Quotes by Mira Nair

About Mira Nair:

Mira Nair is an Indian filmmaker and actress based in New York. Her production company, Mirabai Films, specializes in films for international audiences that act as "native informers" on Indian society, whether in the economic, social or cultural spheres. Among her best known films are Mississippi Masala, The Namesake, the Golden Lion-winning Monsoon Wedding and Salaam Bombay!, which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

It's only at this age that I can say the word 'art' without flinching.

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

I always like to reveal the fact that the emperor has no clothes. And children are best at that. They teach us how to see the world in that sense. They are without artifice; they see it for what it is. I am drawn to that ruthless honesty.

Mira Nair

I want to question what the outside is and who defines it. I often find those that are considered to be on the outside extremely inspiring.

Mira Nair

I know what it's like to be in one place and dream of another. I also know what it's like to feel that nostalgia is a fairly useless thing because it is stasis.

Mira Nair

I grew up in a very small town which is remote even by Indian standards. I always dreamed of the world.

Mira Nair

Never treat anything you do as a stepping stone. Do it fully, and follow it completely.

Mira Nair

'Salaam Bombay' didn't put a halo on the poor. Instead, it said that they will teach us how to live.

Mira Nair

I grew up in a small town in India, but through books I knew the world.

Mira Nair

Every frame and every scene has to have an intention.

Mira Nair

If we don't tell our own stories, no one else will.

Mira Nair

Humility is not a trait I often associate with America.

Mira Nair

Making films is about having absolute and foolish confidence; the challenge for all of us is to have the heart of a poet and the skin of an elephant.

Mira Nair

For seven years, I made films in the cinema verite tradition - photographing what was happening without manipulating it. Then I realised I wanted to make things happen for myself, through feature films.

Mira Nair

In our house we say 'adolescence' is a western word. We don't believe in it.

Mira Nair

It took me three years to learn to dress in the American way, especially in winter. That was just like me. I barely wear socks even now.

Mira Nair

I came from the school of cinema verite documentaries, which was: Do not manipulate reality as it was happening but create a narrative in the editing room.

Mira Nair

You've got to understand that in Bollywood, every actor is an instrument, and yet a human being. They come to the set with a set agenda, believing, 'This is who I am, this is what I want, and no, I am not going to become that character you want me to...

Mira Nair

They say now in America that final cut doesn't mean anything. As Harvey Weinstein said to some film-maker, 'You can have final cut. I'll open your film in Arkansas.'

Mira Nair

I am an independent film-maker first and foremost. I have always cut my own cloth.

Mira Nair

Author Bio

  • NameMira Nair
  • DescriptionIndian film director
  • BornOctober 15, 1957
  • CountryIndia
  • ProfessionActor; Film Director; Film Producer
  • AwardsPadma Bhushan