The 3 Oct 1989 HR stated that filmmaker Mira Nair was auditioning actors in Bombay, India, for the lead in her upcoming film, which was reportedly already in production in the southern part of the country.
       According to production notes by Mira Nair, in AMPAS library files, the filmmaker invited “independent financiers and Hollywood studio executives” to London, England, to discuss her next project, following the success of her previous film, Salaam Bombay (1988). Some rejected the proposed interracial love story, believing it lacked commercial potential. In the 15 May 1990 DV, Nair recounted an exchange with a studio executive, who requested she add a “white protagonist” to the story. She declined, but promised that all of the waiters in the film would be played by white actors. Cinecom International, which distributed her previous film, in association with Palace Pictures and Film Four, supplied financing.
       Nair first learned of the 1972 expulsion of Uganda’s Indian population from an article by Jane Kramer in the The New Yorker. She also discovered that many of the exiles relocated to the southern U.S., where they found success operating motels as family businesses, eventually creating Indian communities throughout the region. Nair began her research in Mar 1989, visiting Indian-owned motels in North and South Carolina, Georgia, and Mississippi. She recruited Sooni Traporevala, her collaborator on Salaam Bombay, to write the screenplay. During their stay in Mississippi, Nair and Traporevala met a number of Indians who were deeply nostalgic about their African homeland, which led them to Kampala, Uganda, where they discovered “an Indian town in Africa.” Traporevala completed her first draft of the screenplay in Aug 1989, which Nair brought to actor Denzel Washington, her choice for the role of “Demetrius.” The women returned to Mississippi and chose the town of Greenwood as the primary location, in part because its white and black communities were separated by a river, emphasizing the contrast between the prosperity of the former and the poverty of the latter. Nair and Traporevala also focused their research on the black community, with some assistance from Denzel Washington.
       Nair returned to India, hoping to find a young Indian actress for the role a “Mina.” She contacted English casting director Suzy Figgis, who responded by sending photographs of approximately twenty-five candidates from different walks of life. From this group, Nair chose actress Sarita Choudhury.
       During the summer of 1990, the filmmaker spent several weeks in Uganda, scouting locations and auditioning actors. In early Aug 1990, Nair gathered much of the cast in Mississippi to rehearse for ten days. Principal photography began on 24 Aug 1990 and lasted through mid-October. Nair edited a “rough cut” of the footage in New York City before continuing production in Uganda. The crew arrived in Kampala in mid-November, and was augmented by technicians from both Uganda and neighboring Kenya. Nair arrived later in the month to confirm locations and cast background actors from Kampala’s revived Indian community, using the local Hindu temple as the “nucleus” of the operation. She dispatched costume and production designers to Indian homes, where they collected clothing and furniture from the early 1970s. Adding to the authenticity was the inclusion of several locations in which the incidents depicted actually occurred. One such location was the barroom in the Speke Hotel, in which Nair was able to recreate “events of hollow abandon” from the weeks preceding the Indian expulsion. Nair completed the effect by dressing Afrigo, a popular local band, in flamboyant 1970s attire and having them play an Indian song from the period. While the Ugandan government was generally cooperative, Nair encountered difficulties when a package labeled “Idi Amin” was shipped to her from England, containing the costume for actor Joseph Olita, who portrayed the brutal dictator. Although Amin had been living in exile for ten years, the costume was impounded at the airport and Nair required the intervention of an army commander to have it released.
       Photography was completed within two weeks in locations in and around Kampala, at Entebbe Airport, and at Lake Victoria, the source of the Nile River. The scene in which a group of Indians are bussed to the airport was shot over a three-day period, and included several Indian background actors who had lived through similar events, one of whom complained that her 1972 exile was much less tedious than its recreation for the film. Nair noted that Mississipi Masala was the first picture made in Uganda since The African Queen (1952, see entry).
       Although post-production was completed by summer 1991, release was delayed due to Cinecom being forced out of business by bankruptcy. However, the picture acquired distribution through The Samuel Goldwyn Company after winning the Golden Osella for best screenplay at the 48th Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, as reported in the 16 Sep 1991 Var. A Feb 1992 release was planned for the $5 million production. Mississippi Masala premiered 17 Jan 1992 at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, UT. Less than a month later, it debuted in Los Angeles, CA, at a benefit for the Salaam Baalak Trust, a charitable organization founded by Nair. She attended the event, along with actors Denzel Washington, Sarita Choudhury, Charles Dutton, Debbie Allen, Sandra Bernhard, and Amy Irving. The picture opened in Los Angeles on 14 Feb 1992 to mostly positive reviews.
       On 20 Mar 1992, LA Weekly reported gross receipts of $5.3 million from 335 screens across the U.S. Goldwyn executive Steve Rothenberg cited the film’s appeal to an underserved market, noting that audiences were comprised of equal parts black, white, and Indian patrons. While the picture was especially popular in New York City, San Francisco, CA, and Chicago, IL, its audience was somewhat limited to major cities and “the art-house circuit.” However, Bingham Ray of October Films saw his company’s refusal of the picture as a missed opportunity, and expressed regret for underestimating the popularity of Mira Nair and Denzel Washington.
       The 20 Mar 1992 Screen International reported that an unnamed faction planned to bomb openings on the island of Trinidad to protest the film’s portrayal of Indian women. Targets included the Monarch Theater in Tuna Puna, and Lakshmi Hindu College in St. Augustine. The group threatened further bombings if the government censor allowed its release. Although Hindu leader Sat Maharaj took the threats seriously, no such letters were delivered to United Cinemas, which owned the Monarch, or to ATM, the picture’s regional distributor.
       End credits include the following statements: "For Mjaan"; "In memory of Mohamed Oreste Wafula"; "Grateful thanks: Eric Albertson; Kulsum & Yusuf Alibhai; Gabriel Auer; Dr. Kevin Cahill; Maudie and Langdon Schuyler Clay; Dastakar, Farrukh Dhondy; Demetrius Fields; Film Finances; Inc.; Amitav Ghosh; The Greenwood Commonwealth; John Horhn, Mississippi Division of Tourism; The Indian Association of Mississippi; The Indian Motel Association; Mahmood Mamdani; The Mississippi Film Office; Praveen & Shefali Nair; Sultan & Zarina Nanji; Lopa Patel; Virendra Ponda; Ranna Shah; Shelby Stone; Stephen C. Swid; Percy Tarapore; Anil Tejani; Varsha & Jaimini Thaker; Uganda Ministry of Information and Broadcasting; Commander, Entebbe Airport; Office of the Army Commander, National Resistance Army of Uganda; Office of the Inspector General of Police, Uganda Police Force; Bhikhu Vanmali; Bart Walker; White-Pullman/Holt; The People of Kampala, Uganda, and Greenwood, Mississippi”; “Hakuna Matata* (‘no problem’ in Kiswahili).”