My family is almost exactly like the one in Monsoon Wedding. We are very open, fairly liberal, loud people. – Mira Nair
I look for the humanity in people, however big the politics or oppressive the situation may be, whether its subsumed within a human being or between two human beings. I want to help us hold a mirror to ourselves. – Mira Nair
I often begin movies with music in my head its a very important dimension to me. Not just the music itself, but how to use music in film: when and how and subtlety. I dont like to be too sweet in my stories, and I like the abrasive clang, the contrasting of sounds and cultures. – Mira Nair
In America, we have so many movies and so much media about the Islamic world, the sub-continental world, but its not a conversation, its a monologue. Its always from one point of view. If we dont tell our own stories, no one will tell them is my mantra. – Mira Nair
I think films have to reach people and really grab them. Thats what I hope to do when I make a film – to get under your skin and really make you think about something, and have a transporting time that takes you somewhere. – Mira Nair
I am at home in many cultures. I live actively in three continents and Ive done that for most of my life, so I just make films as I see the world, and that happens to speak to people. I do things that I want to do. – Mira Nair
New York City is home to so many people from so many places and the uniqueness of it is that you never feel a foreigner. English is almost hardly ever heard in the subway. In fact, its weird. – Mira Nair
You know, the sad thing of post-9/11, which was of course horrific, was that the city in which I felt completely at home for two decades, suddenly people like us – brown people – were looked at as the Others. – Mira Nair
Creative freedom is an imperative for me, but it doesnt really exist in a Hollywood game. – Mira Nair
We have to realize only in communication, in real knowledge, in real reaching out, can there be an understanding that theres humanity everywhere, and thats what Im trying to do. – Mira Nair
Its only at this age that I can say the word art without flinching. – Mira Nair
With Vietnam, the Iraq War, so many American films about war are almost always from the American point of view. You almost never have a Middle Eastern character by name with a story. – Mira Nair
We have three generations at home, including my father-in-law. I keep a very low profile, and a lot of things I do are very much with the family in mind. I have actually made films with the family around me. – Mira Nair
Christmas lights may be the loneliest thing for me, especially if you mix them up with reindeers and sleighs. I feel alone. I feel isolated. I feel I do not belong. – Mira Nair
