Kamasutra

i admire mira nair's films. she clearly loves India and its culture, a fact evident in all of her films i've had the pleasure of seeing. but her real art is showing her passion through so many prisms. vanity fair showed us India from the British home perspective which we usually see from western directors, while salaam bombay showed us modern urban India at its most destitute and triumphant. monsoon wedding introduces to the rapidly expanding Indian middle class, providing us with a far more intimate appreciation of her subjects than we might get calling for tech support for our computers or trying to understand a credit card bill.

kama sutra shows us India through yet another prism. first a prism of history, which she lushly recreates, and then through a prism of sexuality, which she (rightly) brandishes as legacy of a great and ancient culture. perhaps she suggests that the British morality imposed by the empire attempted, with some success, to obscure a vibrant and enthusiastic sexuality. well, if British sex is anything like British food, and Indian sex is like Indian food, she might have a point. curiously, i've been told that if you want to eat good English food in London, go curry.

i don't think that nair's ultimately interested in instructing us on sexual physics, or in telling us an epic melodrama. but through her four characters, she reveals love and sex as they are manifest continuously through the human story. a king imposes himself on his queen (patriarchy and rape), a king demands his coutesan (adultery and carnality), unrequited love (every character, each with a twist), jealousy, shame, sex as love, sex as passion, sex as brutality, and so on. the shades of sex that she reveals through her characters' relations are familiar, and she artfully sketches the nuances in three dimensions, where you rarely see more than one or two in Hollywood tripe. yet, like a good tikka masala, the chicken is familiar, but the colors and the flavor are distinctly and marvelously Indian.

I've watched this film over and over again and it just gets better. It's actually based on a book called "Hand-Me-Downs" which you'll understand after you've watched it. As the last person who commented on this stated it's not the "Kama Sutra" you're thinking of. There IS sex, there IS a bit of violence, but don't watch this with the hopes of seeing your average vulgar action and sex film. The women in the film are instructed and shown how to the master the art of Kama Sutra, mind you the ART not the positions. Anyway, the film setting is gorgeous and the acting is superb. You'll recognize Sarita Choudhury as Tara if you've already watched Mississippi Massala. Indira Varma does an excellent job in expressing her revenge, regret, and mystery in Tara's character. Everyone and I mean EVERYONE did an excellent job in this film.

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

A film which features stunning use of photography, rich colours and excellent locations. The film relies on the beauty of the locations rather than the characters which I found to be under-written.

The film's erotic scenes are nicely done, they are not steamy, but very enjoyable.

The screenplay is a major disappointment, the characters are underwritten, and certain sequences are thinly executed, at times, there is no depth to scenes.

I don't know how accurate 16th century is represented in this picture, but I have my suspicions!

The direction is nice, but really required a screenplay to make the film work.

The performances are good, but I didn't think they were great.

Overall, a disappointing screenplay, which never gives depth to the characters. A bit pretentious!

When I rented KAMA SUTRA - A Tale Of Love, I thought my girlfriend would kill me for what the title implied. We were plesantly suprised to find a Love Story / Drama which, yes, has some very sexy scenes in it. Those looking for a movie version of the ancient text will be disapointed with the reasonable use of sexual content. There is an actual storyline here! This film is about true love, and the struggle for that love in the face of adversity. The love triangle, along with enough character development to explain the relationships between the five main characters, speaks of the human condition.

The story takes place "Once upon a time...". The costumes and sets are really well done. The cinematography is richly textured, with India as the exotic backdrop, and you are transported back into time... and into the lovers' experience.

This movie can take you through a full range of emotions, see it with your significant other, and expect it to effect you for the rest of the night.