Seema-Lisa in a film together

Strangely, Bollywood did not really have a finger in this pie that was baked in Delhi.
Canadian actor, writer and filmmaker Don McKellar slipped into the capital and shot a full-length Indian film with Lisa Ray and Seema Biswas (yes, the same) and left without anybody getting wind of what was happening.
The film, Cooking with Stella, is made by Deepa Mehta���s brother Dilip Mehta, but features all of Deepa���s favourite stars ��� including Shabana Azmi ��� who the Indian-born Canadian director has used in earlier films like Fire, Earth and Water.
The story goes that Shabana missed out on the title role in Cooking with Stella because, well, the actress is lousy at cooking! And the role requires the protagonist to play a cook in a diplomat���s (Lisa Ray) household who teaches the diplomat���s chef-husband (Don McKellar) the best culinary secrets of India.
Seema Biswas, on the other hand, is a fabulous cook and was just right for Stella���s part. And she and Don whipped up a storm in the kitchen on the Delhi sets of the film. Bollywood, of course, is mystified why Shabana could not have acted out the part. If Amitabh Bachchan, who notoriously cannot even boil an egg, played a famous London chef in R Balki���s Cheeni Kum, why could not Shabana be Stella!
Don, who was seen last year in the dramatic thriller Blindness (which he also scripted), is an amazingly versatile actor and Dilip Mehta was thrilled to have him play the lead role. ���He was intrigued by the character, we couriered him the script, and he was on. He came straight to Delhi and hit the deck running. All this two weeks prior to principle filming,��� said Dilip.
The film is a social satire about a Canadian diplomat and her chef-husband who are posted in Delhi and inherit a household of Indian servants headed by the charming, totally-inspiring and wily cook Stella. Don, incidentally, did manage to take back to Canada with him several tips on Indian cooking that he learned while shooting from Seema!
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