There's a mister in the picture
by: Ankur Kalita
- expressindia.com
There’s nothing like a talented spouse to spice up your life. Paul Mayeda Berges is making his directorial debut with a film based on Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s book Mistress of Spices. Berges is the co-writer of his wife Gurinder Chadha’s latest film Bride and Prejudice and associate producer of Bend It Like Beckham. The couple were in Delhi to promote Bride. ‘‘Chitra had sent the book to Gurinder and me way back in 1997. We were interested in it but didn’t get a chance to work on it seriously until now,’’ says Berges. Like Bride..., Mistress of Spices too will star Aishwarya Rai and Anupam Kher. ‘‘It is about an Indian woman who lives in San Francisco and her transition into an American. Santosh Sivan will do the cinematography while Gurinder and Deepak Nayar are the producers. The film is basically based in the US,’’ says Berges. The conversation swings between husband and wife. ‘‘I wanted to do it,’’ says Chadha, ‘‘but I am also doing a film based on the hit TV series I Dream of Jeannie. So I am simply producing this one.’’
Mistress of Spices will be made in English. Shooting will begin in January 2005. The film will be shot in India, the US and the UK. ‘‘There is music in the film, but there are no Bollywood-style song-and-dance sequences,’’ says Berges.
