Director: Mira Nair
Screenplay: Sooni Taraporevala
Starring: Denzel Washington, Sarita Choudhury, Roshan Seth, Sharmila Tagore, Charles S. Dutton, Joe Seneca, Ranjit Chowdhry, Mohan Gokhale, Mohan Agashe
Country: USA, UK
Running Time: 118 min
Year: 1991
Whilst it was hardly a box office blockbuster, Salaam Bombay! was a huge hit with critics and festivals, bagging its director, Mira Nair, a number of awards and nominations at the tail end of the 80s. This success helped Nair follow the film up fairly quickly with one on a higher budget with some big-name actors.
This follow-up was Mississippi Masala. Whilst not as fondly remembered as Salaam Bombay! and Nair’s later Monsoon Wedding, Mississippi Masala still managed to win over critics at the time and bag a few awards, including best film and best script at Venice.
The folk at Criterion clearly still hold the film in high regard, as they’re adding Mississippi Masala to their illustrious Collection. I got hold of a copy and my thoughts follow.
The film begins in Uganda in 1972, where an ethnic Indian family, who’ve lived in the country their whole lives, is forced to leave their home when Idi Amin orders all Asians to be expelled.
We move forward to the early 90s to find the family living in Greenwood, Mississippi. The father, Jay (Roshan Seth), is still trying to sue the Ugandan government, to get back the house and belongings lost in his exile. The mother, Kinnu (Sharmila Tagore), runs a liquor store, despite not touching a drop herself, and the now grown-up daughter, Mina (Sarita Choudhury), is helping other members of her family run a motel.
Mina’s world is turned upside down, however, when she accidentally crashes into the van of carpet cleaner Demetrius (Denzel Washington). Though Demetrius initially seems to flirt with Mina simply to make his ex-girlfriend jealous, the pair both develop feelings for each other and romance blossoms.
When things start to get more serious between the couple, however, they run into trouble. Mina’s traditional family aren’t happy with her hooking up with an African American, as opposed to someone from their own community, and some of them respond by taking a lot of business away from Demetrius. He, in retaliation, sues Mina’s cousin for the car accident earlier on, after promising not to.
Can the love between Mina and Demetrius survive this clash of cultures, or is it doomed to fail?
There’s a lot to admire about Mississippi Masala. It looks at a number of different political and social issues, all surrounding the clash of cultures, from the exile of Asians from Uganda to interracial relationships in America. Whilst the latter is something that has been well explored on film, basing itself on the classic Romeo and Juliet formula, it was interesting to see a film about racial/cultural differences and prejudice that wasn’t another black vs white tale. Here we see two groups of colour who seem happy to live as neighbours but like to “stick to their own kind” when it comes to anything more personal. It explores racism within the Indian community itself too, with Mina looked down on by some Indians because she has a darker shade of skin than others.
The film also looks at the various similarities between the two communities. This is most notable when Mina goes to have dinner with Denzel’s family. She finds, like her family, alongside the bond between them, there’s the importance of food in gatherings and frank, open conversations.
Whilst there are a number of potentially heavy issues being explored, the film takes a relatively light approach though. There’s humour throughout and Nair thankfully avoids preaching. However, this lightness proved to turn me off the film ultimately. Whilst I appreciated the approach, in essence, it led to a potentially dramatic story feeling somewhat underwhelming. I’m a big fan of Salaam Bombay! so was disappointed to find this didn’t have the same emotional resonance, though I appreciate this is a different film with a different aim.
It’s the writing, particularly the dramatic structure, that I had most of a problem with. Perhaps screenwriter Sooni Taraporevala was juggling too much, as some elements and plot points are rushed or skimmed over and, on the whole, everything feels a little underbaked.
The performances are a bit of a mixed bag too. Washington is excellent, as usual. This was relatively early in his career, but he’d won an Oscar at this point, so he was a big name already. Choudhury also delivers a great performance and the pair have strong chemistry together. Choudhury was a 22-year-old film school graduate in London, not originally looking to get into acting, but she auditioned for the film when she saw an ad, with the intent to meet Nair and maybe get a chance to help out on set. The audition went better than expected, leading to her getting the lead role. It led to an acting career that’s still going strong.
Some of the rest of the cast can be a bit broad though. With a number of Indian stars brought in, perhaps the varying styles of Hollywood and Bollywood didn’t always match. Roshan Seth and the great Sharmila Tagore perform very well as Mina’s parents though.
The film looks gorgeous, beautifully lit and with rich but never over-stated colours. Nair said she would look to respected art photography of the American south to inspire her imagery in the film. It shows, as there’s an artful but unshowy beauty to the cinematography and production design.
Overall then, Mississippi Masala provides an interesting spin on the Romeo and Juliet formula but it feels underwhelming and clumsy in places. A strong central pair of performers do their best to elevate the film but, ultimately, it feels a little disappointing.
Film: 
Mississippi Masala is out on 12th December on Blu-Ray in the UK, released by The Criterion Collection. The picture is impeccable, with lovely natural textures and colours. It sounds great too.
DIRECTOR-APPROVED SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES
– New 4K digital restoration, supervised by director Mira Nair and director of photography Ed Lachman, with 2.0 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray
– New audio commentary featuring Nair
– New conversation between actor Sarita Choudhury and film critic Devika Girish
– New interviews with Lachman, screenwriter Sooni Taraporevala, and production designer and photographer Mitch Epstein
– English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
– PLUS: An essay by critic Bilal Qureshi and, for the Blu-ray, excerpts from Nair’s production journal
I loved Nair’s commentary on Salaam Bombay and her track here didn’t disappoint. She speaks with great intelligence and passion about the making of the film and the ideas behind it. She’s a pleasure to listen to.
Sarita Choudhury’s interview is equally as enjoyable and informative. She gives a convincingly loving account of the production and her involvement. It’s obviously a film that is close to her heart, given it launched her career.
Writer Sooni Taraporevala talks about her process and relationship with Nair. She talks of the extensive research the pair always do in preparing for their screenplays. She also talks about the difficulty she had in taking on a number of disparate ideas, about the situation with Asians in Uganda, life in Mississippi for both Indians and African-Americans, and issues with interracial relationships in America.
DOP Ed Lachman offers a detailed, occasionally technical description of the techniques he used to best capture the essence of the film. It’s a must-watch for any wannabe filmmaker.
Mitch Epstein talks about his involvement in the film and his other work with Nair. Again, he goes into detail as to how he planned his production design, as well as describing how some of the locations were already largely perfect for what they needed to serve the story.
I wasn’t provided with a copy of the booklet to comment on that, unfortunately. Overall though, it’s a very strong set of supplements to a film that maybe didn’t totally win me over but is nevertheless worth a watch.
Disc/package: