“I never intended to be an educator. I wanted to make my films my way but reach the widest possible audience.” – Mira Nair

Filmmaker Mira Nair is the creator of stories that have led me on a journey of both self and social discovery. As a five-year-old about to make my first trip to India (Mumbai) from the US, Salaam Bombay! introduced me to the reality of the life of street children and prepared me for the heartbreak that I would encounter once I landed in the country.

- Nandita Chatterjee

As a ten-year-old growing up in America, Mississippi Masala highlighted people of my ethnicity in a mainstream film for the first time, in a story we could otherwise never have spoken about. Lastly, The Namesake revealed internal and external conflicts as the child of first-generation immigrant parents in America. With these and many other vibrant tales of the human journey, the Odisha-born, Harvard-educated global citizen Mira Nair has taken us through a kaleidoscope of colours, images, and emotions, and now we have the privilege of getting an insight into her inspiration.

Could you talk about your journey into the world of filmmaking, which started with your series of thought-provoking documentaries, from taking us through the cerebral journey of the local son to the streets of old Delhi in “Jama Masjid Street,” to the early diaspora immigrant experience of a newspaper hawker in So Far from India, ending with the uncharted journey of a John going to a sex worker in India Cabaret?

I came to making films as an exploration of truth with questions that got under my skin and would never let me go. Growing up in Bhubaneswar - a small town in Orissa, which was fairly remote, as most other parts of India - we lived cheek by jowl with those who have and those who have not. Their lives and our lives were intertwined and yet completely different from each other. That was the first major influence in my life, my interest in the other side stems from that time. I would often ask the question, “Why?” In the beginning in a childlike way, questions like, “Why does the sweeper’s child have to go back into their quarters when we have our dinner?” The world around me was constantly full of injustice and wonder.