Denzel Washington’s ’90s romantic film with a 92% Rotten Tomatoes score is a hidden gem on HBO Max

Denzel Washington’s career was hot in 1991 when, after winning the Best Supporting Actor Oscar two years before for “Glory” and lighting up the screen as jazz trumpeter Lothario in “Mo’ Better Blues,” he shifted gears and took a role in Mira Nair’s ensemble romantic drama “Mississippi Masala.” The low-budget film focuses on the plight of a Ugandan Indian family who, along with many other Asians, were expelled from the country by dictator Idi Amin. While family patriarch Jay (Roshan Seth) is determined to one day return to the Ugandan capital of Kampala, his daughter Mina (Sarita Choudhury) is happy in the United States. But when she starts dating a black carpet cleaner named Demetrius (Washington), Jay’s slight annoyance turns to anger.

Nair’s film is a compelling depiction of the racial antipathy between two minority communities that share a lot in common, given that they were both forced out of their home countries. They each have to struggle to make ends meet because they live in a rigged capitalist society, but they disagree for reasons that make no rational sense. Jay and other Ugandan Indians dislike blacks because they associate them with Amin’s barbarity; meanwhile, the local black community returns its enmity in kind. This forces Mina and Demetrius to keep their romance a secret, but the secret is soon revealed. Will these star-crossed lovers ever find peace?

It was Nair’s follow-up to his Oscar-nominated “Salaam Bombay!”, which dramatized the lives of street children in the slums of the eponymous city. It was a change of pace for Nair, one that critics and moviegoers were still getting to know, but she connected in a palpable way, as evidenced by her Rotten Tomatoes score. And now you can watch it on HBO Max!

“Mississippi Masala” currently holds a 92% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, although it appears its Popcornmeter score appears to have bombed because of bigoted malcontents who inexplicably despise Nair’s political superstar son (and new New York City mayor), Zohran Mamdani. If you were charmed by Mamdani’s wit, energy and compassion on the campaign trail, “Mississippi Masala” (which hit theaters before he was born) will show you exactly where he comes from with those qualities.

/Film’s Leo Noboru Lima declared Nair’s film one of the 15 best romance films of all time, so you need to put this gorgeous, beautifully observed drama at or near the top of your streaming queue. Needless to say, Washington is extremely magnetic as Demetrius, which makes for a fascinating contrast to the somewhat awkward Choudhury. They are so in love, but everyone in their world wants to tear them apart. It’s a top-notch drama that will stay with you long after you’ve watched it.