Mira Nair told THR India in an interview that there was a time when she approached her son, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, for the lead role in the Netflix series A Suitable Boy.
The television drama miniseries, A Suitable Boy, directed by Mira Nair, starred Tanya Maniktala, Tabu and Ishaan Khatter in the lead roles, and they were highly appreciated. But Mira told THR India in an interview that there was a time when she approached her son, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, for the lead role.
Yes! You read that right, NYC Mayor Zohran, who scripted history by becoming the first Muslim, first African-born and first South Asian to be sworn in as the leader of the city, was parrocedh for an acting job by his filmmaker-mother and Padma Bhushan recipient Mira Nair.
Zohran refused to do the series
Mira was asked if she could convince Zohran to act in any of her films, to which she replied, ‘No, no. I mean, I actually offered him the role of A Suitable Boy, the main role in A Suitable Boy. He’s interested in my work. Although for A Suitable Boy, I really wanted him to do that role, but he didn’t.’
Mira says that Zohran also told her that ‘many people would die’ to get such offers, but not him. He also commented that he ‘didn’t feel the need’ to become an actor but had the ability to ‘truly bring joy’. Mira said, ‘He never wanted to, but I would have loved it if he had.’
About A Suitable Boy
For those who don’t know, Ishaan played the role of Maan Kapoor in A Suitable Boy, who falls in love with the older Saeeda Bai, played by Tabu. The story is about the attempts to find a ‘suitable boy’ for Lata Mehra. Lata’s role is played by Tanya Maniktala. Eventually, Lata finds him in Namit Das, i.e., Haresh Khanna. The story has more than 110 characters and it was the first BBC period-drama series to have a non-white cast.
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