In a resurfaced interview, filmmaker Mira Nair described her son, Zohran Mamdani, as �not an American at all� and �a total desi,� referring to his Indian and Ugandan roots � remarks critics say reveal how the self-proclaimed progressive champion has long identified more as a global citizen than a New Yorker.
The comments were made in 2013, when Nair sat down with the Hindustan Times to discuss her then 21-year-old son, who was studying at Bowdoin College in Maine.
�He is a total desi,� Nair said, using a Hindi and Urdu term for someone of South Asian heritage. �Completely. We are not firangs [foreigners] at all. He is very much us. He is not an Uhmericcan at all.�
She added, �He was born in Uganda, raised between India and America. He is at home in many places. He thinks of himself as a Ugandan and as an Indian.�
At the time, Mamdani had not yet become a U.S. citizen. Born in Kampala, Uganda, to Nair and anti-Israel Columbia University scholar Mahmood Mamdani, the future politician moved to New York City at age seven and was naturalized in 2018 � less than a decade before his current mayoral run.
The newly surfaced remarks are likely to deepen questions about Mamdani�s worldview and political roots as he campaigns to become the city�s first openly socialist mayor in nearly a century.
His mother�s comments � delivered with pride � appear to underscore his upbringing in an elite, multicultural household steeped in global politics and anti-imperialist thought. Mahmood Mamdani, his father, has drawn controversy for serving on panels alongside figures tied to Hamas-linked organizations, including a �Gaza Tribunal� that sought to charge the U.S. and Israel with war crimes.
In the 2013 interview, Nair noted that the family �spoke Hindustani at home� and called her son a �chaalu fellow,� or �street-smart guy,� who was �very involved with current affairs, politics, and political issues.�
�I think he can be engaged in the world in some way to make a difference,� she said. �He is very, very interested in that.�
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mamzeri is not a good choice for the jews, but we knew that already. the question is, how do we convince our non-jewish neighbours that he will be bad for them as well?