Personal Info
Birth date
1957-10-15 (67 Years)
Gender
Female
Known for
Directing
Place of birth
Rourkela, Orissa, India
Also known as
-Mira Nair
Biography
Mira Nair (born October 15, 1957) is an Indian film director and producer based in New York. Her production company is Mirabai Films. She was educated at Delhi University and Harvard University. Her debut feature film, Salaam Bombay! (1988), won the Golden Camera award at the Cannes Film Festival and also earned the nomination for Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. She used the proceeds of the film, to establish an organization for street children, called the Salaam Baalak Trust in India. She often works with longtime creative collaborator, screenwriter Sooni Taraporevala, whom she met at Harvard. She has won a number of awards, including a National Film Award and various international film festival awards, and was a nominee at the Academy Awards, Golden Globes, BAFTA Awards and Filmfare Awards. She was also awarded the India Abroad Person of the Year-2007, which was presented by Indra Nooyi, Chairperson and CEO, PepsiCo, Inc, and India Abroad Person of the Year-2006. Her most recent films included Vanity Fair with Reese Witherspoon, The Namesake, and Amelia. In June 2025, Mira Nair's son Zohran Mamdani shocked the political world by becoming the Democratic nominee for New York City Mayor. Description above from the Wikipedia article Mira Nair, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia
Filmography
Close Up with The Hollywood Reporter
5.972
Overview:
Some of this year's most talked about talent open up about the challenges and triumphs of creating critically acclaimed series and performances.National Treasure: Edge of History
6.9
Overview:
While searching for history's greatest treasure, Jess Valenzuela unburies her family's secret past.A Suitable Boy
6.1
Overview:
Modernity confronts tradition in 1950s post-Partition India as a young woman resists an arranged marriage in favour of pursuit of love and a politician's son becomes involved in a transgressive affair.Koffee with Karan
5.7
Overview:
Celebrity host Karan Johar gets up close and personal with various Bollywood personalities and discusses their major career milestones.New York, I Love You
5.952
Overview:
New York, I Love You delves into the intimate lives of New Yorkers as they grapple with, delight in and search for love. Journey from the Diamond District in the heart of Manhattan, through Chinatown and the Upper East Side, towards the Village, into Tribeca, and Brooklyn as lovers of all ages try to find romance in the Big Apple.Mississippi Masala
6.4
Overview:
Years after her Indian family was forced to flee their home in Uganda, twentysomething Mina finds herself helping to run a motel in the faraway land of Mississippi. It's there that a passionate romance with the charming Black carpet cleaner Demetrius challenges the prejudices of their conservative families and exposes the rifts between the region's Indian and African American communities.Hysterical Blindness
6
Overview:
Two friends lament their unhappy single lives while searching for Mr. Right in 1980s New Jersey.Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love
5.723
Overview:
Tara and Maya are two inseparable friends in India. Their tastes, habits, and hobbies are the same. Years later, the two have matured, but have maintained their friendship. Tara gets married to the local prince, Raj Singh, who soon succeeds the throne as the sole heir. After the marriage, Raj gets bored of Tara and starts seeking another female to satisfy his sexual needs. He notices Maya and is instantly attracted to her. He has her included as one of his courtesans, and is intimate with her. Watch what happens when Tara finds out and the extent she will go to keep her marriage intact.Vanity Fair
5.8
Overview:
Beautiful, funny, passionate, and calculating, Becky is the orphaned daughter of a starving English artist and a French chorus girl. She yearns for a more glamorous life than her birthright promises and resolves to conquer English society by any means possible. A mere ascension into the heights of society is simply not enough. So Becky finds a patron in the powerful Marquess of Steyne whose whims enable Becky to realise her dreams. But is the ultimate cost too high for her?Bollywood Calling
3.5
Overview:
An alcoholic, cancer-ridden American film-maker decides to produce a Bollywood movie.Queen of Katwe
7.249
Overview:
A young girl overcomes her disadvantaged upbringing in the slums of Uganda to become a Chess master.The Reluctant Fundamentalist
6.6
Overview:
In New York, a Pakistani native finds that his American Dream has collapsed in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.Monsoon Wedding
6.8
Overview:
As the romantic monsoon rains loom, the extended Verma family reunites from around the globe for a last-minute arranged marriage in New Delhi. This film traces five intersecting stories, each navigating different aspects of love as they cross boundaries of class, continent and morality.The Namesake
6.7
Overview:
After moving from Calcutta to New York, members of the Ganguli family maintain a delicate balancing act between honoring the traditions of their native India and blending into American culture. Although parents Ashoke and Ashima are proud of the sacrifices they make to give their children opportunities, their son Gogol strives to forge his own identity without forgetting his heritage.Amelia
5.7
Overview:
A look at the life of legendary American pilot Amelia Earhart, who disappeared while flying over the Pacific Ocean in 1937 in an attempt to make a flight around the world.Salaam Bombay!
7.278
Overview:
After destroying his older brother's motorbike in retaliation for his constant bullying, 11-year-old Krishna is sent to a traveling circus to earn money to pay for the bike's repairs, but soon winds up in the streets of Bombay's poorest slums. There, he befriends the drug dealer Chillum and young prostitute Sola Saal, while trying to make enough money at a neighborhood tea stall to repay his debt to his family.The Perez Family
6.2
Overview:
In the midst of the Mariel boat lift -- a hurried exodus of refugees from Cuba going to America -- an immigration clerk accidentally presumes that dissident Juan Raul Perez and Dorita Evita Perez are married. United by their last name and a mutual resolve to emigrate, Dorita and Juan agree to play along. But it gets complicated when the two begin falling for each other just as Juan reunites with his wife, Carmela, whom he hasn't seen in decades.8
5.2
Overview:
8 shorts centered around 8 themes directed by 8 famous film directors involved and sharing their opinion on progress, on the set-backs and the challenges our planet faces today.Words with Gods
5.7
Overview:
The first of four installments in the groundbreaking Heartbeat of the World anthology film series. Comprised of several short films by some of the world's most exciting directors, Words with Gods follows the theme of religion - specifically as it relates to an individual's relationship with his/her god or gods...or the lack thereof. In Words with Gods, each director recounts a narrative centered around human fragility, as well as environmental and cultural crises involving specific religions with which each has a personal relationship; including early Aboriginal Spirituality, Umbanda, Buddhism, the Abrahamic faiths, Hinduism, and Atheism. An animated sequence by Mexican animator Maribel Martinez is woven through each of the film segments, with each segment narratively connected as a feature-length film.11’09”01—September 11
6.4
Overview:
Filmmakers from all over the world provide short films – each of which is eleven minutes, nine seconds, and one frame of film in length – that offer differing perspectives on the 9/11 terrorist attacks.Water and Sugar – Carlo Di Palma: The Colours of Life
5.2
Overview:
An account of the life and work of legendary cinematographer and director Carlo Di Palma (1925-2004) and an emotional journey through the great moments of cinema, from Italian neorealism to the masterpieces of Woody Allen.Migration
5.7
Overview:
One of a four-film series on the AIDS epidemic in India, this film examines the virus as Indian society's great class leveler, following its transmission through interweaving stories that link urban and rural India.This Changes Everything
6.2
Overview:
An investigative look and analysis of gender disparity in Hollywood, featuring accounts from well-known actors, executives and artists in the Industry.The 4%: Film's Gender Problem
3.3
Overview:
Explores the hot-button issues around the striking gender gap in Hollywood. Both women and men in the entertainment industry share first-person insights, questions, and anecdotes about the place of women in Hollywood.My Own Country
4
Overview:
An East Indian physician works with AIDS patients as an epidemic of the disease hits in Tennessee.How Can It Be
NYR
Overview:
The story of Zainab and Arif, who live their son, Munna, in Brooklyn. Zainab makes the complicated decision to leave her protected life and follow her heart. One of eight shorts commissioned by the United Nations on themes concerning global society.Lights, Action, Music
7
Overview:
A wonderful journey through the meaning and relevance of film music composition. Featuring great, albeit brief, insights from some of the modern greats.The Many Miracles of Household Saints
10
Overview:
In keeping with the intergenerational magic of 'Household Saints', filmmaker Martina Savoca-Guay has crafted a compelling new documentary, 'The Many Miracles of Household Saints', revealing the improbable story behind the making of the film.Five Directors On The Battle of Algiers
10
Overview:
This 17-minute documentary is featured on the 3-Disc Criterion Collection DVD of The Battle of Algiers (1966), released in 2004. An in-depth look at the Battle of Algiers through the eyes of five established and accomplished filmmakers; Spike Lee, Steven Soderbergh, Oliver Stone, Julian Schnabel and Mira Nair. They discuss how the shots, cinematography, set design, sound and editing directly influenced their own work and how the film's sequences look incredibly realistic, despite the claim that everything in the film was staged .Acting
2024Uma Thurman: Hollywood's Silent Warrior as Self - director
2024The Many Miracles of Household Saints as Self
2019This Changes Everything as Self
2017Water and Sugar – Carlo Di Palma: The Colours of Life as Self
2016Les réalisatrices contemporaines: l'état des choses as Self
2016The 4%: Film's Gender Problem as Self
2015Restoring the Apu Trilogy as Self
2015Close Up with The Hollywood Reporter (1 Episode) as Self
2013Femme as Self
2011Solace in the Dark as Self
2011Slaying the Dragon: Reloaded as Herself
2007Lights, Action, Music as Self
2004Koffee with Karan (1 Episode) as Self
2004Five Directors On The Battle of Algiers as Self
2001Bollywood Calling as Mira
1998My Own Country as Unknown
1995The Perez Family as Woman buying Flowers
1991Mississippi Masala as Gossip Aunty #1
1985India Cabaret as Interviewer
Directing
2022National Treasure: Edge of History (1 Episode) ... Director
2020A Suitable Boy (5 Episodes) ... Director
2016Queen of Katwe ... Director
2015A Fork, a Spoon & a Knight ... Director
2014Words with Gods ... Director
2013The Reluctant Fundamentalist ... Director
2009Amelia ... Director
20088 ... Director
2008How Can It Be ... Director
2008New York, I Love You ... Director
2008Migration ... Director
2006The Namesake ... Director
2004Vanity Fair ... Director
200211’09”01—September 11: India ... Director
200211’09”01—September 11 ... Director
2002Hysterical Blindness ... Director
2001The Laughing Club of India ... Director
2001Monsoon Wedding ... Director
1998My Own Country ... Director
1997Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love ... Director
1995The Perez Family ... Director
1993The Day the Mercedes Became a Hat ... Director
1991Mississippi Masala ... Director
1988Salaam Bombay! ... Director
1985India Cabaret ... Director
1983So Far from India ... Director
1979Jama Masjid Street Journal ... Director
Production
2022National Treasure: Edge of History (1 Episode) ... Executive Producer
20088 ... Producer
2008Migration ... Executive Producer
2007Positive ... Executive Producer
2006The Namesake ... Producer
2001Monsoon Wedding ... Producer
1998My Own Country ... Producer
1997Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love ... Producer
1991Mississippi Masala ... Producer
1988Salaam Bombay! ... Producer
Writing
2015A Fork, a Spoon & a Knight ... Writer
1997Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love ... Writer
1993The Day the Mercedes Became a Hat ... Writer
1988Salaam Bombay! ... Story