Overview
- Mamdani defeated independent Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa, becoming New York’s first Muslim and first Indian-origin mayor, and one of the youngest in more than a century.
- Mira Nair marked the moment by reposting Zoya Akhtar’s “Zohran, you beauty” message and paired celebrations with Jay-Z’s Empire State of Mind.
- Hollywood and Bollywood figures including Spike Lee, Mark Ruffalo, Cynthia Nixon, Sonam Kapoor, Ishaan Khatter, Hansal Mehta and Shashi Tharoor publicly congratulated the mayor-elect.
- In victory remarks, Mamdani said he would not apologize for being young or Muslim, invoked Jawaharlal Nehru’s “Tryst with Destiny,” and declared voters had delivered a mandate for change.
- Celebrations featured Bollywood touchstones such as Dhoom Machale as coverage spotlighted his transnational roots as the son of filmmaker Mira Nair and scholar Mahmood Mamdani, born in Kampala and raised across continents.