Hot Ash to be 'Mistress of Spices'

WASHINGTON: Amid both rah rah reviews and rottentomatoes for Bride and Prejudice after its nationwide release in the UnitedStates this week, Aishwarya Rai is doing a masala film next. No, notthe Bollywood masala film. She''s going to play the lead in the movie version ofChitra Banerjee Divakaruni''s novel .The story by the Indian-American authorrevolves around Tilo, an Indian woman in Oakland, California, who runs a spiceshop and has magical powers. The powers fade when she falls in love with anAmerican.According to film industry outlets, Rai''s opposite in themovie will be Dylan McDermott, an American actor who has starred in,, and, among other films.Spices will be directed by Paul Mayeda Berges, who is the husband ofGurinder Chadha, who made . The film will be produced by Chadha and Deepak Nayar, who hasproduced two of Chadha films.The making of extends the new trend ofcrossover movies involving non-resident Indian directors filming Indian-Americanauthors. Mira Nair is making a film based on Jhumpa Lahiri''s about a young boy tornbetween two cultures and searching for his identity. Shooting forSpices will begin as early as this week with both Chadha and Rai recovering froma hectic week of promoting e in the U0S. Reviews were mixed, but they appearednationwide. The well-known site Rottentomatoes.com listed 40 ''fresh'' reviews and15 ''rotten'' ones, giving the movie an average rating of6.4/10. -- Desson Thomson, -- Paula Nechak, -- Peter Travers, --David Elliott, -- Carla Meyer,