Mira Nair
Mira Nair
Mira Nairis an Indian American filmmaker based in New York. Her production company, Mirabai Films, specializes in films for international audiences on Indian society, whether in the economic, social or cultural spheres. Among her best known films are Mississippi Masala, The Namesake, the Golden Lion-winning Monsoon Wedding and Salaam Bombay!, which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film...
NationalityIndian
ProfessionDirector
Date of Birth15 October 1957
CountryIndia
Creative freedom is an imperative for me, but it doesn't really exist in a Hollywood game.
I grew up in a small town in India, but through books I knew the world.
'Salaam Bombay' didn't put a halo on the poor. Instead, it said that they will teach us how to live.
I am still attracted to stories about people who are considered to be on the outside of society. I still seek inspiration from those stories.
It gave me a lot of pleasure and pride that 90 percent of the crew for 'Monsoon Wedding,' and most of my film, are women. We get the work done, you know, much lesser play of ego... And I really believe in harmony, I believe in working in a spirit of egolessness and that the film is bigger than all of us.
I am an independent film-maker first and foremost. I have always cut my own cloth.
We have to realize only in communication, in real knowledge, in real reaching out, can there be an understanding that there's humanity everywhere, and that's what I'm trying to do.
What is really important to me is a sense of humour and a mischief about life. Life is just too boring otherwise.
Making films is about having absolute and foolish confidence; the challenge for all of us is to have the heart of a poet and the skin of an elephant.
If we don't tell our own stories, no one else will.
Never treat anything you do as a stepping stone. Do it fully, and follow it completely.