Zohran Mamdani refused Ishaan Khatter’s role in The Suitable Boy, his ‘number 1 film’ is Munna Bhai MBBS, says mom Mira Nair

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She said, “A moment came when my heart was divided. I wanted to work on The Namesake. So, I talked to Zoru; he was 14 then, and I remember asking him what I should do. He said, ‘Mama, many good directors can make Harry Potter, but only you can make The Namesake.’ It was like a light came on. I was liberated from the struggle of thinking I should please him. He saw right through it, as he always has.”

Talking about Zohran’s connection to Bollywood, she revealed that Rajkumar Hirani’s Munna Bhai MBBS was one of his favourite films to watch as a kid. “The movie he watched 16 times with his grandfather and with us was Munna Bhai MBBS. That was the number one movie for Zohran growing up. The other movie he absolutely loves is Zoya Akhtar’s Luck By Chance. He can recite it backwards.” She also added that the Bollywood style of his social media videos was completely his idea, as he has grown up surrounded by those things.

Zohran Mamdani closes victory speech as mayor of New York to Dhoom Machale. This is like a Bollywood movie in real life 😭🔥 pic.twitter.com/2M9ic2wazO

— sohom (@AwaaraHoon) November 5, 2025

The natural question that followed this revelation was why did Zohran never consider acting? Mira revealed that she even offered him The Suitable Boy, but for some reason he never wanted to act. She said, “I literally offered him the role of the suitable boy, the main role in the film. I really wanted him to play that role. He told me, ‘A lot of people die to be offered these things, but I don’t.’ He was the most reluctant actor. He never wanted it, and I had to accept that. But he’s got the goods. I always saw the charisma and the ability to connect with people.”

Mira revealed that she isn’t the only one who sees potential in Zohran and said that a producer wanted him to be cast in the Broadway musical of The Monsoon Wedding. “The workshop is to sell to investors. Zohran performed, and P. K. Dubey and Ali Sethi did the singing. We started in a single room with microphones, and suddenly he’s performing P. K. When it ended, it was superb, this dual act with Ali. One of the producing investors said, ‘Who is that boy? We’re not going on Broadway without that boy.’ I reminded her recently that the boy is now our mayor.”