Mira Nair

Mira Nair (born 15 October 1957) is an Indian 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.

Early life and education

Mira Nair was born on October 15, 1957 in Rourkela, Odissa, and grew up with her two older two brothers and parents in Bhubaneshwar, Odissa. Along with the rest of her family, Nair is Punjabi, and is from one of the most prosperous, middle-upper-class, regions located in India. Her father, Amrit Nair, is an Indian administrative officer, and her mother, Praveen Nair, is a social worker who often worked with illiterate children. At the age of eleven, Nair and her family moved to Delhi due to her father transferring posts. By thirteen she left home to attend Loreto Convent Tara Hall, an Irish-Catholic missionary school located in Simla, where she grew an infatuation with English literature. Following Tara Hall, Nair went on to study at Miranda House at Delhi University, where she majored in Sociology. In order to gain the best education available, Nair applied to Western schools and at nineteen she was offered a full scholarship to Cambridge University, but ultimately turned it down and instead accepted a full scholarship to Harvard University.