The Israeli Film Festival this year opened with Bride & Prejudice. Moviegoers were disappointed not to see the beautiful Ashwariya Rai at the festival. But the busy lady couldn't make it, because she has been working on her next film, Mistress of Spices, based on the novel by the same name by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni. The screenplay was written by three people, including Gurinder Chadha and Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni. Shooting begain in Oakland earlier this month.

The novel revolves around the character of Tilo, played by Ms.Ash R. According to the back-cover:

Magical, tantalizing, and sensual, The Mistress of Spices is the story of Tilo, a young woman born in another time, in a faraway place, who is trained in the ancient art of spices and ordained as a mistress charged with special powers. The now immortal Tilo--in the gnarled and arthritic body of an old woman--travels through time to Oakland, California, where she opens a shop from which she administers spices as curatives to her customers. An unexpected romance with a handsome stranger eventually forces her to choose between the supernatural life of an immortal and the vicissitudes of modern life.

The handsome stranger, by the way, is played by Dylan McDermott, who truly is quite irresistable.