A catalyst and connector

Lunch with BS: Mira Nair, Film-maker

Mira Nair talks to Sunil Sethi about bringing a long-simmering project to fruition: the stage musical of her 2001 film, Monsoon Wedding

Nair has a director’s innate sense of mise en scène, of settings and backdrops. For lunch on a wintry day in the new year she chooses Basil & Thyme, the restaurant with elegant European fare started by the late Cordon Bleu chef Bhicoo Manekshaw more than two decades ago that has moved to brighter, better-located premises in Sunder Nagar market. 

Against its pristine chic of white walls and snowy linen, the film-maker’s entrance is a theatrical flurry of