by Subhash K Jha

She calls it her "big Hollywood film". Gurinder Chadha has just firmed up what's unarguably her most expensive and challenging film to date.

"The challenge lies in doing something different each time," she tells me from London where she and her husband Paul Berges are promoting the latter's film The Mistress Of Spices. "After Bend It Like Beckham I could've done another football film. But there's no challenge in doing the done."

After the Jane Austen adaptation Bride & Prejudice, Gurinder is all set to direct John Travolta and Jennifer Lopez in a big-screen adaptation of the super-successful American series.

For the uninitiated Dallas is the longest-running American serial. Incepted in 1978 by CBS television it lasted for the next 13 years. It told the story of the prosperous Ewing family in Texas lorded over by the tyrannical Miss Ellie. The film is to be produced by 20th Century Fox.

"I love the fact that Robert Harling who wrote Steel Magnolias and Soapdish is writing my film. Robert brings his own sensibility to Dallas. I've been catching up on Series 1 and Series 2 of the Dallas series, also the film Giant (featuring Elizabeth Taylor, James Dean and Rock Hudson).

My film will be very much similar in spirit and theme to the tv series. It will be a Texan family who have millions and millions of dollars.

I'm familiarizing myself with Texan culture... Actually this would be my second film without Indian characters. The first was What's Cooking which was about 'Los Angelenes'. Not too many people have seen that...maybe I should release it again. Now there's Dallas which is situated in Texas.'

Gurinder chuckles in her inimitable way. "The really gratifying thing about me doing a big-screen Dallas is that all the actors who were cautious and skeptical about the project became interested after they got to know I was at the helm.

I was quite delighted to know John Travolta was a fan of my work. He's seen Beckham like five times. And to think that the Studio wondered if I'd be able to pull it off...was I classy enough to do Dallas? We shall soon know, ha ha."

Others in the cast are Jennifer Lopez, Luke Wilson and Shirley MacLaine. "We're still looking at a lot of actors who seem keen to be cast....You know, I'm delighted at the way people in Hollywood take to success and successful people.

In that sense they're quite Punjabi in their outlook...boisterous and extroverted about achievements and achievers. All I've to do is is be myself for them to accept me on my own terms—and being myself doesn't come with difficulty to me," Gurinder laughs loudly.

So what IS Gurinder Chadha perceived as in the West? She chuckles and then ruminates, "Well to begin with they saw me in Hollywood as an Indian with a Punjabi demeanour. Then they realize I'm this British with a Hugh Grant accent. After which they get totally comfortable with my casual cosmpolitanism."

One of Gurinder's best encounters regarding Dallas occurred when David Jacobs the original creator of the Dallas met up with Gurinder. "He loved Bend It Like A Beckham. But he said I shouldn't have cut aloo gobi in the film. I was lost about what he meant until I got to know David had watched the DVD version of Beckham where I was featured on the menu making aloo-gobi."

She begins talking about her husband Paul Berges' about- to- be- released The Mistress Of Spices. "It's strange but I've never felt so warmly or so nervously about any of the films I've directed. But I'm extremely possessive, protective and proud of Mistress.

I hope in India it isn't seen as just a film about Aishwarya Rai. She IS the central character and dazzling in her performance. But Mistress... is about a lot of other things. It's one of the first films about the Indian immigrant's experience in America.

It tackles the Indian diaspora in a way that has never been done before. It goes into a relationship between the Indian protagonist and an American man.I see the film as a chain in the work that Paul and I have been doing together.

Though it fits in nicely with the rest of our oeuvre Mistress is completely Paul's work. And the best thing about the film is, it's already making inroads into Western perceptions even before release. A very major British actress has sent Paul feelers to direct a film based in Spain and India. Frankly I'm very proud of what he has done."