Zohran Mamdani, who won New York’s Democratic Mayoral primaries on June 24, is the son of Indian-origin filmmaker Mira Nair. A self-described democratic socialist, Mamdani has prevented the more moderate former New York governor Andrew Cuomo from triumphing.
Zohran Mamdani was born to Mira Nair and Mahmood Mamdani in Uganda on October 18, 1991. He migrated to the US when he was seven years old. A member of the Democratic Party and Democratic Socialists of America, he was first elected to the New York State Assembly in 2020, and has since been re-elected without opposition.
Thirty-three-year-old Zohran (seen in picture with his parents), who is all set to become the mayor of New York City, will be the first person of South Asian origin to become mayor of NYC. He will also be the first Muslim mayor. And at 33, he will be the city’s youngest leader in 118 years. In 1917, John Purroy Mitchel, a reformer known as the “Boy Mayor”, was elected and served one term.
Call it his filmi genes or whatever, Zohran used a popular film dialogue from Hindi film Deewaar, in his campaign. In one campaign video, Mamdani begins his address with the words “Bhaiyon aur behnon”. In chaste Hindi, he then explains how this is going to be a contest between him and Cuomo. Asking what Cuomo stands for, he himself goes on to answer by quoting from the film dialogue, “Aaj mere paas buildingein hain, property hain, bank balance hai, bangla hai, gaadi hai… kya hai tumhare paas?” Obviously, what he was trying to drive home was that Cuomo was rich but if New Yorkers wanted a mayor who understood their problems, then it was him, Zohran Mamdani.
