'MASALA' DIRECTOR LOOKING FOR A HOME.(Show)

Byline: Ann Kolson Knight-Ridder Newspapers

Born in India, educated at Harvard, director Mira Nair moves between two worlds.

"I left home when I was 19 and since then I've been traveling back and forth. I can still feel the steam rising from the asphalt after a monsoon rain in the town where I grew up. I can see it. Especially in New York, with the steam grates, I flash back. And that will continue to be haunting me in a way," Nair, 34, says in her lilting voice.

After college, Nair lived downtown in New York City for 12 years, and late last year moved to Uganda, her Indian husband's native land. So it is not surprising that Nair's latest film - in fact, all her work - is about outsiders, people longing to find a home.

"Mississippi Masala" is a vibrant love story about a young African-American named Demetrius (Denzel Washington) and a beautiful Uganda-born Indian …