Trailer Watch: Mira Nair’s 1991 Romance “Mississippi Masala” Gets a 4K Restoration

Trailers

Trailer Watch: Mira Nair’s 1991 Romance “Mississippi Masala” Gets a 4K Restoration

Mira Nair’s “Mississippi Masala” is getting some much-overdue love. A press release has announced that her 1991 tale of romance, racism, and migration has received a 4K restoration that will begin screening in theaters next week. Although the film marked the follow-up to Nair’s Oscar-nominated, Camera d’or-winning hit “Salaam Bombay!,” “Mississippi Masala” was underappreciated following its release: it’s not available to stream and DVD copies are a bit hard to come by.

Written by Nair’s frequent collaborator Sooni Taraporevala, “Mississippi Masala” is the love story of Mina (Sarita Choudhury), a self-described masala mix who was born in Uganda, is of Indian descent, and is now helping her family run a motel in the American South, and Demetrius (Denzel Washington), a Black carpet cleaner.

As the trailer for the new restoration hints, Mina and Demetrius’ relationship is considered controversial. Although one character, an Indian man stresses, “As long as you’re not white, you’re colored…All us people of color must stick together,” Mina and Demetrius’ families disapprove of them being together. Demetrius is warned to stay away from the “foreigners” since they’re “trouble.” Mina’s father (Roshan Seth), still scarred from being forced out of Uganda by Idi Amin’s regime years ago, is adamant that “people stick to their own kind.” He adds, “The world is not so quick to change.”

“A Suitable Boy,” “Queen of Katwe,” and “The Namesake” are among Nair’s other features. Taraporevala penned the latter as well as “Salaam Bombay!”

The new restoration of “Mississippi Masala” will open April 15 at the IFC Center in New York. It will open at the NuArt Theater in Los Angeles April 22 and then receive a national rollout.