Directed by Mira Nair
Written by Sooni Taraporevala
Starring: Denzel Washington, Sarita Choudhury, Roshan Seth
MPAA Rating: R
Runtime: 118 minutes
Opens at IFC Center, New York April 15

by Ryan Smillie, Staff Writer

Let’s get the most important thing out of the way first – have any two people ever looked as good as Sarita Choudhury and Denzel Washington in Mississippi Masala? From the moment that Mina (Choudhury) accidentally slams her car into the back of Demetrius’s (Washington) carpet cleaning van, it’s obvious that it’s not only their cars that have crashed into each other. Two people this attractive in one movie just have to wind up together, and if you can’t accept that, then Washington and Choudhury’s steamy chemistry, hotter than the Mississippi summer they share together, should put any doubts to rest. 

With her sophomore fiction feature, Mira Nair heats up an aesthetic feast, flavored by greens of every shade, an exquisite early 90s wardrobe, and, yes, the jaw-dropping hotness of her two leads. The Criterion Collection’s new 4K digital restoration – releasing this month, 30 years after its initial release – still sizzles like it’s just out of the metaphorical oven. While notable (then and today) for its portrayal of an interracial romance between two non-white characters, Mississippi Masala is even more special for how full and textured its characters are. It’s not simply about what happens when an Indian woman and a Black man fall in love, but what happens when this Indian woman and this Black man fall in love.

Forced by Idi Amin to leave their home in Uganda, Mina and her parents, Jay and Kinnu (Roshan Seth and Sharmila Tagore) eventually settle in Greenwood, Mississippi, where they run a chain of motels. In America, Mina, now in her 20s, has developed a rebellious streak, while her father devotes himself to fighting to reclaim his seized property in Uganda. Meanwhile, Demetrius has started his own carpet cleaning business – not exactly the college education he dreamed of, but it’s something – while trying to care for his father and younger brothers. After their car accident, Demetrius and Mina run into each other at a bar, dancing together to make a former flame jealous and to shake off a milquetoast date, respectively. But even as they’re dancing with ulterior motives, their spark is undeniable.

While their romance features some expected beats (a golden hour waterfront kiss, a clandestine beach trip, a sex scene under strategically-placed sheets), it’s the moments in between those beats that contain the real heart of the movie. Before the aforementioned kiss, Mina meets Demetrius’s family for the first time at a backyard barbecue, and you can feel the warmth of the scene through the screen. His family (including the underrated Joe Seneca as his father), all characters in their own right, clearly care deeply about each other, and Nair astutely catches Mina falling in love, not just with Demetrius but with everything surrounding Demetrius. And a late-night phone call is probably the sexiest scene in the movie, Demetrius and Mina in two separate rooms, their conversation less important than their nervous tugging at their own pajamas.

Nair and screenwriter Sooni Taraporevala originally developed Mississippi Masala with Ben Kingsley as Mina’s father, Jay. After Kingsley dropped out, Nair resisted suggestions to cast some roles with white performers until the then-recently minted Oscar-winner Denzel Washington signed on as Demetrius. While Roshan Seth does typically solid work as Jay in the finished film, it’s easy to imagine Jay as a Ben Kingsley-sized role, his memories of leaving Uganda more foregrounded, and his racially strained friendship with a Black Ugandan more of a foil to his daughter’s romance with a Black American. Would it be a better movie? I’m not sure. But with Washington and Choudhury so intoxicating as Demetrius and Mina, I did find myself wondering about Jay’s role in the film. Did we need more of Jay to give his segments a bit more heft? Or did we need a bit less of him, just so we could spend more time with Mina and Demetrius? 

Alternate histories aside, it’s still a remarkable film. And though most of us would probably be satisfied just to continue watching two insanely attractive people fall in love, conflict must inevitably strike. When it does, however, it’s more complicated than the history of cinematic interracial romance would have you expect. Instead, with her carefully crafted characters and plot, Nair is able to explore the interplay between racism and classism (which, of course, can’t be decoupled from one another). It feels so realistic that you might think that Nair’s collection of beautiful moments and images might not enough to keep Mina and Demetrius together, but spoiler alert: two people this hot can’t stay apart for too long.