[.ca] The Mistress of Spices

Nice try:
"Mistress of Spices" is an Indian movie made in English, directed by Paul Mayeda Berges and produced by Gurinder Chadha and Deepak Nayar. It starred Dylan McDermott and Aishwarya Rai. Other actors include Nitin Ganatra, Anupam Kher and Padma Lakshmi. The storyline is derived from Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni's novel "Mistress of Spices". Unfortunately the novel suffered from being translated into a film. The story in the movie unfolds at a lethargic pace and the chemistry between Aishwarya and Dylan is frosty. "Mistress of Spices" revolves around a young woman named Tilo{ Aishwarya Rai} who runs a spice bazaar in San Francisco. She can foresee the fortune of her customers with the help of the spices she sells in her store. In order for the spices to work properly, the young woman must abide by three rules. Tilo can not use the spices for her own benefit. She can not touch human skin. And finally she can not leave the spice store. Disobedience of these rules will result in the loss of her powers. When Doug (Dylan McDermott), an architect crashes his vehicle outside her store, she has to tend to his wounds. The two fall in love causing her to break the rules. The spices begin to punish her. The more she falls in love and defies the rules, the more her customers suffer. She is now faced with a dilemma, whether to stay true to her spices and their power or abandon them for Doug. The movie that runs for three and a half hour gets excessively long and repetitive. None of the characters who come to the store as customers are developed properly. The flashback story of Dylan ends mysteriously. This is unfortunate because the novel on which it is based has an excellent reputation which the film does not reflect.