Mira Nair goes desi at Queen of Katwe Premiere

The filmmaker dazzled the crowd in her desi avatar at the Los Angeles launch of the film.

Mira Nair’s new film Queen Of Katwe, an inspirational tale of a chess protégée from the slums of Uganda, opens in the US this week. On the eve of the Friday premiere in Los Angeles, Mira Nair revealed a completely desi side. Mira wore not a fancy gown but a beautiful salwar kameez. “I will be ironing my salwar-kameez for the premiere as soon as we finish our conversation. I’ve three homes in Kampala, New York and New Delhi. But at heart, I remain the Delhi girl,” she had said earlier at an interview with the Mumbai Age.

The actress also expressed her enthusiasm about being present at the premiere. “I am really looking forward to the premiere. There’s the astounding child actor Madina Nalwanga who plays the chess champ Phiona Mutes along with David Oyelow who plays Phiona’s chess teacher, and Lupita Nyong’o, who plays the chess protégée’s mother. She started her career assisting me on The Namesake, and I am so proud of her. All of us are super-excited about the film’s US release,” she said.

Queen Of Katwe was premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival earlier this month. After its US premiere, Mira prepares this inspirational saga for its Indian release. “We’re opening in India on October 7 and we have prepared a dubbed Hindi version over which I’ve personally worked really hard. I believe this is a story that will connect with Indians in the smallest towns of India,” says Mira who shot the film in her hometown Kampala. “Uniquely, there are only actors of African descent in the film. It’s an all-black cast with not even a token concession to a white presence,” says Mira, with her trademark throaty laughter.