``Mississippi Masala' Director Mira Nair To Attend Film Festival Tomorrow

Mira Nair wasn't able to make it to Seattle last week for the local premiere of her new film, "Mississippi Masala." But she will be here tomorrow, when the movie gets a repeat showing as the final event in the Sixth Festival of Films by Women Directors.

"The festival is really persistent," Nair said by phone from New York. "Peggy (Case, co-director of the festival) has been chasing me in several countries, and she finally caught me."

In addition to the extra screening, at 9:30 p.m. tomorrow at the Seattle Art Museum, Nair has agreed to do a workshop/seminar at 3:30 p.m. tomorrow at New City Theater. "Mississippi Masala" opens for a regular run next Friday at the Metro Cinemas.

Still in her early 30s, the Oscar-nominated director of "Salaam Bombay!" has been busy with a 4-month-old baby and a new home in Uganda. She's also preparing her next movie, an epic Warner Bros. biography of Buddha that's being written by Robert Bolt.

Nair fell in love with the Uganda house when she shot "Mississippi Masala" there last year. She said this is the first film to be made in the country since Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn shot John Huston's "The African Queen" there more than 40 years ago. During Idi Amin's reign, no one wanted to film there.

"Uganda went through some pretty rough times, and it's paying a price for what it was then," she said. "Economically it's still desperate, but it's a stunning place. You can't duplicate it,

wherever Hollywood goes to find `Africa.' They recently remodeled the Lake Victoria Hotel, where Huston and (producer) Sam Spiegel stayed, and I sometimes have lunch there and think of Huston's ghost."

Although "Mississippi Masala" begins in Uganda, during Amin's expulsion of the Asian population in 1972, most of it takes place many years later in the United States, where several immigrant families have relocated. The central story involves a Romeo-and-Juliet affair between an Indian motel clerk (Sarita Choudhury) and a black Mississippi carpet cleaner (Denzel Washington). Their families are outraged, his job is threatened and she is told not to see him again.

"I've wanted to do something on this subject for years," said Nair. "There's a consciousness of color within our community, a hierarchy of color, and invisible lines are drawn."

When she read a New Yorker story by Jane Kramer about the Asian exodus, she knew she'd found a unique angle. Although most of the Indians from Uganda resettled in London or Vancouver, B.C., some did end up in the American South, and she met one who was running a motel in the South.

"Eventually the theme developed: `What is home for an Indian?'," she said. "The storyline is totally fictitious, but I know about the documentary reality of Asians taking over these motels."

Although she used mostly nonactors for "Salaam Bombay!," which was shot in the streets of Bombay, Nair didn't see much difference in working with experienced actors on Uganda and Mississippi locations. Born in India, she discovered filmmaking at Harvard University in the late 1970s and made her first movie as a student thesis there.

"I'm so familiar with American culture that this was not such a great leap," she said. "The kids in `Salaam Bombay!' didn't need a lot of work because after doing a workshop with them they were so primed. The big challenge on this film was trying to blend so many amazingly different acting styles."

Washington had just won an Academy Award for playing a Civil War soldier in "Glory" when he was cast, but Choudhury is a British/Canadian/Jamaican film student who had never acted before.

Roshan Seth and Sharmila Tagore, who play her parents, also come from different traditions: Seth toured with the Royal Shakespeare Company and played Nehru in "Gandhi" (1982), while Tagore made her film debut as the doomed child bride in Satyajit Ray's "The World of Apu" (1959). Ranjit Chowdry, who plays the hot-headed owner of the motel, made a delightful American debut last year as the frustrated hero of "Lonely in America."

"Denzel loved `Salaam' - I keep telling him he has good taste - and he was interested in this script," said Nair. "He liked the idea of playing a homeboy, not a larger-than-life black hero, which is what he's been doing a lot. It was clear that we knew how an Asian family lives, but he pushed the script (written by Sooni Taraporevala) to explore the black community more.

"Sarita was one of about 75 women we auditioned," she said. "I like her un-self-conscious beauty, her feistiness, her freedom about her own sensuality. She can look demure in front of an Indian elder and then rock all night in a discotheque. It's hard to find someone who can do that."

Seth and Choudhury had already been cast and the film was set in motion by the time Washington signed on. England's Channel 4 came up with most of the initial financing. But Nair said that having a recent Oscar winner in the cast helped make everything fall into place.

Enjoyable as the American scenes are, the most striking moments in "Mississippi Masala" take place in Africa. Especially memorable are a scary early episode in which Tagore is interrogated on the way to the airport and a sublime finale that involves Seth, a crowded celebration and a Uganda baby.

"No one was allowed to take gold or jewelry out of the country, and Sooni and I had heard stories of that kind of interrogation, " said Nair. "You don't know at one point whether she's going to be shot or have her necklace taken. There's a sense of genuine, deep violation, and always the threat of death. Cruelty is so banal sometimes, so macabre sometimes, and I wanted to do it all in that scene."

Nair's dissatisfaction with the original ending, a glib comic episode involving Washington and Choudhury back in the U.S., gave her the idea to come up with "a purely cinematic emotional moment" for the finale. She's delighted that most people think it's an accident.

"We found the most beautiful baby we could find, and we tried to make it so it wouldn't look planned," she said. "I knew I wanted to do the scene but I never thought of it as an ending. I wanted to suggest one of those inexplicable moments that happens in life, one of those small epiphanies that make you feel embraced. It's a beginning and not an ending. People have come up with various interpretations for it, and that's great. It should have a sense of mystery."

There have been several last-minute changes in the festival program. Here's an updated roundup:

Panel Discussion, at 12:30 p.m. tomorrow at New City Theater. The subject is "Shaping the Public Image: Film Criticism and Distribution in the '90s." Nancy Kelly, director of "1000 Pieces of Gold," is expected to attend, along with Ella Taylor, L.A. Weekly critic; Lucy Mohl, KING-TV critic; and writer-producer-director Carol Munday Lawrence, who has worked with prize-winning filmmaker Charles Burnett ("To Sleep With Anger").

Mira Nair Workshop/Seminar, at 3:30 p.m. tomorrow at New City Theater. Nair will be accompanied by screenwriter Sooni Taraporevala, who worked with her on "Salaam Bombay!" as well as "Mississippi Masala." Security Pacific Bank is sponsoring the event. Tickets for this event only are $20.

"Janice Findley's Short Report," at 7 p.m. tomorrow at the Seattle Art Museum. New Film/New City's curator will present a program of shorts by North American filmmakers, including Nancy Heftand's "He Was Once," Sheila Sofian's "Faith and Patience," Judy Kriger's "Souvenir," Cathy Cook's "Match That Started My Fire," Karry Kefer's "Melissa's Lullaby," Amy Laly's "Street Players," Janice Cole's "Shaggie" and Joanna Priestley's "After the Fall" (Fefer and Laly are Seattle filmmakers). Women in Film/Seattle is hosting the closing-night party, which will be held following this show on the Grand Staircase of the museum.

"Mississippi Masala," at 9:30 p.m. tomorrow at the museum. Mira Nair will introduce her new film.

Some tickets are still available for most events. For information, call 621-2231.