Writer-director Gurinder Chadha has reason to be thrilled. Not only is she finally on her way to mainstream Hollywood, she has just had her first 'official' encounter with the Cannes Film Festival.

While a five-minute short film made by her for a portmanteau French production "Je t'aime Paris" ("Paris, I Love You") was screened on the opening night of the Un Certain Regard section, Cannes circles are abuzz with talk of her first Hollywood studio film, a Fox-supported adaptation of the 1980s TV series "Dallas".

"'Dallas' is going to be an unadulterated fun film," says the maker of films like "Bhaji On The Beach", "Bend It Like Beckham" and "Bride And Prejudice".

"When I was first approached with the proposal I had wondered why anybody would want to remake the series. Then, I saw the script and I was drawn to the project," says Chadha, who has been visible at all India-related get-togethers on the Riviera.

Chadha feels "Dallas" will essentially be a family saga.

That is understandable: her global reputation rests primarily on "Bend It Like Beckham" and "Bride And Prejudice", both of which are family dramas. The brood at the heart of "Dallas", she admits, is dysfunctional, but the story is universal.

Scripted by "Steel Magnolias" writer Robert Harling, "Dallas" will have John Travolta essaying the role of Texas oil tycoon J.R. Ewing, while the character of his hard drinking wife Sue Ellen has gone to Jennifer Lopez. The studio is currently in talks with Shirley MacLaine and Luke Wilson for other major roles.

That represents a huge jump for Chadha. Until the late 1990s, getting a film off the ground used to be a colossal struggle for her. Today, in the wake of "Bend It Like Beckham", she can pick and choose assignments.

Had everything gone according to plan, Chadha would have opened her studio filmmaking account with another TV series adaptation "I Dream Of Jeannie". That project took too long to click into place and she did not have the patience to wait for things to happen. She moved on.

Her episode to "Je t'aime Paris" - involving a Muslim girl and French boy in Paris' 5th arrondissement - has been well received in Cannes, boosting her stocks further.

The recent disappointment of "Mistress Of Spices", directed and co-written by her husband Paul Mayeda Berges, is already a thing of the past.

Chadha is now well on the way to her El Dorado.