Mira Nair Quotes

India, Film Maker
October 15, 1957

Mira Nair is an Indian-American filmmaker based in New York City. 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, Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love, The Namesake, the Golden Lion winning Monsoon Wedding, and Salaam Bombay!, which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

If we don't tell our own stories, no one else will.

Mira Nair
- Stories
Never treat anything you do as a stepping stone. Do it fully, and follow it completely.

Mira Nair
- Treats
- Stepping

Marriage of attraction is a gamble anyway, so you might as well marry into a family that is similar to your own, and make that much less of an adjustment. But the 'love marriage', as it is called, is equally common in India now. But it would be interesting to do a comparison of what would work better. Marriage is hard work, and it is a gamble.

Mira Nair
I often begin movies with music in my head; it's a very important dimension to me. Not just the music itself, but how to use music in film: when and how and subtlety. I don't like to be too sweet in my stories, and I like the abrasive clang, the contrasting of sounds and cultures.

Mira Nair
- Important
- Stories
- Sound
What is really important to me is a sense of humour and a mischief about life. Life is just too boring otherwise.

Mira Nair
I know what it's like to be in one place and dream of another. I also know what it's like to feel that nostalgia is a fairly useless thing because it is stasis.

Mira Nair
- Useless
- Nostalgia
- Stasis
It is because my roots are so strong that I can fly.

Mira Nair
- Strong
- Roots
We all know the power of film; we all know there's almost nothing more powerful than to see people on film that look and talk like you, like we do.

Mira Nair
- People
- Powerful

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.

Mira Nair
- Pride
- Pleasure
- Harmony
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.

Mira Nair
My films, no one else will do.

Mira Nair
- Films
- Else
Every film is a political act; it's how you see the world.

Mira Nair
- World
- Political
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.

Mira Nair
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.

Mira Nair

I grew up in a small town in India, but through books I knew the world.

Mira Nair
- Small
- India
- Towns