Just finished reading “Mistress of Spices” by Chitra B. Divakaruni. This is one I’d skipped because the introduction hadn’t looked too good. But apparently there is a movie now, and since I will see the movie, better read the book first. So did. The prose is long-winded, almost lyrical, a little more and it would have almost been poetry. There is no overt action, it’s thought and philosophy, a stream of consciousness narrative, all from Tilo’s point of view. Her life, and her decisions are told to us via the thoughts in her head, in a quaint, sing-song, old womanly manner, very befitting the language of a Mistress of Spices.

Tilo or Tilotamma, is a fire-ordained Mistress of Spices. Strong of resolve, she has led a cruel and haughty life, and was finally taught the art of the curative spices from the Old One – the Mother. As an initiation she promises her life to service, dons an old woman’s body, and serves the people of Oakland, California by running a desi grocery store and by doling out curative treatments as needed. Through her eyes, we see the problems of the desi, the culture clash, issues of domestic violence and disrespect. At the time Divakaruni wrote this book, she was the president of Maitri – a woman’s Domestic Violence organisation. She was also the founder I believe, so it is natural for her to weave these stories in. The rest of the book meanders around Tilo’s store-bound life, and attachment to an American and her decisions thereafter.

The film apparently hasn’t recieved rave reviews in the festival circuit. Directed by Paul Mayeda Berges (husband of Gurinder Chaddha) it stars Aishwarya Rai as Tilo. Beautywise she might fit the role (as the young Tilo is very beautiful) but acting wise am not so sure. As I’ve said before, Ms. Rai can’t act, so to carry off the role of Tilo would surely be quite a hard task for her. In a book, you get many details that a film would miss, you get the whole picture. To convey the whole picture via celluloid takes a lot of skill and a director/actors who know what they are doing. Haven’t see any films of Berges, so don’t know about his skill, but I sure have seen Aishwarya in Raincoat.

I read “Cracking India” before I saw “Earth”, and the pleasure only doubled then. Of course Earth ends towards 3/4th of the book. –SPOILER AHEAD– We see Aamir Khan engineering Ayah’s capture, we do not see (in the film) his later remorse, nor Ayah’s hate for him. Again in “Sphere” (the book by Michael Crichton) the female scientist (I forget her name now, Beth ?) keeps her memory of the Sphere, she does not keep her side of the promise. In the film however, all 3 scientists are shown to have erased their memories of the sphere.

So, it’s interesting if you have read the book, sort of gives you an insight into the film. And the best reads/films are those in which I can’t recall whether I’ve seen the film or read the book (the details are that clear in my mind).

Categories : _films , _film_reviews