South Asian

The Mistress of Spices

After collaborating with his filmmaker wife, Gurinder Chadha, on such films as Bend It Like Beckham and Bride and Prejudice, screenwriter Paul Mayeda Berges makes his directorial debut with this romantic fable adapted from the 1997 novel by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni. Tilo, played by the ethereal and stunning Bollywood superstar, Aishwarya Rai (Devdas, Chokher Bali), is new to America and holds magical powers over the spices she sells in her shop in Oakland, CA. She has a remedy for all those who enter her store, but only if she abides by the rules of her craft: only use her abilities for others, and not for her own personal desires; never leave the spice shop; and never touch another’s skin. All this seems simple enough, until she meets an American man (Dylan McDermott, TV’s The Practice) who tempts her far beyond her boundaries. The more she falls for him, the more the spices start to misbehave for her customers…Sensually shot by the great cinematographer Santosh Sivan (The Terrorist), THE MISTRESS OF SPICES is a perfect mix of romance and magic in the tradition of Like Water for Chocolate and Chocolat.

“A savory dose of magic realism…like Chocolat with seasonings…”

– Michael Rechtshaffen

HOLLYWOOD REPORTER