The spice of life

10 April 2012

The director/screenwriter double-act of Gurinder Chadha and Paul Mayeda Berges have always crafted a vividly international mix of comedy and social drama.

Now, after Bend It Like Beckham's teenage football kicks and the Jane Austen-meets-Bollywood musical extravaganza Bride & Prejudice, the married couple have added a fantasy twist into their big-screen blend.

The Mistress Of Spices, Berges's directorial debut, adapted from the book by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, is, they say, 'an immigrant's tale about keeping the magic alive'.

'We've been passionate about this novel ever since it was sent to us in 1996,' explains Berges, over the phone from their LA base. 'I liked how it tackled magic realism in a very fresh way.'

Bollywood starlet Aishwarya Rai plays Tilo, the mistress of spices who possesses psychic powers that help any visitor to her San Francisco bazaar. It's a relatively understated production for Rai, who made her English-language debut as the bubbly lead in Bride & Prejudice.

However, there is familiar territory in her role as the selfless heroine confronted with her own forbidden desires - in this case, the American architect Doug (Dylan McDermott).

A supporting cast that includes grande dame Zohra Segal, Nitin Ganatra and Ayesha Dharker add pep and poignancy to this romantic fable that's reminiscent of sweet-toothed tales such as Chocolat.

'The challenge in making this film was to get the balance right,' Berges says. 'The spices represent tradition and lore but we wanted the characters to feel real.

'Because of who we are and what we're interested in [Chadha is British-Asian, born in Kenya and raised in Southall; Berges is Japanese-American], our characters are always really diverse. In The Mistress Of Spices, Tilo feels suffocated by her upbringing, while Doug feels cut off from his.'

'The Mistress Of Spices sits very nicely in our body of work,' adds Chadha, who co-wrote and produced the film. 'Being part of a diaspora is about cultural paradigms - evoking and accommodating different influences. It's interesting to make films in different styles and scales.'

The pair first collaborated on the Thanksgiving family showdown of 2000's What's Cooking? and while they've generally remained behind the scenes, watch Bride & Prejudice's closing credits and you'll catch them re-enacting a Bollywood clinch in the fountains at Somerset House.

'That was a set-up - they didn't tell us they were shooting,' Chadha laughs. 'The good news is, I've lost a tonne of weight since then.'

Besides The Mistress Of Spices, Chadha and Berges have been busy concocting varied and prolific projects. Chadha has now been named director of the much-vaunted Dallas movie, while other plans include reworking hit films from France (The Closet) and Korea (My Sassy Girl).

'I still want to do another British comedy,' Chadha insists. 'I think more work needs to be done in encouraging alternative British voices. People called Bend It Like Beckham a 'culture-clash' comedy, which pissed me off because that's the opposite of what it was. We worked hard to show a girl who was happy with all sides of her life.'

So does their brand of entertainment come with a sense of responsibility? 'Absolutely,' says Berges. 'Films can educate on a pretty cultural level; a young Sikh man from Texas told us his neighbours always assumed he was an Arab until Bend It Like Beckham.

'We have different traditions that are very important but our desires are similar. People will always respond to work that's culturally specific as long as it's done with humanity and humour.'

Which sounds like the couple's own recipe for dynamic teamwork. 'I think it's about a shared vision of the world, in terms of politics, humour and culture,' says Chadha. 'We have a lot of respect for each other and our films reflect that.'

The Mistress Of Spices is released on Friday.

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