Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love

1996
1h 54m

IMDb RATING

6.0/10

12K

YOUR RATING

Play trailer1:51

2 Videos

5 Photos

Steamy Romance Crime Drama History Romance

Two female friends become sexual rivals at maturity.Two female friends become sexual rivals at maturity.Two female friends become sexual rivals at maturity.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.0/10

12K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 1 win & 1 nomination

Trivia
In order to film in India, the production had to use a fake title "Tara and Maya." Indian authorities would not have permitted the film to be made there had they known its true title and content.

Goofs
The story of this film is set in the sixteenth century. Young Maya is running through red chili pepper drying in the sun on the palace grounds. Chillies didn't reach Indian cuisine until the seventeenth century.

Quotes
Maya: Knowing love, I can allow all things to come and go, to be as supple as the wind and to face all things with great courage.My heart is a open as the sky

Alternate versions
The director Mira Nair suffered approximately 2 years bringing the film from censorship to lawsuits, and to the highest court due to the film's sexual content, the C.B.F.C. (Central Board of Film Certification) banned the film before being passed with an 'A' (18+) certificate in 1997 with small cuts to nudity made and all sex scenes reduced. After cuts were made to the English-language version, all Indian dubbed versions have this cut version, and no further cuts were made. The film was released theatrically in India in February 1998. It remains cut in India, but uncut worldwide.

Connections
Featured in Siskel & Ebert: Jungle 2 Jungle/The Daytrippers/Kama Sutra/Good Luck/Gentlemen Don't Eat Poets (1997)

Soundtracks
Winter in Austria, Theme and Variations
Written and Performed by L. Subramaniam

I do confess that I have read the Kama Sutra and there's an awful lot of misconceptions about it . It is NOT some hot porn manual that will get your juices flowing , it's a very thick book about the art of love . If you've bought a copy simply to use as masturbation fuel then you've certainly wasted your money . Likewise if you bought the book to wave around during some moral crusade with a rather dubious agenda

The film is very similar to the book . Many people who have stated their opinion have obviously watched the movie either expecting to be shocked or to be brought to orgasmic ecstasy but that's their problem because like the book with the same name this film while being somewhat erotic is also rather dull . It's not an adaptation per se just a rather unconnected and tenuous example of a book and movie sharing the same name . The only reason it's called KAMA SUTRA is down to the fact that it's taught to a group of courtesans , the rest of the plot involves something of a love triangle . It's also a movie that's not well made with a visual look of something that appears to have been shot on very poor stock film

I will praise it on one aspect - The casting . For this type of movie to come close to any type of success the casting of the lead female must be right and Indira Varma as Maya simply steals the film . He is strikingly beautiful but he also oozes a type of pure innocence . It's very easy to see why Raj Singh has fallen in love with her . Singh is played by Naveen Andrews who everyone in the world will now know via a very successful American show but you'll never be reminded of Sayid Jarrah while watching this because Andrews is very convincing . I do feel slight sympathy for Sarita Choudhrey as the other pivotal female role of Tara because her part feels rather underwritten and understandably she doesn't have the same type of breathtaking beauty as Varma unfortunately

This could have been a very poor film and to be honest it's not a great one either , but some clever casting and fine acting make it worth watching at least once