One of the greatest entries in 1990s U.S. “indie” cinema, MISSISSIPPI MASALA performs a remarkable balancing act. The young and hopeful Mina (Sarita Choudhury) and Demetrius (Denzel Washington) navigate a cross-cultural romance in the Deep South, where Mina’s parents Jay (Roshan Seth) and Kinnu (Sharmila Tagore) adapt to their new circumstances as South Asian exiles from Idi Amin’s Uganda. Director Mira Nair, one of the great voices of diasporic Indian cinema (who also happens to be Zohran Mamdani’s mother!), recognizes that life in the United States subsists precisely through complexity and intercultural tension.