I agree with Ennis – Nair can’t write a script (Kama Sutra is Exhbit A). The realistic Indian and black dialogue from Mississippi Masala goes to Sooni Taraporevala. However, this film worked not because of the similarities between Indians and AAs, but that the characters had to deal with such differences, rather than simply hope for a “Love will conquer all” strategy. Two major differences – AA’s tend to be far more focused on individualism than Indians. Washington’s character could see little harm in asking out Choudhury – after, all the Indians in the neighborhood knew him as the hard-working small businessman, just like them. Unfortunately, Indians tend to be a bit more group oriented, to a regrettably exclusionary degree. Secondly, pre-marital sex is no big deal in the U.S., but (like it or not), is still a very big deal among Indian families – particularly the pre-marital behavior of their daughters. If anything, Nair falls prey to the “people of color” nonsense, and fails to distinguish the genuine differences that can exist between such people.

Where Nair goes a bit over the top was her comments about AmericaÂ’s politics. Comatose after BushÂ’s re-election? I can only imagine what her reaction was when Musharaff announced he was going to stay on as head of the army and president of Pakistan. Not to mention the plight of Iranian liberals who were disqualified from running in that countryÂ’s recent elections. Or, are Muslim authoritarians exempt from NairÂ’s sharply-focused lens?

Perhaps NairÂ’s conversion to Islam has made her memory of the Gita a bit fuzzy, but it does not say to beware the fruits of oneÂ’s action, but rather to avoid become enslaved to their pursuit. Just as one needs food, one should not consume so much as to lead to gluttony. Of course, such misinterpretation was used by higher castes to deny lower castes a decent wage. But it might be bad form on my part to suggest that Nair benefited from caste discrimination in India when she was growing up in the 50Â’s and 60Â’s. IÂ’m sure plenty of low-caste girls went to Harvard.

And once again, Nair repeats the tired falsehood of rampant Islamophobia in the US. When someone says that Islam has to move into the modern age, that is not anti-Islam. If anything, it assumes that Islam has such an ability to modernize and does not need to behead its critics to get their point across.

As for all her movies being hits, the big-budget “Vanity Fair” was DOA at the American box office. And she conveniently leaves out the stinker “The Perez Family”

Look at the opportunity cost. These people pay their pounds of flesh. Might as well do something you love.

You can run your own detective agency or come in and reform the FBI and then leave again.

Part of this is that I’m not so impressed by her solo products – her best recent film was Monsoon Wedding, but in that case somebody else wrote the script. She’s actually better when she delegates.