Married life spices up director's debut

Chadha has written forthcoming film The Closet with her husband

British-Indian director Gurinder Chadha has admitted it was "very hard" not to interfere with her husband Paul Mayeda Berges's work on his debut film Mistress Of Spices - the script for which was written by her.

The film, based on Chitra Divakaruni's best-selling book, was the first time the pair had collaborated in this way - although the pair have previously co-written the scripts for Chadha's hit films Bend It Like Beckham and Bride And Prejudice.

Chadha told BBC World Service's The Ticket programme it had not been at all easy to sit back and watch her husband direct her script, and this had led to a number of rows.

"I was on set for the first few days, and then I had to leave because I found it very hard," she said.

"There were times when I would walk on set and try to whisper to Paul, and then all the crew would look away.

"On one occasion I suggested something and Paul said no, and the crew thought we were having a 'domestic'.

"After that, I really had to learn to back off and let him do it himself."

Myths and traditions

The film centres on a young Indian woman, played by Bollywood star Aishwarya Rai, who lives in San Francisco and who is a member of an ancient spice-worshipping cult.

Her mystical spices give her the power to help people and change their lives - but the powers also prevent her from leaving her shop, or ever touching the skin of another person.

Chadha said that the film had already seen young third-generation Indians living in the West decide to try and rediscover the myths of their home country.

Aishwarya Rai stars as mystical Indian immigrant Tilo

"It is opening a door to them, looking at ancient Indian traditions and myths - they are talking to their grandmothers about spices," she said.

"India is a very spiritual land, which is made up of myths and magic and traditions.

"I do believe that, with the magical realism context, we have to suspend disbelief a lot more in the West than we do in the East.

"I think Indians will go for the magic a lot more."

She added that there was a great deal of subtext in her screenplay, with the original book being the first time she had read something like this from an American point of view.

"What was even more fascinating to me was the idea of magic - of taking the debates around traditions and modernity, and using magic as a metaphor," she said.

"The theme that myself and Paul are interested in is what happens when you move form one country to another, and you grow up carrying one culture with you - but you're also part of the culture that's around you.

"For me, that's being a British Asian - for Paul it's Japanese-American. So we see the world from that kind of bi-cultural point of view, and we're always looking to tell those stories in a different way."