Nehru, Bollywood Music, Mom Mira: Mamdani Embraces Indian Heritage In Victory

Photo: YouTube screengrab

India-West News Desk

NEW YORK, NY — As the Bollywood anthem “Dhoom Machale” filled the air, Zohran Mamdani stood hand in hand with his wife, Rama Duwaji, on stage, smiling toward a crowd that roared his name. A few steps away, his mother, the renowned filmmaker Mira Nair, beamed with unmistakable pride. It was a scene that seemed to bridge continents: the rhythm of Mumbai, the spirit of New York, and the echo of Jawaharlal Nehru’s words of independence that Mamdani had just invoked moments earlier. “Tonight, we have stepped out from the old into the new,” he said, quoting Nehru’s “Tryst with Destiny” speech. For a city that thrives on reinvention, it felt just right.

Mamdani’s victory as the youngest, first Indian American, and first Muslim mayor of New York City marks a profound turning point in the city’s political narrative. Born on October 18, 1991, in Kampala, Uganda, he is the son of Ugandan academic Mahmood Mamdani, a leading postcolonial scholar, and Mira Nair, one of India’s most celebrated filmmakers

A graduate of Bowdoin College, where he studied Africana Studies, Mamdani was politically active from the start. He co-founded a Students for Justice in Palestine chapter during his college years, setting the tone for the unapologetically activist politics that would later define his public career. His journey from community organizer and state assemblyman to the city’s highest office was driven by a simple conviction: that New York’s strength lies in its diversity and defiance. “New York will remain a city of immigrants, built by immigrants, powered by immigrants, and now, led by one,” he declared in his victory speech.

That message resonated deeply in a city shaped by generations of newcomers but also stirred controversy beyond its borders. Critics accused him of harboring pro-Khalistan and anti-Israel leanings, which he has denied, and for making statements against Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In India, where his mother’s films and his own activism have both made headlines, Mamdani’s campaign was dissected by partisan media that alternately celebrated and vilified him. Mamdani is known not to temper his beliefs for political convenience.

As he stood on stage on election night, he refused to be cowed down by anti-Muslim rhetoric in the US and Indian media, he had his mother show up in Indian finery including wearing a bindi and he quoted Nehru, who is viewed as a secular leader. In short, he refused to hide who he was and the cultural influences on him.

For Mira Nair, who has spent her career telling stories of belonging and identity, her son’s triumph was a deeply personal one. Shortly after the results were declared, she reshared filmmaker Zoya Akhtar’s congratulatory post with a simple caption: “Zohran, you beauty.” The message was accompanied by “Empire State of Mind,” the Alicia Keys and Jay-Z anthem that once defined New York ambition — and now, perhaps, a mother’s pride in her son’s new chapter.