Mother Meera Nair is excited about the victory of her son Mamdani

Hakikul Islam Khokon,
Johran K Mamdani, a young man of Indian origin, made history by becoming the first South Asian and Muslim mayor of New York at the age of 34. Behind his success is a strong family atmosphere. Johran’s mother, Indian-origin American filmmaker Meera Nair, is a bold name in world cinema. There is no commercial flash in his movies, there are stories of people, society, pain, migration and self-struggle. He is the maker of internationally acclaimed movies like ‘Salam Bombay’, ‘Monsoon Wedding’, ‘Mississippi Masala’. Johran’s father is renowned Gujarati writer Professor Mahmud Mamdani. He is a thinker of Indian origin from Uganda.

Zohran grew up with Bengali culture because of his mother. Watched mother’s film world closely since childhood. Meera was born in the Bengali-dominated Rourkella in Odisha, India. So there is influence of Bengal and Bengaliana in his life and work. He also taught Bengali language to his son Johran Mamdani. Introduced to Bengali culture. Even the son’s role was in the decision to make Meera Nair’s ‘Namesake’, a story of a Bengali family moving to America. In 2007, when Meera was offered to direct ‘Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix’, she hesitated. At that time Kishore Johran himself was a fan of Harry Potter and asked his mother to make a ‘namesake’.

Zohran was elected the mayor of New York as a candidate of the Democratic Party. Mother Meera Nair is very excited about her son’s victory. Happy father Mahmud Mamdani. Meera shared a photo of her son on Instagram and wrote, ‘He is not only my son, he is a symbol of hope in our times.’

During the election campaign, Zohran promised to bring down the cost of living. Even those who have been staying in rented houses in the city for a long time, have also said about the rent waiver. Meera said about her son, ‘I am surprised to see my son’s courage and speech. What I like about him is that he embraces the diversity of this world without ambiguity. I am optimistic about the hope he has shown. He has a vision to see this world. And that is not greed for power. He has always stood for equality, justice and working people.’

In 1988, Meera Nair’s first feature film ‘Salaam Bombay!’ won the Cannes Film Festival Camera Award. It was also nominated for an Oscar in the Best Foreign Language Film category. The movie is made about the street children of Mumbai. Meera Nair has received many awards and honors including Venice Golden Lion (2001), Indian Government Padma Bhushan (2012) as a producer