I suspect some folks here read the book which was a best seller and authored by a Bay Area author. I suspect few if any ever saw the movie however. The movie stars former Miss World Aishwarya Rai, Dylan McDermott and was made in 2005. Much of it was also shot in Oakland and there were article in the local papers and web sites about the filming. The movie however was panned and never made the theaters around nor the video rental shops. But I decided to see if Netflix had it and they do on DVD. I was surprised to find it distributed by the Weinsteins.
So when I put the DVD in my Bluray player last night I was prepared for a "bad" movie. It is not. But it just didn't find it's audience. I had tried to read the novel several years ago but found it a bit boorish. Apparently those who read the book and saw the movie were disappointed as it didn't play out as they had expected. The story is about a woman who as a young girl learned to become a "master" of sorts with spices. Her spice guru played by Zohra Sehgal, a veteran Indian actress I have enjoyed in many movies, usually playing comic roles, such as "Bhaji on the Beach" and "Bend it with Beckham", warns her about using the spices for her own aims but to help others with them instead. As a woman the student comes to America and sets up a spice shop in Oakland. Much of the story revolves around her belief in the power of the spices. The spices "talk" to her. But what much of this story does is tell you about the power of spices in a village tantra ayurveda sense. She of course falls for an American architect play by McDermott who happens to get into a motorbike accident outside her shop and she offers to help heal his scared arm with herbs. There is much about ayurveda and tantra in this film. And it is lavishly filmed in a spice shop I've never even seen the likes of in India. The audience for this film would be many of the folks here on FFL. It would not appeal to Indians who would not like some of the "American sex scenes" though the film is as tame as an after school movie. And as such the story also addresses Indians trying to adjust to American values. Westerners would have been put off by superstitious belief in spices and the woman's psychic abilities. Probably in the west only Indiaphiles would appreciate this movie. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0407998/ Trailer here and if you look on the list to the right you'll find the movie is posted in parts on YouTube (Weinsteins must not have complained): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPRvUkkG6QA Only on disc on Netflix and not sure why as they made a deal with included many Weinstein films being streamed. BTW, the DVD is nicely mastered.
