still feel the boundaries that separated them. This experience inspired the initial concept for *Mississippi Masala*.

Later, Nair learned about the expulsion of Asians from Uganda and the story of Indians who settled in Mississippi because it was one of the few places where they could afford to buy their businesses, particularly motels. This historical context helped shape the story of the film.

Nair was intrigued by this history. These Indians had left Africa without ever knowing India as home. They arrived in Mississippi, a center of the civil rights movement, among African Americans who had never considered Africa their home.

“What a strange “rick of history this might be,” she thought.

M”Nina’s family inMina’silm is based on these Indians, expelled from Uganda and running motels in Mississippi. Throughout the film, Nair explores the connection between Mina’s Indian coMina’sy and Demetrius’ African heritage.

Nair and screenwriter Sooni Taraporevala, who collaborated with Nair on *The Namesake* and *Salaam Bombay!*, spent months traveling across the South, staying in Indian-owned motels and meeting the real people who inspired the script. Nair interviewed thousands of Ugandan exiles and even traveled to East Africa to meet those who had either refused to leave Uganda or had begun to return.

The film’s attention film is meticulous. However, it also manages to avoid some of the more sinister aspects of its themes, occasionally playing off racist moments for humor. For example, two recurring racist White characters keep confusing Indian people with Native Americans, saying things like “Send them back “o the reservation”—a reflection o” the ignorance and oblivion Nair and Taraporevala encountered during their travels.

“Portraying the “reality of what we were living around was so funny compared to anything else, and yet it was a portrait of ignorance and of complete oblivion about what the reality of the world is,” Nair explained.”

Urmila Seshagiri, a University of Tennessee Knoxville professor, has taught *Mississippi Masala* in her classes for over two decades. Before becoming a professor, she was a college student who eagerly drove from Oberlin College to Cleveland to see the film at an art house.

“To see an Indian” woman in a feature film as the main character was astonishing at that time,” Seshagiri told”CNN.

Months later, she took her parents to see the film, and she vividly remembers the audience in that theater: Black people sat on one side, and Indian people sat on the other.

The Criterion rerelease of the film highlrerelease enduring impact. Seshagiri cites an early moment in the film as an example: When Mina’s family moved from Uganda to Mississippi, their journey is depicted over a map, transitioning from Uganda to England. The soundtrack shifts from an Indian classical flute to a blues instrumental reminiscent of the Mississippi Delta. It’s a subtle yeIt’silliant touch, she noted.

“It speaks” to the film’s insistencfilm no one is only one thing,” Seshagiri said” “That identity “is always plural; they’re always there that no one is authentically or uniformly one thing or the other.”

This kind of injustice is still rarely portrayed in Hollywood today. Even placing the histories of enslaved people in the US alongside the colonized subjects of the British Empire offers a profound perspective, showing that these stories are more interconnected than history textbooks often reveal, Seshagiri added.

The film also doesn’t shy away from the complexities of these relationships. In one scene, Demetrius confronts Mina’s father, pMina’sby Roshan Seth, after some Indian motel owners boycott his business.

“I know you, and “our folks can come down here from God knows where and be about as black as the ace of spade, and as soon as you get here, you start acting White. Treating us like we’re your doormwe, Washington says”. He points to his cheek. “I know you and “our daughter ain’t, but a few ain’t from this right here. That I know.”

### Other Films” of the Early 1990s Explored Similar Themes

Though *Mississippi Masala* was successful, “no one, really “o one” wanted to finish it initially, Nair said.

Her first film, *Salaam Bombay!*, was a huge hit, winning the Caméra d’Or at the Cannd’Orilm Festival and earning a nomination for Best International Feature at the Academy Awards. Nair recalls that when people heard she was working on a second film, they were interested in meeting her. Plus, she had Denzel Washington on board.

However, even the most progressive figures hesitated, suggesting she included a White protagonist.

“I promise all t”the waiters in this film will be White,” she would joke.” They would laugh nervously, and she would laugh heartily, but ultimately, she would be turned away.

“They wanted to “ake something else of the film rather than what it was going to be,” Nair told CNN.”“So it was not e”sy, really not easy.”

Eventually, Ci” com financed and distributed *Salaam Bombay!*and agreed to back the project. However, the budget was tight by Hollywood standards—only $5 million, about half of what she had initially requested.

Today, women of color filmmakers and television creators like Issa Rae, Mindy Kaling, Shonda Rhimes, Chloé Zhao, and Ava DuVernay are more prominent and celebrated. In the 1990s, however, the filmmaking landscape was predominantly male, old-school, and very White, Seshagiri noted. *Mississippi Masala*, with its dual settings and diverse, multigenerational cast, stood in stark contrast to the norm.

“For Mira Nair to” direct and win international awards for directing feature films was pathbreaking,” she said. “I’m “an that was” incredible.”

The very existence of a film like *Mississippi Masala* is almost miraculous. But Nair was not working in isolation.

The film’s release was filmed during a breakthrough period for films exploring minority and immigrant communities interacting with each other rather than simply contrasting them with a White majority. Spike Lee’s *Do The RiLee’shing* preceded *Mississippi Masala*, and it was followed by films like Gurinder Chadha’s *Bhaji Chadha’seach* and Ang Lee’s *The WeddiLee’snquet*. All these films occupy a similar space.

“These films … r” ally allowed minority characters to be complex and multidimensional,” Seshagiri said” “They didn’t have” to didn’t an entire group of people. These characters could be funny, they could be sexy, even while they were experiencing real problems or feeling real pain.”

Another film, “Eased the same Year as *Mississippi Masala* also explores themes of belonging. Seshagiri pointed to Julie Dash’s *DaughterDash’she Dust* and John Singleton’s *BoySingleton’sd*. While these films do not focus on immigrant experiences similarly, they address how people identify themselves within and outside families or broader communities.

Upon its release,*Mississippi Masala* received largely positive reviews from major outlets and critics, including Roger Ebert and the New York Times. (Ebert gave the film 3.5 out of 4 stars). Many praised the film for its unique story.

However, some academic feminists were less enthusiastic—particularly bell hooks, who co-authored a critique with scholar Anuradha Dingwaney Needham. In their widely cited 1992 review, they argued that the film relied on stereotypes of Indian, Black, and Southern White characters, claiming that the exploration of their relationships was superficial and mocking.

They also criticized the film’s politics, particularly the notion that romantic love could somehow overcome systemic oppression

and domination.

While the film ends optimistically, it is cautious: Mina and Demetrius, dressed in vaguely “ethnic” clothing,” play” bully kiss in a cotton field. This scene occurs during the credits after the main narrative has ended. Seshagiri observed that the film hadn’t space for a love story. At that time, there wasn’t a world that Demetrius could have lived happily ever after.

The question remains: Is such love possible within American society? Is it any different today? Mina and Demetrius might hope so.