Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		5.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		5.0
Overall		4.0

Mississippi Masala Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman August 10, 2022

The following paragraph from the diary or journal of one Christopher Columbus may not immediately seem to have much to do with Mississippi Masala, though I'm about to argue it has at least some connections, at least if its perspective is "reversed", in a manner of speaking. One way or the other, though, this actual excerpt from Columbus' writings may provide some outright shock, maybe even outrage, anyway:

Whereas, Most Christian, High, Excellent, and Powerful Princes, King and Queen of Spain and of the Islands of the Sea, our Sovereigns, this present year 1492, after your Highnesses had terminated the war with the Moors reigning in Europe, the same having been brought to an end in the great city of Granada, where on the second day of January, this present year, I saw the royal banners of your Highnesses planted by force of arms upon the towers of the Alhambra, which is the fortress of that city, and saw the Moorish king come out at the gate of the city and kiss the hands of your Highnesses, and of the Prince my Sovereign; and in the present month, in consequence of the information which I had given your Highnesses respecting the countries of India and of a Prince, called Great Can, which in our language signifies King of Kings, how, at many times he, and his predecessors had sent to Rome soliciting instructors who might teach him our holy faith, and the holy Father had never granted his request, whereby great numbers of people were lost, believing in idolatry and doctrines of perdition. Your Highnesses, as Catholic Christians, and princes who love and promote the holy Christian faith, and are enemies of the doctrine of Mahomet, and of all idolatry and heresy, determined to send me, Christopher Columbus, to the above-mentioned countries of India, to see the said princes, people, and territories, and to learn their disposition and the proper method of converting them to our holy faith; and furthermore directed that I should not proceed by land to the East, as is customary, but by a Westerly route, in which direction we have hitherto no certain evidence that any one has gone. So after having expelled the Jews from your dominions, your Highnesses, in the same month of January, ordered me to proceed with a sufficient armament to the said regions of India, and for that purpose granted me great favors, and ennobled me that thenceforth I might call myself Don, and be High Admiral of the Sea, and perpetual Viceroy and Governor in all the islands and continents which I might discover and acquire, or which may hereafter be discovered and acquired in the ocean; and that this dignity should be inherited by my eldest son, and thus descend from degree to degree forever.

Now aside from the dropping jaws this statement may have engendered in some readers, it's nonetheless an absolutely fascinating document that details one of the more epochal clashes between three of the world's major religions, with one of them being more or less vanquished and the other expelled, and with an underlying subtext of the assumed moral superiority of the victors (and therefore probably implied, their religion) doing the vanquishing and expelling. Now try to imagine the above paragraph being written by a Jew of the time rather than Columbus, and perhaps arguably at least some tethers to Mississippi Masala emerge, if only in broad generalities if not necessarily in specifics, and certainly with regard to how an expulsion based on ethnicity, race and/or religion can deeply impact those suffering such a fate, especially when they've been deemed to be an "unwanted minority" and are expelled from the only place they've ever known as home.

Close to five hundred years after the Jews were expelled from Spain, dictator Idi Amin decided he didn't want Asians in Uganda, resulting in another decree to either leave or be forcibly removed. That sets up the foundational plot element in Mississippi Masala, which sees a family of Indians (as in the "real" kind, not the kind Columbus misidentified in the "New World") leaving Uganda under less than felicitous circumstances to try to forge a new life in the United States. Perhaps jumping out of the fire and into the veritable frying pan, the family ends up in Mississippi of all places, perhaps perceived at least to not exactly be a bastion of tolerance and acceptance. (There's some really fascinating supplementary information on this disc as well as available online documenting some of the political and even racial undertones of this move on the part of Amin, as well as how Indians even ended up in Uganda in the first place, which again for armchair historians may have some echoes with the history of Jews in Spain, especially with regard to some reported comments by Amin that basically suggested Indians were a conspiratorial elite in charge of elements in the economy, and therefore needed to be removed.)

The family in question is comprised of Mina (Sarita Choudhury) and her parents Jay (Roshan Seth) and Kinnu (Sharmila Tagore), who move to Mississippi and at least have some other family there already to help cushion the culture shock. There's some kind of interesting generational differences shown here that in a way reminded me of another release from Criterion I reviewed, Devi, though in this case the differences are not necessarily with regard to religious belief but the ability to matriculate into an "American" way of life. Unsurprisingly Mina has made the transition without many issues, whereas Jay at least struggles and pines for a return to the land he (understandably) considers to be "home".

The plot thickens somewhat when Mina starts a relationship with a local black man named Demetrius Williams (Denzel Williams), and it's in this relationship and how it refracts into the family dynamic of Mina's parents (again, Jay in particular) where writer Sooni Taraporevala and director Mira Nair start to explore some subtly handled but still pretty provocative content involving prejudice from any number of angles. It's an almost startling deconstruction of one group of "exiled" people engaging in more or less the same behavior they experienced before they were thrown out of what they'd probably argue was their own country, and in Jay's specific case it's perhaps especially ironic given some of his activities as a defense attorney in Uganda in his "prior life".

What may throw some viewers, at least on this side of the pond, for a loop is the presence of Denzel Washington, which is necessarily going to engender thoughts that this is a "Denzel Washington movie", when really the story is at least as much about Jay as it is about Demetrius and Mina. And in fact, the ending in particular would seem to suggest that Nair is really more interested in exploring the challenges faced by a character unable to make a transition to a new environment rather than a younger person already ensconced in that new environment who has moved on to developing a romantic relationship. In that regard, it's kind of funny to find out in some of the supplements that Ben Kingsley turned down the role of Jay since he evidently told Nair he only played title roles.

Mississippi Masala Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Mississippi Masala is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of The Criterion Collection with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. Criterion's insert booklet contains the following information on the transfer:

Mississippi Masala is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1. This new digital transfer was created in 4K resolution on a lasergraphics Director film scanner at Roundabout Entertainment in Burbank, California, from the 35 mm original camera negative. The original 2.0 surround soundtrack was remastered from the 35 mm magnetic track. Please be sure to enable Dolby Pro Logic decoding on your receiver to properly play the Dolby 2.0 surround soundtrack.

This is a gorgeous looking transfer that preserves the rather lush palette, though relying now on some fairly distant memories, I don't quite recall some of the greenish and yellow gradings being so intense when I saw this film screened theatrically. Since both Ed Lachman and Mira Nair supervised this transfer according to the credits, though, I'll freely admit my memory may not be reliable. That one minor point aside, this transfer preserves a lovely organic quality which offers a tightly resolved grain field and excellent detail levels, even despite some of those aforementioned grading choices. The variety of locations is really stunningly presented in both Ugandan and American environments, and depth of field in several outdoor scenes in both locations is outstanding. I noticed no compression issues and no significant damage of any kind.

Vis a vis nothing major in particular, and only because I noticed it again on this transfer, can't someone do a little stabilization on the Janus Films masthead?

Mississippi Masala Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Mississippi Masala features a nicely wrought DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track. This has long been a favored soundtrack of mine in terms of the broad variety of music it offers, and all of that sounds nicely vibrant and fluid throughout the film. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly, and there is a wealth of nicely diverse ambient environmental sounds in the outdoor scenes in particular. Optional English subtitles are available.

Mississippi Masala Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary features director Mira Nair and was recorded in 2021.


• Sarita Choudhury and Devika Girish (HD; 25:33) is a 2022 New York City conversation between the actress and critic.


• Sooni Taraporevala (HD; 14:12) is another 2022 piece featuring screenwriter Sooni Taraporevala, speaking from Mumbai.


• Ed Lachman (HD; 16:27) returns to the Big Apple for a 2022 piece with director of photography Ed Lachman, who speaks about having one foot in the documentary world and one in the narrative.


• Mitch Epstein (HD; 18:09) completes the New York City set interviews done in 2022, this one with production designer Mitch Epstein. Interestingly, he began as Nair's cinematographer on some of her documentaries.

Additionally, Criterion provides a surprisingly thick (over 40 pages) insert booklet with an essay by Bilal Qureshi, a Director's Journal from Mira Nair, cast and credits info and the typical verbiage about the transfer along with technical credits.

Mississippi Masala Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I'm not sure tone is completely consistent in this often provocative piece, but the superior technical presentation and excellent supplements make this easily Recommended.