Central Cinema is thrilled to be teaming up with the University of Tennessee’s Denbo Center for Humanities and the Arts for a series of screenings supplementing their multi-year focus on the idea of “authenticity”, kicking off this school year with the sub-themes of “identity and place”. First up for the Fall semester’s programming: Mira Nair’s steamy interracial romance MISSISSIPPI MASALA, screening for just $5 and introduced by Urmila Seshagiri, UT Distinguished Professor in Humanities.

The vibrant cultures of India, Uganda, and the American South are blended and simmered into a rich and fragrant fusion feast in Mira Nair’s luminous look at the complexities of love in the modern melting pot. Years after her Indian family was forced to flee their home in Uganda by the dictatorship of Idi Amin, twentysomething Mina (Sarita Choudhury) finds herself helping to run a motel in the faraway land of Mississippi. It’s there that a passionate romance with the charming Black carpet cleaner Demetrius (Denzel Washington) challenges the prejudices of their conservative families and exposes the rifts between the region’s Indian and African American communities. Tackling thorny issues of racism, colorism, culture clash, and displacement with big-hearted humor and keen insight, Nair serves up a sweet, sexy, and radical celebration of love’s power to break down the barriers between us.

“Mira Nair’s MISSISSIPPI MASALA is a piquant dish all its own, a love story with a twist, a look at displaced people, a charming, poignant blend of comedy and drama.” – St. Lous Post-Dispatch

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