Aishwarya Rai with Dylan McDermott in The Mistress of SpicesPaul Mayeda Berges

lYou have gone for a staggered release of The Mistress of Spices. How has the response been till now, across the world?

The film premiered at the Toronto Film Festival last year and the response there was great. We had as many as three screenings and Mistress of Spices was the first film to sell out. In the UK, it opened last Friday and we?ve had great responses from lots of audiences. The US distribution has been taken over by Miramax man Harvey Weinstein?s new company. We haven?t set a release date for the US.

lIt was back in 1996 that you had read the original novel by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni?

We were sent the book around that time and both my wife Gurinder (Chadha) and I fell in love with the story instantly. It is set in San Francisco and I have stayed there for many years. I felt that the book best captured the whole spirit of that place. We have wanted to make the film ever since.

Then we got busy with other projects and somehow it wasn?t the right time to start the movie. Chitra got to know us very well, understood us and was very patient with us. But the fact was that the main protagonist in the book is an Indian. And in 1996, everyone was asking who the star was going to be...

lSo in many ways Aishwarya helped Mistress of Spices to take off?

The international scenario changed over the years. The climate today is very different from what it was. And the timing worked out. We worked with Ash on Bride & Prejudice. She became very close to the project and then she read the script of Mistress of Spices. She loved it instantly. All through the years, Gurinder and I have imagined different actors playing the role of Tilo but we had never approached someone seriously.

lWhat was it about Tilo that Ash liked?

Ash got very excited after reading the script and connected so much with Tilo. She liked the idea of her character so much in love with her traditions. Then how she balances the new influences around her. We worked in a very different style. There is a different side to Aishwarya. Mistress of Spices is easily one of her finest performances. And this is a fact we have heard from many other people. In a gala film like Bride & Prejudice, it was a different style. Her performance here is more understated, not glamorous but spiritual. Her performance is closer to the Bengali film (Chokher Bali) she did with Ritu (Rituparno Ghosh).

lWhat about the chemistry with co-star Dylan McDermott?

Dylan is a very strong American actor and people have responded very positively to the two of them. When they were rehearsing for the first time, they set the tone very early and after that their acting was only heightened.

lWhat about talk that she does not like the sensual scenes with Dylan in the movie?

That is ridiculous. In reality, Aishwarya is such a big figure that they (the media) are always looking to pick on something about her. She has seen Mistress of Spices and is very proud of the movie. I am very proud too. And Chitra was also thrilled with the adaptation when she came for the screening in Toronto.

lChokher Bali didn?t do that well at the all-India box-office even though it did good business in Bengal. Are you sceptical about the fortunes of Mistress of Spices in the India market?

I hope people see the film. The style I have adopted for the film is a magical fable style. Also, Indian audiences now want to see something different. You are right when you say that it is a sensual film but it?s very tastefully done. We are not selling sex here like the cheap films do? I just want the Indian audiences to give it the same chance they have been giving other recent films.

lThe story line of your film sounds surprisingly similar to Chocolat?

Chitra wrote her novel before Chocolat was printed. The only similarity between the two is that both are based on magic realism. The lady in Chocolat gives chocolates to everyone. Here, Tilo gives spices to everyone. But the biggest difference between the two is that Mistress of Spices is rooted in something real. In Chocolat, it?s not explained how the chocolates are healing the travelling people. But in my film the spices represent tradition.

lYou are half-American-half Japanese. Your co-writer wife is half-British-half-Punjabi. You are making a film with an Indian star. Is this what we call global cinema?

All the films that Gurinder and I have made have been in this genre of global cinema. That?s the world out there. We are connected in so many ways, there are so many things we share. The film too is about all the traditions we all have.

lYour wife?s making the big-screen version of Dallas with John Travolta and Jennifer Lopez. It doesn?t get bigger than that?

I am really happy that Gurinder has got a big canvas to play on.