Qatar’s deep pockets have bankrolled socialist filmmaker Mira Nair’s projects for over a decade, raising eyebrows about her son Zohran Mamdani’s New York City mayoral bid, as the New York Post reports.
The oil-rich, Hamas-supporting state, led by figures like Sheikha Al-Mayassa bint Hamad Al-Thani, has funneled millions into Nair’s films and stage productions while cozying up to her son’s campaign. This tangled web of funding and influence reeks of Qatar’s calculated push to buy soft power in the West. Mamdani claims no direct ties to Qatar, but the connections demand scrutiny.
In 2009, Nair’s film Amelia kicked off the Doha Tribeca Film Festival, a glitzy event backed by Sheikha Al-Thani. Qatar’s cultural largesse didn’t stop there. From 2010 to 2014, the Doha Film Institute, founded by the sheikha, funded Nair’s Maisha Film Labs, training Qatari students in East Africa and Doha.
The Doha Film Institute shelled out $15 million to fully fund Nair’s 2012 film The Reluctant Fundamentalist, which conveniently opened that year’s Doha Tribeca Film Festival. Such generosity isn’t charity -- it’s strategic. Qatar’s rulers know a well-placed dollar can amplify their voice in global culture.
By 2019, Nair’s film Nafas, celebrating Qatari pearl divers, premiered as a flagship exhibit at the Qatar National Museum, chaired by Sheikha Al-Thani. The project was commissioned directly by the museum, cementing Nair’s role as a cultural darling of Qatar’s elite. Meanwhile, Qatar’s sharia-based laws stifle women’s rights and punish homosexuality with torture or death.
Nair’s hypocrisy shines through -- she boycotted Israel’s Haifa International Film Festival over policies she called discriminatory, yet stays silent on Qatar’s human rights abuses. Her selective outrage raises questions about whose interests she serves. No public record shows Nair criticizing Qatar’s brutal regime.
In 2022, Sheikha Al-Thani invited Nair to join Qatar’s World Cup cultural program, producing a stage adaptation of Monsoon Wedding with Qatar Airways and Qatar Creates. Nair gushed about the sheikha’s support, saying she “loved the movie” and backed the musical’s inception. This cozy relationship reeks of Qatar’s influence-buying playbook.
“They are buying somebody who is willing to be bought,” said Danielle Pletka, a foreign policy expert at the American Enterprise Institute. Qatar’s game is clear: fund cultural projects to whitewash its image while backing groups like Hamas and the Taliban. Nair’s silence on Qatar’s abuses makes her complicity deafening.
Adding to the web, Nair’s Indian company did $102,000 in business with Agence Publics Qatar, tied to Qatar’s oil and gas industry, in 2022 and 2023. Qatar’s wealth, built on the backs of migrant workers dying in 125-degree heat, fuels such deals. Human rights activists call these conditions “modern day slavery,” yet Nair stays mum.
Since mid-June, Sheikha Al-Thani has hyped Mamdani’s mayoral bid, sharing favorable polls on Instagram and fire emojis under his TikTok videos with Nair. This blatant cheerleading from a Qatari royal smells like meddling in American politics. Mamdani’s campaign insists he’s never been to Qatar or taken its money, but the optics are damning.
“The Qataris are hyperactive in terms of international investment,” said Jonathan Schanzer, executive director of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. Qatar’s history of bribing figures like ex-Sen. Bob Menendez and European Parliament members shows its willingness to play dirty. Mamdani’s campaign dodging questions about his mother’s finances only fuels suspicion.
Mamdani’s team claims no contact with Sheikha Al-Thani and refuses to confirm if Nair funneled money to his campaign. Instead, they lean on vague platitudes about “universal human rights.” Such deflections dodge the real issue: Qatar’s influence looming over their candidate.
Qatar plays both sides, hosting a U.S. airbase while bankrolling anti-American Islamist groups. Its ban on non-Muslim public worship and threats to its Bah’aii minority expose a regime at odds with Western values. Yet Nair, a self-proclaimed champion of justice, keeps cashing their checks.
In November 2024, Nair attended a high-profile exhibit opening at the Qatar National Museum, further entwining herself with the regime. Her son’s campaign calls scrutiny of these ties a “weaponized” distraction. “The attempt to weaponize his mother’s career against him is an insult to voters,” said spokeswoman Dora Pekec, sidestepping the core issue of Qatar’s influence.
Voters deserve clarity, not smoke and mirrors. Qatar’s funding of Nair’s projects, paired with Sheikha Al-Thani’s social media boost for Mamdani, raises red flags about foreign meddling. While Mamdani may not have direct ties, his mother’s cozy relationship with a repressive regime demands accountability.
