Mira Nair movies are different and one can’t slot her in either Bollywood or Hollywood. However she has been able to carve a niche for herself quite successfully in both the East and the West! Here are some excerpts from a recent interview to BBC’s Talking Movies where Nair talks about herself, the Namesake and yes Harry Potter !
On Namesake:
“It starts in Calcutta in the 70s and comes to New York City and ends today. It's about 
a Bengali couple who leave and become professors here and their children who are very American and so on, who are born here. I wanted very much to get Indian actors from , who feel that world, and also Indian-American actors from here to play their children because they are totally American kids. Kal Penn, who did such a stunning comic turn in Harold and Kumar Go To Whitecastle wanted to make his first dramatic movie and he just blew me away with the authenticity of his reading.”
“Irrfan Khan, who plays his father Ashoke, is actually somebody I discovered when he was 18. He played his first film in Salaam Bombay and has become a great star since then. Tabu, who plays Ashima has given the most amazing performance. She's a great actress with more than 100 movies that she's done and her eyes have the gravitas of life.”
On Getting Global Acclaim
“I have no desire to be part of the school which believes that has arrived only when the West recognises us. It's complete nonsense because India's film industry has nourished half the world for half a century, and its only now with the media explosion on both sides -- in India and of course the West coming to India; let's not make any bones about it, that 300 million middle class who are ready to spend their bucks in India is clearly a market for Hollywood -- that both sides are now entertaining each other in a way”.
On Rejecting Harry Potter:
“I have very good relationships in the studio system and I feel a great sense of respect. I also find a sense of desire on their part to honour my opinion because it is a turf still new for them. But there are subjects that I occasionally really want to insist on, because I fear that if the subjects are from my part of the world, the songs that I have sung and the stories that I know, then they better get it right.”
a Bengali couple who leave and become professors here and their children who are very American and so on, who are born here. I wanted very much to get Indian actors from , who feel that world, and also Indian-American actors from here to play their children because they are totally American kids. Kal Penn, who did such a stunning comic turn in Harold and Kumar Go To Whitecastle wanted to make his first dramatic movie and he just blew me away with the authenticity of his reading.”
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