Mistress Of Spices

Producer: Gurinder Chadha and Deepak Nayar
Director: Paul Mayeda Berges
Starring: Aishwarya Rai, Dylan McDermott, Anupam Kher, Nitin Ganatra, Sonny Gill Dulay, and Padma Lakshmi
Music: Craig Pruess
Lyrics: --
Reviewed by: Aakash Gandhi


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Scheduled for Release on: April 21, 2006





One Spice for passion. And one woman who knows its name.

A woman, brought up in the modern city of Oakland, California. A woman, who still follows ancient Indian tradition. She possesses the power to heal…through the magic of her spices. It’s her belief that there is one spice made for each person. And It is her duty to give up all her desires to prescribe each customer with the proper spice. She is the Mistress of Spices.

However, there are some rules that this shop owner must obey. 1) She must give up all her desires. 2) She may not touch anyone. 3) She may not leave the Spice Shop. All is well, until one day…a spiritually lost man finds his way to her store. He has everything a man could ever want; yet, he still feels empty inside. She cannot escape his fatal attraction, as both fall in love with one another. She begins breaking all the rules, angering the spices. Now the spices that she has prescribed to her customers begin to stray from their intended effects; leaving her confused and torn between her desires and her duties.

Paul Mayeda Berges (husband of Gurinder Chadha) and Aishwarya Rai come together to tell the enchanting tale of a woman trapped between her own wishes and an age-old tradition passed down to her for centuries. Mistress of Spices is indeed a unique cinematic venture, which has been made for international audiences. From the promos, the film looks very different, and has a unique look to it. On that note, the film’s cinematography has been done by none other than India’s ace camera man, Santosh Sivan. The film stars Aishwarya Rai (as Tilo) and Dylan McDermott (as Dough), with Anupam Kher, Nitin Ganatra, Sonny Gill Dulay, and Padma Lakshmi supporting.

The film is set to release April 21st, 2006 worldwide

as it says worldwide, but i checked canadian theater listings and there isnt any sight of it in the coming soon, is it realesing later in canada?

i wass watching indian idol on sony and during the comercials they showed mistress of spices and will come on apr.21 and the distrubutor for america nd most likely canada is unfortunetly rainbow i thought a gora company would take it out, looks like the dvd will be crap, i wish mongrell media has the rights for the dvd in canada ( the people who took water out on dvd)

Rainbow is now putting it out here in the US on 4/28.

Already playing in the UK - might see it tomorrow ... hope that it's good. I loved the book so I am bound to be dissapointed!

It looks like another Balle Balle from Amritsar to L.A./Bride & Prejudice. Whether it's "good" that India is expanding its films/performers internationally, or isn't, I wish it weren't just with these films. When they're made in India, by Karan Johar, forum-goers fervently voice their abhorrence of the genre; when the same damned films go abroad — and do well — everyone lets out a collective sigh of approval and pride. I don't mind "Johar cinema" — in fact, I rather enjoy it at times — but I'd like to see more "serious" Indian films be made for internation audiences, as well. If now is when the industry begins to be exposed to other markets, I feel it might be wise for it not to establish itself as nothing but a singy-dancy-running-through-the-meadows organization, doing nothing but propelling the concept most Americans already have (through their own media) of "Bollywood." Anytime an American show or film acknowledges Indian films, it does so almost exclusively by means of a sari-wearing girl with a red dot on her head, parading around a tree, singing love songs. That's not all that Indian cinema is, and it would behoove the industry not to portray itself as being so upon taking its first steps outside its own country.

I was going to see this, but now I don't think I will. All I've heard from people is that it is a let down and Aishwariya's acting is so bad, it's embarassing to be even watching this. I never thought she was a good actress anyway, but I think there is a problem when Indian actors try to deliver dialogues in English.

Went to “watch it” over the weekend but cinema kicked us out because had a 12 year old with us - posters advertised it as a 12A but cinema claimed it's really a 15 cert movie - apparently distributors got it wrong. And just checked the BBFC site and they say its a 12A ! Gonna go kick someone in...

Ali

Does it matter that you had a 12-year-old with you? Isn't it all right so long as the child is accompanied by an adult? I'm pretty sure that kids can see "R"-rated films, so long as they're with a grown-up.

I don't think that Indian actors "always" have problems delivering English dialogue; of course, they'll often speak with accents, and this will have their speech stand out among people who are all speaking "the same way," but, so what? Amitabh Bachchan's English was just fine in Black and in Dil Jo Bhi Kahey, opposite a "white man," in the latter. Amrish Puri never "stuck out like a sore thumb" in the English films he did (for instance, Gandhi). I think probelms may arise when Indian actors are directed poorly, by people who don't understand how to work with their accents, who act as though the accents don't exist, or who intentionally make their accents stand out (for whatever reason of salability). I didn't see Aishwarya Rai on "Oprah" of "Letterman," so I can't say how she sounded on either, but I imagine that it was just fine. Hell, many actors sound very different "out of movies," from how they do on the screen: Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman come to mind as two foreign actors who've often sported flawless "American accents" on the silver screen, but sound altogether "foreign" in the interviews.

If we look at it the other way, can we try to recall how often we've heard "American" people (or just some "foreign White people") speak in Indian films? My god, until perhaps recently, they sounded like utter idiots. Either their lines would be stupidly dubbed so to not at all resemble reality, or they'd be given some of the most jilted, prejudiced dialogue imaginable. I think much of a "foreign-accent" person's "dialogue-delivery" depends on film-making, and not on the person, per se.

and WORST SOAR THUMB imho, is when dialogues are not originally structured in ENGLISH but in HINDI and laters are literraly translated in ENGLISH and vce versa!!imho, that really takes authenticity out and comes out to be phono mouthfuls!

Ratings work a little differently over here I think. We have 12A, to which 12 year olds can go if accompanied with an adult. Above that, there is 15 and 18, for which you have to be that age respectively to get in to see the film.

Ali, was probably a blessing in disguise!!!

that really sucks thank god i dont live in the usa or uk, down here its the same as usa except for one thing we hardly get any rated R movies, 99% of them are 14A here so if u are 14/or younger then 14 and have someone 18/over you can go and there are no cuts to make it 14A its exactly the same as the R version in usa, an example is V for Vandeta or whatever its called

In USA never had problems for kids of any age to go to any hindi film or Hollywood film, R or below!

In UK they wont let a 13 year old to watch ASAMBHAV even with adults/parents

Arsh bhai, I wouldn't let anyone go and see Asambhav................woldn't want to put them through the torture!

is there ratings for hindi movies in the usa? canada doesnt rate hindi movies