Madhur Jaffrey, erstwhile guardian of our cookbook collections and silver screen diva, blesses rapper Mr. Cardamom’s latest music video “Nani.” Her Ying-Yang-style turn as a crime syndicate-running, slap-you-till-you-cry, take-no-shit grandmother is the epitome of internety diaspora feelings. The video premiered online today and received a write-up in the Food section of the New York Times.
Mr. Cardamom, a.k.a. Zohran Mamdani, approached Jaffrey through a mutual friend to see if she’d be interested in the project, which was made in homage to his own nani. The video is, he told the New York Times, “a love letter to desi New York.” It pans from a Bronx apartment through the Bangladeshi eateries of Jackson Heights and beyond. The video was filled last year during Ramadan.
Jaffrey imbues the song with all the gravitas of a living icon. And apparently all she took as payment was the yellow beret she wore in the video.