Director Mira Nair's ("Mississippi Masala") lush and erotic drama, set in pre-colonial India, follows a princess's beautiful serving girl who is trained in the ways of lovemaking and becomes courtesan to the princess's husband, a powerful ruler, until her forbidden affair with a sculptor leads to disaster. Indira Varma, Naveen Andrews, Ramon Tikaram star. Uncut version; 114 min. Standard and Widescreen; Soundtrack: English Dolby Digital stereo; Subtitles: Spanish, French; audio commentary by Nair; filmography; theatrical trailer. Filmed in English.
If you're looking for a deep, intelligently romantic movie with complex characters and a richly rewarding plot, don't bother with
Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love. On the other hand, if you're feeling sexy and in the mood for a lush, seductive, and visually stunning film set in 16th-century India, this one will please you like the best foreplay you've ever experienced. Or it will relax you like a full treatment at a pampering spa--either way, you're gonna feel pretty fantastic. Okay, okay... maybe we're getting a little carried away, but there's no denying that director Mira Nair (best known for her acclaimed film
Salaam Bombay!) has crafted a sumptuous film for the eyes if not the head. Its melodramatic plot is involving enough to elevate the movie high above soft-core adult fare, so you won't feel guilty after watching it.
Kama Sutra is the story of a young woman named Maya (the stunning Indira Varma) who has always been lower on the social scale than her well-born friend Tara (Sarita Choudhury), and has always lived in Tara's shadow, wearing her used clothes and being made to feel inferior. When Tara is betrothed to the handsome King Raj Singh (Naveen Andrews, from The English Patient), Tara sneaks into the king's tent on the eve of the wedding and seduces him. Later, after being trained to master the Kama Sutra's many "lessons of love," Maya will be the king's courtesan, and emotions will run high between the former best friends. But the plot is of secondary importance here (a fact that resulted in many mixed reviews), and so Kama Sutra works best as a colorful and irresistibly sexy story that is worth seeing just for the startling beauty of the film and its cast. --Jeff Shannon
