Customer Reviews

Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love (Widescreen/Full Screen)

5 star:		(41)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

I loved this movie for a lot of reasons--cinematography, storyline, etc. However, it's the line at the very end that spoke to my heart. I've started to use it as a guide for my life--

"Knowing love, I will allow all things to come and go. To be as supple as the wind, and take everything that comes with great courage. Life is right in any case. My heart is as open as the sky."

This is a lushy lavish, sensuously beautiful film, superlatively directed by Mira Nair, a world class director noted for such other cinematic masterpieces as "Salaam Bombay", "Mississippi Masala", and the more recent art house feature, "Monsoon Wedding". As are her other films, "Kama Sutra" is an intelligent and mesmerizing story, peppered with excellent performances by a stellar cast.

Set in sixteenth century India, this is the story of Maya (Indira Varma), a servant girl and companion to Tara (Sarita Choudry), a Maharani destined to be Queen to a Raj. Childhood friends, they are to become palace rivals as the fates pit them one against the other, only to have them both become casualties of love. Maya, tired of being treated as a second class citizen and of receiving Tara's castoff clothing, makes a life defining decision on the eve of Tara's marriage to Raj Singh (Naveen Andrews). Sensing that the Raj desires her, Maya gives herself to him, later telling Tara that it is she who now has a cast off from Maya.

After Tara departs with her husband, Maya's perfidy is revealed to the household by Tara's huntchbacked brother, who, coveting Maya for himself, had spied upon her and saw her in flagrante delicto with the Raj. Ousted by Tara's outraged family, Maya leaves to make her way in the world. She comes across a sculptor, Jai Kumar (Ramon Tikarum), of Raj Singh's royal household and falls in love with him. Unfortunately, timing is everything. By the time Jai realizes that he, too, is in love with her, it is too late, as Maya is now the favorite courtesan of the by now debauched Raj, who is obsessed with her and cannot seem to get her out of his system, much to the dimay of Tara, as well as Jai.

Trained in the arts of love by the graceful and beautiful Rasa Devi (Rekha), Maya, as a royal courtesan, is a sensuous, beautiful sylph. Tara, now the Queen, is insanely jealous of her husband's desire for Maya, but must tolerate it, as must Jai, as it is a culturally accepted way of life. Unfortunately, when the Raj discovers that Maya and Jai are still in love, all hell breaks loose, and the piper must be paid.

This is a wonderful film of a woman's journey to find herself within culturally imposed constraints. It is a tale of the vicissitudes of life that leave imprints on one's journey. Told in the context of carnal love and desire, it also tells of a love sublime. This is essentially a woman's film, sensuous and erotic in its imagery, a veritable sumptuous feast for the senses. While there is some nudity in the film, it is tastefully and beautifully filmed, as well as highly erotic.

Indira Varma, in what is her screen debut, is sensational as the entrancing Maya, imbuing her with an impishness, as well as with a sinuous and provocative sensuality. Sarita Choudry, of "Mississippi Masala" fame, is excellent as the beautiful and exotic Tara, who appears to be relegated to a life of frigidity and jealousy. Rekha, the well known and exquisitely beautiful Indian actress, is hypnotic as Rasa Devi, teacher of the Kama Sutra. Naveen Andrews gives a good performance as the debauched Raj, and Ramon Tikarum is compelling as the conflicted artist. They both, however, take a backseat to the women in the film.

Filmed on location in India, this is a film that should be watched for its sheer beauty. Bravo!

This film's imagery is powerful and sensual...so rich and vivid that it seemed as though I could feel and smell the lush and exotic scenes. Throughout, the film is infused with light-hearted, but nevertheless heated, eroticism informed by female sensibilities. What is most surprising is that it does have a message; one might say that despite being set in 16th century India, it is a modern morality play told more than a little tongue-in-cheek.

Maya, born into a servant caste, and thereby relegated to a powerless situation in a rigid society, manages with daring, intelligence, and humor to live an authentic life. She acts boldly, at times, to shape her destiny; but she also accepts with equanimity the turns of fate that she cannot control. I think I can say without giving away anything that I love the final scene where, on the metaphorical path of life, she walks serenely out of the chaos and madness created by powerful men into the peace of her own future. Oh, that one might do as well in the madness of the 21st century.

This movie was beyond exceptional. It had beautiful people, costumes as well as scenary. I like it For this Movie and more visit us online for lingerire, kama sutra books games and online community. http://karmasutraexpress.com/enter.htm

This is, indeed, a Tale, a tale for adults... For in the East, it has always been known that adults NEED and enjoy tales no less than any child would.

This story is about LOVE (of course), true love broken by the society and its "powerful ones". In this case, the powerful one is a Prince, evil yet very sexy Naveen Andrews (Kip in "The English Patient"). The object of his desire is Maya, who is forced to become courtesan, after some unfortunate events. But, Maya was brought up as a princess...

Indeed, Maya grew up with the evil Prince's future wife-to-be, Tara, so it gets very complicated: Prince has beautiful Tara, but he desires beautiful Maya (they are both so beautiful, why not have them both?...Prince manages to do that for quite some time).

There is another amazingly beautiful woman in this film, whom I enjoyed seeing on screen once again: famous Indian actress, Rasa Devi, playing Rekha-- older courtesan and Maya's mentor, and what a wonderful mentor she is!

In short, Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love, is one of the most beautiful and most sensuous films in years. It is entertaining and at the same time philosophical!

It was nice to see "making love"-scenes, as oppose to random and mostly meaningless sex-scenes that seem to dominate today's cinema.

I only regret that there wasn't more dancing in this film. I also regret over-using the word "beautiful" in my review:)....but, in this case, it is more than appropriate.
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One of my top 5 favorites of all time. This is a classic, in tune with Dr. Zhivago...timeless, such a romantic movie! I adore it and watch it and Monsoon Wedding often. If you want lusciuos scenery, gorgeous costumes along with a lovely story and wonderful acting, see this film. Yes, there are Other films worth watching for those of us who want more than the latest silly action flick...

I really enjoyed this movie because of the glance into ancient india. It expressed it's beauty in the land, the culture and the people, especially the women. Just goes to show how important women really are. I think this is a movie that you can sit and watch with you closet friends and discuss the feelings and actions of the people in the movie.

This is a rather crudely made film devoid of much charm. A few of the scenes are nicely shot, but overall this is a letdown, just like almost every film with the words "Kama Sutra" in the title. Beware of overly positive reviews. I'm not Indian (nor Pakistani), unlike some highly biased reviewers here.

For one thing, it puzzles me how this westernized view of India -- plush with its dusky women courtesans and its white bread social beliefs -- is associated with "Kama Sutra". A perfectly guessable tale of unrequited love, scorn, and revenge thereof, is packaged with frequent bits of unnecessary sex (call it audience targeting).

But even if I were to detach myself from exploring the Indianness in this film (the lack thereof, I mean) or its non-chalant labeling as Kama Sutra, in and of itself the movie is still quite an ordinary one.

The theme, as simpleton as they come -- Maya (a conveniently dark-skinned Indira Verma much in keeping with a western stereotype of Indian nymphs) is reviled by her Prince husband and socially ostracized. She takes refuge under the aegis of an exotic dancer (played convincingly by a superbly controlled Rekha, the only respite amidst all this facade). This dance teacher supposedly coaches our modest protagonist in all the requisite moves and emotional shenanigans involved in inveigling a man.

Lots of visual eye candy lines this bagatelle (not as much soft porn as some XY-chromosomes among you may wish for), some good costume designs, and an occasionally entertaining soundtrack.Nothing more.

From a veteran of Mira Nair's cadre, one would perhaps expect more than that -- maybe even a complex story of sexual intrigue and character study. Instead, looks like she fancied unshackling some international mental barriers about eroticism in the oh-so-orthodox Indian society, which ends up being little more than a farce to real Indians. (A trend that she seems to have continued with Monsoon Wedding)

Come to think of it, the whole plot reeks heavily of another movie, "Dangerous Beauty", which btw is a must-watch, where a Venetian courtesan tackles a similar fate. At least you may run into some honestly intelligent dialogue there.

This movie was beyond exceptional. It had beautiful people, costumes as well as scenary. I like the fact that it wasn't a stereotypical sex movie that was overdone with lusty and premiscuous sex. It had a great story about love and passion. This movie is definitly in my top 10!