‘Mississippi Masala’: A Love Story Among the Displaced


by Mira Nair “Mississippi Masala” It begins with a bit of family history, which is also a history lesson – Uganda’s expulsion of the sizable South Asian population ordered from the country by military dictator Idi Amin in 1972..

“Mississippi Masala”, which won an award at the 1991 Venice Film Festival and is still fresh and up-to-date, has been restored to be screened in the cinema. IFC Center in ManhattanFriday starts.

After a lively introduction, the movie jumps forward 18 years to receive her displaced central family settling in Greenwood, where Ms. Jay (Roshan Seth), a lawyer in Uganda, manages a hot-lined motel with his wife, Kinnu (Sharmila). The star of Satyajit Ray’s “Devi,” among other films, Tagore runs the liquor store next door.

Jay still dreams of Uganda; Kinnu yields more to exile. Their daughter, Meena (Sarita Choudhury), who cleans the rooms at the motel, is beyond that – she’s such a powerful American that she can replace the Statue of Liberty, even when Liberty is in chains. “I’m 24 and I’m still here – I’m stuck here,” she tells her unsympathetic parents.

Fortunately, Meena is also a reckless driver. Previously, he rears the van of a carpet cleaning company run by the straight-ahead but cool Demetrius (Denzel Washington). New York Times critic Vincent Canby wrote in his positive article that it was “the first in a series of collisions.” reviewbetween his world and hers.

As the name suggests, “Mississippi Masala” is a perpetual juxtaposition movie. For one, it’s a cut from the lush paradise of Uganda to the consumer abundance of Piggly Wiggly in America. Another follows a flashback to the family’s hilltop villa in Uganda, with the bogus plantations of wealthy Greenwood. Nair is out of documentary filmmaking, and thanks to Ed Lachman’s vibrant cinematography, the “Mississippi Masala” landscapes are also characters.

The cast also has a documentary aspect. A novice who grew up in Jamaica, where his father is a biologist, Choudhury plays a version of himself (at one point wearing a Bob Marley t-shirt). He was so close to the role that, despite the success of the movie, it took a while to get started with a movie. acting career. (Recently, he Restarting “Sex and the City”“And Just Like That.”) Washington, who is ten years older and has already won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar, can be seen as guiding him through the film.

Hoping to avoid a lawsuit, the wealthier Indians try to file a joint lawsuit with Greenwood’s Black population. Meena’s connection is deeper. “You are like us,” Demetrius’ younger brother tells him. “You’ve never been to India. We’ve never been to Africa.” Meena and Demetrius are both cleaners and, accordingly, lower caste. Both must escape their family obligations and overcome tribal prejudices. A stolen weekend in Biloxi and a brawl in a motel room make the phone lines ring, involving the Chamber of Commerce and being brought before a judge.

The pop iconography of chain restaurants, motels, and gas stations (as well as Hindu temples) is characteristic of 1980s independent films. But the ending of Nair’s storybook is more reminiscent of the ’90s, the post-Cold War golden age, where American notions of “freedom” and self-invention seem to have dominated.


Mississippi Masala

Opening on Friday at the IFC Center in Manhattan, ifccenter.com



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