Dinner and a Movie – Mistress of Spices.

[Guest guest]

I wanted to make sure you all knew that Bollywood night is going to be extra

special this Friday. The Vegan Indian Buffet is always special, but this time

the movie has some extra appeal:

 

Mistress of Spices takes place in San Francisco – a romance between old world

values and new world gumption. Made in 2005 by the same people who created Bend

it Like Beckham, it stars the incredibly beautiful Aishwarya Rai, a former Miss

Word.

 

In addition, parts of the movie are based on the life of Vaidya Priyanka, a

frequent speaker at our World Vegetarian Weekends. She will introduce the

movie and explain some of the mental and emotional affects of spices. She is

writing a book now on that subject. The movie gives some wonderful examples of

what spices can do to change people's lives.

 

This is not like any other movie we have seen on Bollywood night – much more

visually appealing – with magical flights of imagination.

 

Dinner starts 6:00. You can order from the menu if you don't feel like stuffing

yourself at the Buffett. You are also welcome to just show up for the talk and

the movie – for free. The talk will start about 6:45 and the movie about 7:15.

Maharani Restaurant, 1122 Post Street, between Van Ness & Polk Streets, San

Francisco.

 

I'll see you there this Friday April 16, 2010: This is a good event to help you

forget about that most difficult and irritating tax day of April 15th.

 

Here is an official Synopsis:

 

THE MISTRESS OF SPICES is a universal immigrant story told through magical

realism in the vein of LIKE WATER FOR CHOCOLATE and CHOCOLAT. It is a sensual

love story building on the cultural themes of the writers of BEND IT LIKE

BECKHAM and WHAT'S COOKING? - what as an immigrant do you choose to keep or

leave behind as you assimilate. TILO is an outsider from India who has to come

to terms with her new country, America. But as a `mistress of spices', there are

certain rules she must follow. TILO runs a spice store in San Francisco and has

a magical gift of seeing into her customers' lives and desires. She gives them

different spices to help them get what they want. In order for the magic to

work, TILO must obey the rules set out for a mistress - never leave the store,

never touch another human, and love only the spices. When DOUG - a handsome,

enigmatic American with a secret past - enters her store, TILO's own desires are

stirred for the first time. She begins to feel passion for the American and as

she becomes closer to DOUG, the spices she has given her other customers begin

to misbehave. The more TILO falls in love and begins to defy the rules, the

worse the lives of her customers become. TILO must decide. Will she choose

forbidden love for an American over devotion to her spices and her traditions?