Indian born director Mira Nair began to earn critical buzz for her early documentary films, but with her feature debut "Salaam Bombay" (1988), she was catapulted into the international spotlight with Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations. Throughout Nair's career she made films both in the United States and in India, earning independent and film festival notoriety for the colorful family ensemble "Monsoon Wedding" (2001) and the considerably grittier "Namesake" (2006), while finding success among mainstream audiences with the interracial romantic drama "Mississippi Masala" (1992), starring Denzel Washington. The common thread throughout Nair's filmmaking career was a fascination with people on the margins of society, culminating in their struggle to both conform as well as maintain their cultural identity; a struggle that the director, herself, could no doubt relate to.