Meet Zohran Mamdani's father Mahmood Mamdani, Mira Nair's second husband, born to Gujarati Muslims, Harvard alumnus, now teaches...

Indian-American politician Zohran Mamdani has won the Democratic primary election and is leading the race to become the next mayor of New York City. He announced his victory on X (formery Twitter) by sharing a quote from the late activist and former South African President Nelson Mandela as he wrote, "In the words of Nelson Mandela: It always seems impossible until it’s done. My friends, it is done. And you are the ones who did it. I am honored to be your Democratic nominee for the Mayor of New York City." If Mamdani gets elected in November, he would become New York City’s first Muslim and first Asian mayor.

Zohran Mamdani's mother Mira Nair

Zohran Mamdani is the son of the renowned Indian-American filmmaker Mira Nair, who has made critically acclaimed films such as Salaam Bombay!, Mississippi Masala, Monsoon Wedding, The Namesake, and The Reluctant Fundamentalist. Her debut film Salaam Bombay! won two National Film Awards for Best Feature Film in Hindi and Best Child Artist to Shafiq Syed. Also starring Raghubir Yadav, Anita Kanwar, Nana Patekar, and Irrfan Khan, the 1988 release was also India's official entry to Oscars and also became the second of the three Indian films to get nominated among the final five (after Mother India, before Lagaan); but failed to win the Oscar.

Zohran Mamdani's father Mahmood Mamdani

After divorcing her first husband and American photographer Mitch Epstein in 1987, Mira Nair met her second husband, Indo-Ugandan political scientist Mahmood Mamdani in Uganda, where she was researching for her film Mississippi Masala. Nair and Mamdani tied the knot with each other in 1991. Mahmood currently teaches anthropology, political science and African studies at Columbia University. He was born in Bombay (now Mumbai) in 1946 to Gujarati Muslims parents, and grew up in Kampala, Uganda. 

Mahmood Mamdani received a scholarship as part of the Kennedy Airlift programme to study in the United States. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from University of Pittsburgh in 1963, and later attained a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) from Harvard University in 1974. Mamdani has also written several books including Neither Settler nor Native: The Making and Unmaking of Permanent Minorities, Good Muslim, Bad Muslim: America, the Cold War and the Roots of Terror, Academic Freedom in Africa, When Victims Become Killers: Colonialism, Nativism and Genocide in Rwanda, and others.

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