Nair is an Indian director who began her career as an actress. Before directing her first feature film, Salaam Bombay (1988), she made documentaries. Her other films include Mississippi Masala (1991), The Perez Family (1995), My Own Country (1988), Monsoon Wedding (2001) for which she won the Golden lion at the 58th Venice Film Festival. Afterwards she made Hysterical Blindness (2002), and, in 2004, directed the costumed drama Vanity Fair starring Reese Witherspoon.