MISSISSIPPI MASALA
A film review by Ken Johnson
Copyright 1992 Ken Johnson
130 min., R, Drama, 1991
Director: Mira Nair
Cast: Denzel Washington, Roshan Seth, Sarita Chudhury,
Sharmila Tangore, Charles S. Dutton
Indian (from India) Sarita Chudhury, who moved from Africa to Mississippi with her family 18 years before, meets Denzel Washington, a Black who owns his own rug cleaning business. The two fall in love, but their relationship is threatened by Sarita Chudhury's father, who dislikes Blacks.
MISSISSIPPI MASALA is by the director of SALAAM BOMBAY!, and I feel that it is a very good film, and definitely worth seeing. I almost didn't go to see this film, because the title, at least to me, sounded boring, and I had only seen one preview for the film and it didn't tell too much. I give MISSISSIPPI MASALA a four on a scale of zero to five. MISSISSIPPI MASALA is rated R for explicit language, adult situations, and mild violence.
When I saw the advertisements for MISSISSIPPI MASALA I wasn't quite sure of what it was going to be about. It looked like it was either going to be a remake of ROMEO AND JULIET or an immigrant drama. It was more of a remake of ROMEO AND JULIET than an immigrant drama, but it really wasn't either.
Denzel Washington gave a great performance, along with the rest of the cast. What I think that I liked most about the film, was the screenplay. It was very well crafted and it held my interest throughout the film. Also the locations for the film were well-picked. I don't think that the film would have been nearly as good if the film was set in a rich neighborhood.
I think that MISSISSIPPI MASALA deserved a better release than it got, at least in my area. My local art/import theater picked it up and played it for four days. If given the chance, I think that the film would have done very well in a real movie theater, and gotten a bigger audience.
Ken J. blj@mithrandir.cs.unh.edu
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