For the ultimate curtain raiser to The Mistress Of Spices, including the storyline and an insightful backgrounder on it, which especially highlights the Magical Realism used in the forthcoming Ash starrer from Gurinder Chaddha, read on! Also, info on the cast and technical crew, in detail.
A story of Magical Realism:
'The Mistress of Spices' is an enchanting and sensual fable about the romantic and personal conflicts that face TILO, a beautiful young 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 with a startling ability to see into their past and future.
Tilo works in a small San Francisco store called the 'SPICE BAZAAR', where, with the guidance of her spices, she finds the perfect remedy for anyone who walks through her door. For her powers to work she must obey three simple but strict rules, she must only use the spices to help others, she must not touch another human's skin and she must never leave her store.
When DOUG, a handsome, enigmatic architect crashes his Harley Davison outside her San Francisco store, she has to tend to his wounds and her life is changed forever. For the first time Tilo's own desires are stirred - is there more to life than helping others? Tilo knows the rules and her spices warn her to stay away. But Doug doesn't have any spices telling him what to do and soon returns with flowers to ask her on a date.
No matter how hard she resists him, his persistence, honesty and friendship draws them closer and closer to each other. When they accidentally touch, another rule is broken and the spices are enraged. The spices are in no mood for either leniency or romance but Tilo is captivated by the force of love and agrees to go on a date leaving her spices behind. The spices begin to punish her - the more she falls in love and defies the rules, the more her customers suffer.
All Tilo wants to do is carry on her work helping others and fall in love as well, but she is forced into a painful dilemma. If she turns her back on her way of life, all the people that she has helped will suffer, but if she doesn't, she will lose Doug forever!
Tilo must now confront her past, her friends, her desires and ultimately the spices to decide if she can fight for a new life of her choosing or must return to the old one.
The biggest USP of the storyline: Magical Realism
One of the key and unique elements to the Mistress of Spices is the use of Magical Realism, a literary technique that explores how different cultures perceive reality. Magical realism is found within in a variety of literature, and as literary professor Jane Anderson Jones explains, "What is absolutely 'real' to one culture, is 'magical' to the other culture. From a 'Western' viewpoint, the other culture's reality is often described as superstition, witchcraft or nonsense; from another cultures viewpoint (Native American, Eastern, African etc) western logic and science are viewed as "magic" or disconnected from the spiritual world. The intersect of these different world views is Magical Realism." In The Mistress of Spices the intersect occurs between the traditions of India and the modernity of America .
From the very outset of the film, it is clear that Tilo lives strictly by the rules of the spices. 1. Never think about your own desires, only use the spices to help others. 2. Do not touch anyone else and 3. Do not leave the store. To begin with Tilo keeps within the restrictions of these rules and the literal boundaries of the shop. She soon realizes however, that it is not going to be easy to adhere to these traditions within the environment of modern America where free will is the more dominant force. When Doug walks into her store and awakens a passion within her, the chilli's become aggravated and warn her against the dangers of abandoning her traditions. When she steps outside the store to explore the world of San Francisco and her blossoming desires for Doug, the spices are furious, they stop working as they should and all sense of order is lost. Tilo is torn between these conflicting desires and eventually submits herself back into the burning chilli's asking the spices to decide her fate. By the end however, Tilo manages to find a balance, she holds on the backbone of her traditions and respect for her spices whilst also embracing her personal desires for love and human affection. She truly can, have it all.