Masala is a blend of dried spices used typically in Indian cooking. It’s a blend that becomes more than the sum of its parts when mixed correctly, assuming a bold flavor all of its own. There are many characters and two stories at play in Mississippi Masala (1991). Amazingly, it all works. It’s a balancing act that writer Sooni Taraporevala impressively pulls off in a steady rhythm, alternating between each mostly unrelated story in intervals that keep us interested in both. If you’ve seen Mississippi Masala, you might be thinking, “Jeff, how can these stories be unrelated when they involve the same family.” Good question, thank you for asking: one of the unique successes of this film is how it centers the stories of each generation, not relegating one generation to a supporting role of the other.
The film opens in Uganda in 1972 as Idi Amin comes into power, expelling the Indian/Asian population in the process. “Africa is for Black Africans.” is said at one point. Jay (Roshan Seth) and Kinnu (Sharmila Tagore) depart in duress with their young daughter (Sahira Nair) as the country falls under the control of the despot. They move to Mississippi (after a brief stop in Europe) and open a motel, and the story jumps to 1990. Jay never gets over his expulsion from his home and has spent many years writing letters and petitioning the courts of Uganda to hear his appeal for getting his property back so he can move his family back home. One day, Jay and Kinnu’s daughter, Mina (now 24 and played by Sarita Choudhury), is speeding down the street in her cousin’s car when she runs into the back of a green van. The van is being driven by Demetrius (Denzel Washington), a young Black man who owns and operates a cleaning service. They exchange information, and being the two most beautiful people in the movie, quickly become entangled. Their romance causes their families to fight petty battles: The Indian family boycotts Demetrius’s cleaning service, and Demetrius’s family pushes a (flimsy) lawsuit for the earlier car crash.
These are our two stories: The parents long for home, and the youths long for each other. The parents and the kids might be supporting characters and influences in each other’s story, but their tales operate fairly independently of each other. It’s refreshing. I could go on, raving about the beautiful palette of the film (lots of greens!) or the insight this provides into several cultures you might be unfamiliar with. Still, instead, this week, I’m going to go off-script and just share the top two Letterboxd reviews for Mississippi Masala:
Nailed it.
The dual stories at play in this film work for me because films that tell the story of generations typically follow a similar trope: You have the young generation that wants to do things differently than the old. You have the older generation that wants them to do things their way, usually in opposition to the desires of the younger generation; conflict arises from the power the older generation wields (financial, emotional, whatever), the young learn from the old, the old soften up a bit, and everyone feels better. The issue is that these stories typically center on the younger generation, making the older generation feel two-dimensional and cartoonish. 2022’s Everything Everywhere All at Once is an outstanding recent exception.
Ebert gave the film 3½ stars (½ star away from perfect), writing about the movie in 1992, he had this to say:
If I have a complaint about Nair's work, it's that she tries to cover too much ground. She knows a lot about her subject, but should have decided what was important and left out the rest. The scenes in Uganda, for example, are not necessary for narrative purposes, and her closing scenes (as the father returns to the home of 20 years earlier) upstages the conclusion of the love story.
I think Ebert got it wrong here: while he calls out the multiple stories at play in the film and isn’t out of line for suggesting the film should’ve picked one, I think the father’s return to Uganda is crucial in closing his arc: in a film that is telling complete stories for the two generations at play, we needed to see Jay find (or not find) what he was looking for in all of his time spent writing to Ugandan courts. His character needs to close this loop, otherwise he’d be reduced to the two-dimensionality of countless other films that depict parents as buzzkills of the new generational way of thinking. In a final beat that justifies the ‘Masala’ in the film's title, what he learns about himself when he returns to Uganda unlocks understanding and empathy for his daughter, Mina. The stories finally blend, and we know the families will come together, greater than the sum of their parts. The ending is more than just necessary; it’s good.
Mississippi Masala
Written by Sooni Taraporevala; Directed by Mira Nair
1991
118 minutes
English, Swahili
Recommended way to watch (at time of publication): Criterion Channel
You’ll like this if you like: The Namesake (2006), The Big Sick (2017), or Bend It Like Beckham (2002)