Mississippi Masala

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Mississippi Masala
Directed by	Mira Nair
Written by	Sooni Taraporevala
Starring	Denzel Washington Roshan Seth Sharmila Tagore Sarita Choudhury
Release date(s)	1991
Language	English
IMDb profile

Mississippi Masala (1991) is a film directed by Mira Nair, based upon a screenplay by Sooni Taraporevala.

[edit] Story

A third generation Indian-Ugandan family residing in Kampala, is expelled from the country in 1972 by the Idi Amin regime. The father, Jay (Roshan Seth) moves with wife, Kinnu (Sharmila Tagore) and daughter, Meena (Sarita Choudhury) to Greenwood, Mississippi to live with family members who own a chain of motels there.

In 1990, 24 year old Meena, who cleans toilets at her family's motel, falls in love with Demetrius (Denzel Washington) a local African-American carpet cleaner. The respective families erupt in turmoil after the pair are confronted by members of the Indian family during a weekend of pleasure in Biloxi.

Ultimately, the two families cannot come to terms with the inter-racial pair who flee together in Demetrius' van. Both need to move on, both emotionally and physically in order to grow, but so does Jay, who, after a brief return to Kampala to attend a court proceeding on the disposition of his confiscated Ugandan house, relinquishes his long-nurtured dream of returning to Africa.

The script was written (in Brooklyn, NY) after extensive research by Nair and Taraporevala, and their team, in Mississippi and Uganda.

[edit] Cast and crew

• Denzel Washington - Demetrius Williams
• Sarita Choudhury - Meena
• Roshan Seth - Jay
• Sharmila Tagore - Kinnu
• Charles S. Dutton - Tyrone Williams
• Joe Seneca - Williben Williams
• Ranjit Chowdhry - Anil
• Mohan Gokhale - Pontiac
• Mohan Agashe - Kanti Napkin
• Tico Wells - Dexter Williams
• Yvette Hawkins - Aunt Rose
• Anjaan Srivastav - Jammubhai
• Dipti Suthar - Chanda
• Varsha Thaker - Kusumben
• Ashok Lath - Harry Patel
• Natalie Oliver - Alicia LeShay
• Karen Pinkston - Mrs. Morgan