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Synopsis from World Movies: From Camera d'Or winning
director, Mira Nair (Monsoon Wedding) comes the lush,
exotic and sensual Kama Sutra: A Tale Of Love, a film
dealing with the themes of sexual liberty and the politics of a
sixteenth century Indian palace. Shot on location in Khaiuraho
with its exquisite temples and waterfalls, this romance features
strong performances by Indira Varma and Sarita Choudhury and
stunning settings and costumes.
Maya (Indira Varma) and Tara (Sarita Choudhury) are beautiful
women who were playmates as children. Tara is a princess and
dresses in stunning clothes and jewellery, while Maya lives the
life of a servant girl. Yet Tara feels threatened by Maya's
natural radiance and deliberately humiliates her in the royal
court. After a brief affair with an erotic sculptor names Jai
(Ramon Tikaram), Maya decides to learn the art of 'Kama Sutra'.
Erotic romance directed by Mira Nair
Starring: Indira Varma, Sarita Choudhury, Ramon Tikaram, Naveen
Andrews, Rehka.
Running time 111 mins
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HEROIC-CINEMA'S REVIEW:
The word that springs to mind when talking about this film is
"lush". Sets, costumes, cast, locations, all are opulent
and beautiful. I could wax lyrical in much more detail, but I'm
afraid I'd use up my store of adjectives, and be reduced to
reviews of two sentences for the rest of the year.
The film is set in 16th century India, and tells the story of
two friends, Maya and Tara. Tara is the daughter of a prince,
while Maya is the daughter of a dancer. While both girls are
beautiful, Maya is the more talented dancer, and Maya resents her
secondhand role in life just as Tara resents Maya's greater
seductive powers. When Tara wins the prize of a betrothal to a
handsome prince, Maya spoils the occasion by sneaking in to the
prince's room and seducing him, thereby setting in train the
events that will break Tara's heart and lead to her own expulsion
from the palace.
The film meanders on in the wake of Maya, who is lucky in her
exile: she finds a handsome suitor, who finds her a place to live
indefinitely while she dallies with said suitor, who is kept busy
creating temple sculptures when he's not canoodling. Now this
seemed to me fairly unlikely: a beautiful homeless woman roaming
around the place generally doesn't find such agreeable friends in
the first day, and no-one that I know of has been offered board
and lodgings free of charge for an indefinite time. But this is a
romance, and so we expect a little unreality.
Thus we trail along in Maya's wake, watching her life without
really becoming involved in it in any depth. Her emotions seem
sometimes capricious, sometimes shallow, and sometimes an
overreaction, but this doesn't really set her apart: all the
characters in this film manifest inconsistencies and unappealing
features from time to time. This doesn't really impact too
unfavourably on the film as a whole, though, since the plot and
characters are of secondary importance here.
What is of primary importance, as I may have alluded to
earlier, is the opulence of the visuals: glorious scenery,
fabulous costumes, and beautiful cast, all highlighted by superb
camerawork, make this a sort of all-you-can-ogle visual banquet.
We don't care that much about the pretext provided for the
characters' behaviours: what matters is the slow saunter through
the temple, the artfully arranged draperies, or the lounging upon
the divan.
There is also, of course, the nookie. A lot of it, in fact.
Boggins. All very stylishly done, of course, and genuinely erotic.
Whether or not it's all vital to the plot is immaterial, since the
plot itself is at least partially immaterial: we're given ample
footage of beautiful people having the sort of beautiful film sex
that doesn't make squelchy noises and is invariably monumentally
satisfying for both partners. |
