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Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love

Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love

List Price: $14.98
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Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Really Bogus
Review: Fake studio scenes with vulgar language and beginner modelling type people who seem to purposely speak Hindi with an affected French-Canadian accent. Even the facial expressions and background music sounds remind us of techno clubs. The story is rather poor with more emphasis on prostitution and rape rather than true love-making secrets prescribed in the original Kama Sutra. Don't get it for the name -- it has no connection whatsoever to Kama Sutra. The casts are far from sexy -- maybe rich and ugly enough to woo Mira Nair to give them a role. They hired Rekha (from Utsav) but that boring mama simply fails to uplift the mood of the movie. Mira Nair did a lousy job using a camera with a heavy reddish yellow lens when this movie could never even qualify to be a timeless collection.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Kama for you.
Review:

KAMA SUTRA: A TALE OF LOVE
Indira Varma, Sarita Choudhury, Ramon Tikaram, Naveen Andrews 1996

Synopsis
Set in 16th Century India KAMA SUTRA is the tale of two girls, Maya - a lowly servant, and Tara - a noble princess, both raised together as children. Because of Tara's striking beauty and her skills of seduction learnt through the Kama Sutra, the Indian book of love, that Maya exacts her revenge on Tara by seducing her husband on her wedding day thus beginning a destructive struggle for power where revenge is the goal, but tragedy the outcome.

My Review
This movie really lacks any real substance. Could have been done a lot better. Disappointing.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Beautiful and Sexual
Review: This a beautiful story about childhood friends that become sexual rivals at maturity. It shows you what life was like in 16th century India. Sad, but uplifting.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Making her own destiny....
Review: Kama Sutra is one of the most exotic movies you will ever see. The dramatic scenes, the intensity of love, the Indian surroundings and beautiful clothes will invite you into Maya's world. Maya (Indira Varma) is born into the "cast system" she is lower on the social scale than her friend Tara (Sarita Choudhury) who is about to marry the King Raj Singh (Naveen Andrews).

The King is not as attracted to his soon to be bride (Tara) as he is to Maya. Maya and the King are attracted to each other and Maya takes it upon herself to find out whether or not their feelings are real, perhaps she also wants to show Tara that she can get what she wants. This sets up a triangle of passion, which is not to be easily resolved. The King now wants the respect of Tara, which he has destroyed and then wants the love of Maya, which he has never had. King Raj Singh thinks of women as property and Maya is not about to be someone's property.

"I'll make my own destiny." - Maya

Maya is sent away with bells to show the world what she really is, yet you never feel that she is the person they try to make her. She has a sweet innocent face, the heart of a child, but the desires of a woman. She is conflicted and throughout the entire movie she has to deal with the path she set her life on that one night. She later becomes a courtesan and must return to the man she first seduced.

This is an exotic tale of love and hate. It is an irresistible story with great beauty and excellent actors. The plot is wonderful and the ending is a surprise, yet gives Maya hope for the future. She can overcome anything put in her path. Definitely for a mature adult audience who are not uncomfortable with human sexuality at its most erotic. I felt it was tasteful, yet sensual.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Sex, Love, Friendship, Betrayal, and Feminist Overtones!
Review: Some may not see all the beauty of this film. You need to look beyond the sex!

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Could have been much better
Review:

KAMA SUTRA: A TALE OF LOVE, Indira Varma, Sarita Choudhury, Ramon Tikaram, Naveen Andrews 1996

Synopsis
Set in 16th Century India KAMA SUTRA is the tale of two girls, Maya - a lowly servant, and Tara - a noble princess, both raised together as children. Because of Tara's striking beauty and her skills of seduction learnt through the Kama Sutra, the Indian book of love, that Maya exacts her revenge on Tara by seducing her husband on her wedding day thus beginning a destructive struggle for power where revenge is the goal, but tragedy the outcome.

My Review
This movie really lacks any real substance. Could have been done a lot better. Disappointing.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: An Outstanding Film in more ways than one.
Review: I loved this film!! I have it in my collection and find myself watching it over and over again.The visuals are breathtaking and the characters are all extremly easy on the eyes.I couldn't help but long for the kind of love that Jay and Maya had,especially under those circumstances.I felt that Sarita Choudry portrayed the character of Tara believably.She acted corrupted by her husband Raj and I was happy to see her survive that. This picture also had plenty of unforgettable lines and this film never looses it's beauty even after one has seen it a hundred times..Trust me.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: If you like Bollywood movies.....
Review: I'm not a big fan of Bollywood movies.... I've seen only a couple that I could stand. This movie to me felt like an attempt to create an Indian style melodrama that deals frankly with sex as a tool for feminine empowerment. Mira Nair's intentions are good (she arranged women only screenings in India), but she winds up with a nicely photographed Bollywood movie with sex scenes replacing the musical numbers. Is this a bad thing? It just depends on how much that style of melodrama appeals to you. It doesn't work for me much, but I can go for the sex instead of musical numbers, though. It reminds me of some Bollywood movies (not to mention Hollywood movies) that deal with serious subjects by simplifying it and stripping the issues of it's depth so that it can be easily consumed by the masses.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: And I Could Have Had A V-8!
Review: If there is one movie that is worse than the "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" then this has to be it. A story of a scheming woman who intentionally sleeps with her "best friend's" (Tara) husband on the day of Tara's wedding and then doesn't have the sesne to keep quiet about it in revenge for Tara's crime of being born in a higher caste than she. Maya gets everyhting she deserves as everyone else is left cleaning up the mess that she creeated. One of the central ideas of the film is that if a lady isn't aware of the "Kama Sutra" then she'll never be able to keep a man, which is as silly as cooking bricks. The guru who supposedly teaches this art to her young pupils is so stupid that she can't even seem to tell the difference between love and sex, but is nevertheless portrayed as being a "wise" woman. The scenery is OK, but far outdoes the plot and the acting. Save your money. If you want real porno, try some X-rated stuff, and if you want a better story, try the daytime soap-operas.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: What's not to like?
Review: A thought-provoking masterpiece it isn't, but KAMA SUTRA: A TALE OF LOVE does what it does well. The plot is mostly predictable, turning the story into little more than celluloid bodice-ripper, but the entire film is filled to overflowing with unearthly beauty. As such, it's easy to forgive the shortcomings of its plot.

Just sit back, suspend your disbelief (there's no way India was ever THAT clean in the 1500s) and feast your eyes on the startingly beautiful star-crossed lovers work their way to what, given the romance novel theme of the rest of the story, turns out to be a surprising plot twist at the end of the film.


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