Mira Nair

“My work has always been about visibility, about making the invisible visible.”

“Go, and make your own mistakes, make your own adventures.”

“I have always believed that if you don't tell your own stories, no one else will.”

“The most important thing is to be passionate and to believe in what you are doing.”

“Cinema can fill in the empty spaces of your life and your loneliness.”

“You have to be a warrior to be an artist.”

“In my life and in my films, I'm a big fan of the glorious mess. The mess of life is what's important.”

“My films have always been about the outsider, the person who is not in the mainstream. The marginalized.”

“When we are denied our stories, we are denied our humanity.”

“Life is a comedy when you're not in the frame.”

“What is the point of having a voice if you're gonna be silent in those moments you shouldn't be?”

“I often say that if you want to tell a story about a man, you can be a man. If you want to tell a story about a woman, you have to be a goddess.”

“For me, the camera is a passport.”

“Humor is a great weapon, a great shield.”

“My job is to find the dignity and the joy in the everyday.”

“I am not an apologist for my country, but I am a lover of my country.”

“I'm very drawn to the drama of the ordinary.”

“I don’t want to be a director that is defined by my gender. I want to be a director who is defined by my films.”