Mississippi Masala

1991

Drama / Romance

14
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Certified Fresh 92% · 77 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 65% · 5K ratings
IMDb Rating 6.8/10 10 7320 7.3K

immigrant southern usa mississippi river uganda interracial relationship interracial romance

Director

Mira Nair Photo
Mira Nair

Top cast

Denzel Washington Photo
Denzel Washington as Demetrius Williams
Tico Wells Photo
Tico Wells as Dexter Williams
Sharmila Tagore Photo
Sharmila Tagore as Kinnu
Mira Nair Photo
Mira Nair as Gossip 1
720p.BLU 1080p.BLU
1.06 GB
1280*690
English 2.0
R
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 57 min
Seeds 7
1.96 GB
1920*1036
English 2.0
R
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 57 min
Seeds 37

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by Thruxomatic 8 / 10

Multi-layered film with significant depth

It is rare for what amounts to a simple love story to cover as much ground as this film ultimately does.There's a political layer, with the 1970s era unrest in Uganda being a primary driver and motivator for much of the other decisions made by the characters. There's a racial layer, with racial tension in Africa spilling over into reciprocal racial tension in Mississippi in turn. There's a layer for interpersonal relationships as well, with Demetrius and Meena's growing love and the estranged friendship with her father and his friend back in Uganda.Weaving all these layers together requires a very deft suite of actors and a very deft director and, for the most part, everyone is up to snuff. There are some very high quality acting performances indeed in this film.Ultimately, the film is about the first generation of an immigrant family struggling to come to grips with their diminished situation. Some members of this first generation embrace the change and attempt to adopt many of the idioms and customs of their new home, and the second generation most definitely does this, but the patriarch of the family struggles to accept that his life in Uganda is essentially gone. The entire film builds to a climax that ultimately has nothing to do with Demetrius and Meena's relationship.The real climax is the father's ultimately forced acceptance of his new situation. The interracial relationship is the driver, but the destination is purely internal for the family patriarch.A nod has to go to Denzel Washington for opting into this small-budget film of exceeding quality when his star was clearly on the rise and such films could easily have been deemed beneath him. Choudry is positively mesmerizing, and she steals many scenes with her subtle facial expressions and body language. Clearly, she was a gem that needed a better setting for her later career.I'd love to give a cast award, because the cast is almost univerally above average, which is very rare for a film. Some very bit parts become part of a larger tapestry that is very worth one's time to witness.
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Reviewed by corrupt200 8 / 10

A true depiction of Indians in America.

This movie showed one thing that is totally true about many Indians in America (I don't know about England). Many Indians who immigrate to this country start acting and behaving like they are white. Sometimes they forget that they are not even white (I am guilty of that sometimes too, probably even more because I grew up here). Denzel Washington points that out to Roshan Seth very well in this movie. "You are no more than a few shades from my complexion." And then Jammu point out to Anil how he has started to act American (probably means white American), and Anil says, "So what? I'm living in America! You don't like it? Go back to India!"

Overall, it's a really good movie. I like it even more than "Monsoon Wedding," and I feel this movie was very underrated. My seventh grade teacher recommended this movie a long time ago (actually a few mos. after I saw it myself.) I myself have been recommending it to some of my non-Indian college friends who have seen Monsoon Wedding.

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