The Mistress of Spices:

Lacks flavour

Ruwini JAYAWARDANA

Heartwarming yet frostily depicted, poetic yet bland uttered, beautiful yet its true colours veiled. Those lines just about sums up ‘The Mistress of Spices’, a mystic tale of a guardian of healing drugs who strides to help others while being deprived of fulfilling her own inner desired.

The story is adapted from the novel by the same name penned by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni. It rotates around the lifestyle and conflicts faced by Tilo, a beautiful young Indian woman trained in the ancient and magical art of spices.

Ordained with special powers to help those that come to her, Tilo can sense people’s problems through visions into the past and future.

Her dwelling is a small shop titled ‘Spice Bazaar’ in a busy San Francisco street. She listens to their woeful tales and presents them with a remedy via the spices. Throughout the tale we are told that her attachment with the magical spices lie within obeying three rules set to her and the other mistresses by the ‘First Mother’: she should never use the power of the spices for her own gain, she must not touch another human being’s skin and she is not allowed to leave the ‘Spice Bazaar’.

Things run smoothly until Doug, an American architect, enters her premises after an accident.

Tilo has to tend to his wounds and the incident leaves a lasting impact in her. Her own desires are stirred and she years for pleasures of her own. The spices sense her mounting emotions and warn her to stay away but she is irresistibly drawn to Doug’s charm and honesty. Soon she is breaking rule after rule.

Then the spices begin to punish her first through her customers but the ultimate trial waits and it is a one which she might have to pay with her life.

‘The Mistress Of Spices’ is Paul Mayeda Berges’ directorial debut.

Though he had cashed in on success by working as the screenwriter on his wife Gurinder Chadha’s projects ‘Bend It Like Beckham’ and ‘Bride and Prejudice’, his fist efforts at directing lacks the essential ingredients to keep the audience entranced. It is also unfolds at a lethargic pace and at times becomes a bore.

A bit more lively or action-packed events in between Tilo and Doug’s growing attractions would have made a much better film but ‘The Mistress Of Spices’ falters terribly in this aspect.

It is only Rai’s incomparable beauty and her expressive eyes which make the movie bearable to watch. She had tried to do full justice to her character portraying many shades of the role from advisor, friend, disciple and lover. Dylan McDermott does not fit into the image of the ‘lonely American’ Doug. The chemistry between the lead pair is frosty.

One of the strengths in the movie is the talented supporting cast. Anupam Kher plays a worried grandfather who unburdens his worries bout his feisty granddaughter on Tilo.

Nitin Chandra portrays a wonderful cameo as Harun who has left his tragic childhood behind in Kashmir to earn a living in the US. Ayesha Dharkar is effective as Hameeda. Some of the Indian and US landscapes are captured beautifully in the film and the qualities of the spices generate interest.

If you have already read Divakaruni’s novel, then it is better to give this a miss. Or else be prepared to be sadly disappointed for it lacks the magical fragrance which made the tale a joy to read on paper but not a set of appealing visual images.