Working will begin this week on Mistress of Spices, Aishwarya Rai's second western film and the first to be partially produced by Gurinder Chadha.

The film, based on a book of the same name by Chitra Divakaruni, will be directed by Gurinder's husband Paul Berges. It features American actor Dylan McDermott as one of the leads and British actor Nitin Ganatra in a supporting role. The main producer is Deepak Nayar.

The project is close to Gurinder's heart because it features a few who worked with her on Bride and Prejudice. That was also produced by Deepak Nayar and starred Rai and Ganatra. "We have developed a great relationship," Chadha told an American paper last week. "I am excited to be working with her [Aishwarya Rai] again."

The British director first showed an interest in the novel over five years ago. Although she has been working on the adapted script with her husband, her attention will increasingly be focused on the $80million film re-make of the American TV series I Dream of Jeanie.

Mistress of Spices will be her husband's directorial debut. Lead star Dylan McDermott has appeared in over 25 films, including the BBC drama The Grid, but has never had a break-out hit of his own.

"I have admired Gurinder's films for long, especially Bhaji On The Beach," Divakaruni said in a previous interview with the American website Rediff.com. "My book is in great hands. She will be able to do justice to the complex issues in my novel."

The book revolves around Tilo, an immigrant Indian who runs a spice shop in California. In addition to supplying the ingredients for curry, she dispenses her wisdom and the appropriate spice for their deepest desires. Tilo, the Mistress of Spices, is also a priestess of the secret magical powers of spices.

But Tilo's powers are conditional - they vanish the moment she falls in love. So when a lonely American ventures into the store, she cannot find the correct spice because he arouses a forbidden desire that will destroy her powers.

The film will be shot extensively in northern California, but will start this week in the Isle of Man. The total cost is expected to be around $10million (£5.2 million).

"The movies I want to make are hard to raise money for. 'Beckham' took two years, we really had to scrape to make that film. I want to make a few big Hollywood movies and get the standing and position, so I can make my smaller movies and they'll get a much bigger audience," Gurinder said last week while promoting Bride and Prejudice.

"That's sort of my game plan for now. I've got to do at least one, get my mortgage out of the way and then I'll be freed up."