Cast
Denzel Washington, he is one of the top five actors who i would include in my all time favorite actors. He was the reason of me finding this movie. About a couple of years back, i was so into Denzel that i started renting all of his movies. I rented almost all of his movies and that was the day when i saved Mississippi Masala to my storage disk.
Sarita Choudhury, was one name, in the lead, of whom i hadn't heard of. When i checked about her in IMDB, i found that she has also done a lot of credible work since this movie but i was stupid enough to have never seen any of her movies. But that won't happen again as one of her movie "For Real" will soon be released in India and i'm going to watch the movie.
Mira Nair, a well known name among Indians and people who watch movies. She has directed many beautiful movies like Salaam Bombay, Monsoon Wedding, Vanity Fair, The Namesake etc. Salaam Bombay and The Namesake makes it to my all time favorite movies and the movies i recommend.
Plot
Mississippi Malasa, as the name suggest, is a mix of different stories and emotion of a family. An Indian family, settled in Uganda, is forced to leave the country during the rule of Idi Amin in the 1970's. Jay (Father) is reluctant to leave the country because he was born and brought up in the same country and he feels that Uganda is his home but had to leave when forced.
Cut - to 1990's
The family now lives in Mississippi, US. Jay (Father) is still fighting for his rights and property in Uganda against the Uganda government in the court. His wife Kinnu (mother) works at a alcohol shop to support the family. Their daughter Meena, works for the same Indian Motel they live in.
One day, in a road accident, Meena (Sarita) meets Demetrius (Denzel) and after a couple of meetings, they start liking each other. Meena decides to keep her relationship with Demetrius a secret from her family. But the secret is unveiled as one day a neighbor of Meena catches her in a motel with Demetrius. After which, Meena's family forbids her from seeing Demetrius and the neighbors try to get Demetrius out of business by hampering his carpet cleaning business. Results of which, Demetrius leaves Meena. In the meanwhile, Jay gets a call from Uganda court asking him to come back to take the property case further. The family decides to leave Mississippi and move back to Uganda. When meena meets Demetrius to bid goodbye, Demetrius asks her to marry her and move to a different city with him. Meena, who no more wants to go back to Uganda and wants to continue her life with Demetrius.
Jay goes to Uganda to fight for his rights while Kinnu, his wife, stays back in Mississippi waiting for him with the good news.
Good Points The best thing about the movie is the performances delivered by the cast. I can't point out a single actor that's why would like to applaud for the whole cast for playing the role with the highest dedication. I have always believed that it's director's job to bring the best from the actors that is why, Mira Nair is such a good director.
Bad Points
Well, i have seen many people arguing about the climax of the movie which i agree to a certain extent but not completely. People say, that the end was not appropriate as they it left the story in half and they wanted to see at least what happened to the Jay (Father). I agree to this, i thought, Mira Nair should have added or created that part too. Then, the climax also leaves me in a confusion who was the important character in the movie Jay, the father or Meena, the daugther?
Anyways, it's a good watch and can be categorized as the Sunday Movie.
8/10 from me
