Director’s Cut: Mira Nair (‘The Reluctant Fundamentalist’)

Director Mira Nair has been making waves around the world since her first film, 1998's “Salaam Bombay!” debuted to critical praise. Nair has created a fascinating and juicy body of work that cuts a wide swath through global cinema, from the cross-cultural romance “Mississippi Masala” to the dazzling wedding drama “Monsoon Wedding.” Always a forward-thinker, she was way ahead of the cable TV curve when she made the HBO original film “Hysterical Blindness,” with Gena Rowlands, Uma Thurman, and Juliette Lewis; she also gave “Harold and Kumar” star Kal Penn his first real dramatic role in her adaptation of “The Namesake” by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jhumpa Lahiri.

Mira Nair’s latest film is an adaptation of Mohsin Hamid’s bestselling and critically acclaimed novel “The Reluctant Fundamentalist.” A young Pakistani professor named Changez (Riz Ahmed) is reflecting on his life in American before and after 9/11, and how his own identity and beliefs have changed over the years since he graduated from Princeton and worked on Wall Street. Nair’s adaptation also stars Liev Schreiber as a journalist interviewing Changez for a story on revolutionary educators, Kate Hudson as Changez’s American lover Erica, and Kiefer Sutherland as his former boss.

Nair was in New York City to attend the Tribeca Film Festival premiere of “The Reluctant Fundamentalist” when we met up with her for a chat earlier this week. It opens in limited cities on April 26th.

Jenni Miller: Let’s talk about your personal connection to the book and the work, because I noticed the movie was dedicated to your father.

Mira Nair: The first bolt of inspiration to make “The Reluctant Fundamentalist” actually came not from the book but from my first trip to Pakistan in 2004. As a kid in modern India, you don’t get to go across the border into a country that was once one but now is riddled by conflict, and really a wall, so I was just dazzled… Firstly, it was just deeply familiar because the language, the poetry, the music, the realm of artistic expression is extraordinary. And it’s nothing like what you think Pakistan is from the papers, even in India or here.

Also check out: Our review of “The Reluctant Fundamentalist”

Of course, it was familiar because my father had raised us somewhat Lahore in India; we spoke Urdu, we knew these poems, we knew that music. And so I wanted to immediately make a tale about contemporary Pakistan.

Indian directors have stopped with the partition. We’ve never seen beyond that, you know? And then, then I read Mohsin’s novel, about 18 months later. Like him, I’ve lived half my life here and half my life in the subcontinent, and not only did it give me the chance to make a tale about modern Pakistan, but it was a dialogue in its bones, with America. And I so much want this dialogue to happen, because I’ve lived here, I’ve felt the impact of 9/11 right in my front yard, and I’ve seen the reaction to it, and the consequences that we are paying for those reactions.

I think that the answer is not, you’re either with us or against us, or you’re black or white, or you’re good or evil. I think the answer is in opening our minds and hearts and knowing that on the other side are also human beings, as complicated and as fun and as human and as believing in all the things we believe in, as in this country. So that’s what I tried to do, because we don’t have this conversation; it’s always a monologue, it’s always one point of view. And Mohsin’s and my own sensibility wanted to create the dialogue.

One thing I really enjoy about your filmmaking is behind the scenes, which is how predominantly female your crew is. Do you think that’s the secret of women breaking through in film, is supporting other women, whether as cast, crew, producers – what do you think that brings to the game?

Well, my crew is largely female simply because they’re simply superb at what they do, and take me further in every respect. A big part of making film is the family with which you make film, and I’m so blessed to have this film family that I have, of course, nourished since 20, 25 years…

In terms of the paucity of female filmmakers, because this really is a conundrum for me — I just feel like it’s one of the saddest things because I work so differently and work with so many spirited women [laughs] — but I think that we have to plow on and we just have to keep not subscribing to being part of a cookie cut kind of world, but plow on with the courage of being distinct and having our own voices and our stories, because look at this story. It is a story of about the world and its multiplicity, and it’s because I also live in three countries… I am forced to expand my worldview.

Similarly, as a woman, one has these multi arms, you know, like the goddesses in India [laughs], and we excel in doing these different things at every moment, different roles I play and we play all. I just think to make movies you have to have a core of very strong self-belief, and you have to have something to say.

I read a really wonderful quote from Kate Hudson that she was recuperating from childbirth and not feeling great one day on set, and that you rubbed her feet?

[laughs] I used to do whatever because she is the most unpretentious person. She came with no entourage, absolutely unfettered, you know? And I loved that, I loved there was no some drama, you know, mishegoss every time to do it. She was totally open, and I’ve given birth so I know what that feels like, and it’s amazing that she managed to do all this. So I would do whatever she needed, you know? I rubbed her feet.

She would be breastfeeding, and I would just – she didn’t need anything, but I would cover her up [laughing] – anything to make her [comfortable]… I just love working with her and love how her – she just is brave, she just embraces instinct in every way. Her whole personality is like that, so I’m pretty similar in some senses.

Is it true that you turned down “Harry Potter”?

Well, it’s true in the sense that yeah, we went down the road a long way [laughs] – if I could have, I could have, you know? But I was just two months before shooting “The Namesake,” and I was deep in that. “Namesake” was really fueled by loss, and yet I felt divided because my son learned to read on “Harry Potter.” But he was the one who liberated me. He said, “Many can make ‘Harry Potter,’” but he said, “Mama, only you can make ‘The Namesake.’” It really was a beautiful lesson from a 14-year-old. He’s a great guy. He’s 21 now.

The film, in a way, is made for him and his group of people, the twenty-somethings of the world, because we’re all on this journey of finding out who we are, and it’s even more complicated when you come from many places or one other place or whatever. It’s seeking to hold a mirror to that journey, to make you question where will you be heard? What is that truth that they hand out to you? So, let’s see, I’m hoping to galvanize the young.

Categories: Interviews

Tags: Director's cut, Harry potter, Interview, Kate hudson, Mira nair, The Reluctant Fundamentalist