The Mistress of Spices

I have to admit that I’m a pretty big Aishwarya Rai fan. I think she is a fine actress and an excellent dancer. Okay, fine. I also agree with Roger Ebert who commented that the former Miss World is, “not only the first but also the second most beautiful woman in the world.” She makes bad Bollywood movies bearable and good Bollywood movies that much better. She walks onto the screen, and even my wife stops staring at Sharuch Khan, if only for a minute, to watch her. When Harpers and Queen back in 2005 dropped her from “most beautiful woman in the world” to ninth place directly after Kate Moss, I was convinced it was proof that the last vestiges of sanity had finally been ripped away from global civilization. This is all a very long-winded way of saying that Aishwarya has my complete and total attention in any movie that she stars in.

So, I was very surprised last weekend when I watched her 2005 movie “The Mistress of Spices” and found that I was watching the spices nearly as much as I was watching her. In fact, I would argue that the spices were a distinct character in the film: a sexy, sensual, and utterly fascinating character.

The movie is a romantic drama based on the novel by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni. It stars Aishwarya Rai Bachchan (sorry, guys, she’s married), Dylan McDermott, and a shop full of exotic spices. Aishwarya plays Tilo, an Indian woman who was blessed as a child with a sort of second-sight future-telling ESP vibe. When bandits looking to use her gifts for their own ill-gotten gains kill her parents and kidnap her, she escapes and ends up on a shoreline where an old woman is teaching young women to be “mistresses of spices.” In this religious order/coven/cult, the women learn the secrets of spices, where the spices come from, how they are grown, and how they are used to heal and influence people. I could go on for paragraphs on this back story, not because it took up much time in the film, but because I found the whole concept fascinating. Spices are not just culinary, but also medical, botanical, and most definitely magical.

As a grown woman, Tilo is sent to San Francisco to runs a spice shop called the Spice Bazaar. As a mistress of spices, her mission is to help her clients accomplish their desires with the spices. However, there are rules. She must never use the spices to accomplish her own desires, she must never leave the store, and she must never touch another person’s skin. Her eclectic customers include a grandfather (played by Anupam Kher being as grandfatherly as always) trying to come to terms with his decidedly NON-traditional granddaughter, an Indian-Muslim taxi driver trying to better his socio-economic status, and a handsome Nigerian man who is learning exotic Indian cooking to impress his girlfriend. All is good until a brooding American architect ends up in her shop after a motorcycle accident (Dylan McDermott at his most McDermottish), and she suddenly has the urge to break all three rules at once. As she ends up breaking each rule (no touching, no leaving, no personal fun with the spices), the luck of her patrons starts to change for the worse, and she faces the horrible possibility of losing her intimacy with the spices forever.

That’s all I’m going to tell you of the plot. It’s a romantic drama, not a romantic tragedy, so you know that somehow the guy and girl are going to get together at the end. However, like every good amusement park ride, the fun is not in the destination but in the journey.

And then there are the spices. Ah, yes, the spices. Director Paul Mayeda Berges uses them to amazing effect. The spices are at once exciting, erotic, and sensual. As the camera pans through the shop, you can smell each spice. As Tilo chops the red chilis, you can feel your eyes water. As she crushes the cardamom, you can feel the warmth on your skin. And when she lets the sesame seeds cascade over her hand...well, OK, I was watching Aishwarya once again.

The Mistress of Spices is not a fast-paced film. There are no explosions, no Bollywood dance numbers, and very little comedic banter. However, the movie is a feast for the senses both visually and emotionally. Like any good feast, the movie must be savored slowly.

And now, I have an incredible craving for palak paneer.