July 29, 1997

Kama = love; Sutra = lessons. Getting that translation out of the way, filmmaker Mira Nair launches us into the glory of full Technicolor (only fully appreciable in all its splendor on the big screen) and her world of saturated shades of ochre, burnt gold and rust, a nonstop assault on your aesthetic sensibilities. Kama Sutra makes her point that "love is a true union - beyond animal lust - each becoming both in a state of bliss." Yet, the only ones who seem to be entrusted with learning and appreciating this noble objective are the women - the men, I presume, having some innate insight into the realm of sex and sensuality, or is it that the women then have to teach them? "Men despise things easily acquired," the courtesans' teacher tells her students.

Tara (the beautiful Sarita Choudbury) is the poor relation to her friend Maya (Indira Varma) who marries king Raj Singh (the execrable Naveen Andrews [The English Patient], a product of the "Spam 'n Ham" Mexican soap opera school of acting). Tara tires of living off of Maya's "used things," and, after a public humiliation at Maya's expense, she sets out to exact her revenge by usurping Maya's sexual power as wife of the king, becoming his most favored courtesan. But entering at plot point number two to confuse the issue is the sultry Jay Kumar (Ramon Tikaram), a true artist, deep and soulful. What will endure - true love or the flesh-eating green monster of Tara's revenge?

All sound a bit like daytime television? Well, therein lies this film's problem. Viewer reaction at the supposed dramatic peak - snickers and guffaws - were not, I'm sure, quite the intended reaction. But, what else can you do with such lines as "You have my heart" and "I do not love you enough to hate you"? Well, giggle away.

If you can ignore acting that I found, at times, abysmal (but still a masterpiece of subtlety compared to the average Indian Bollywood [sic] film) and the soapish script, and just wallow in the sumptuous beauty of Rajasthan, the stunning shot choices made by Nair (and lit to subtle perfection by photographer Declan Quinn), the orgy of colors provided by Art Director Nitin Desai, and the moving melange of cross-cultural Indian music - hey, a sensual experience rather than a plot and character based one - this will truly be an enjoyable hour and a half. Titillation is in short supply, for those who want to know, though I'm sure the packed audience was there on the strength of Nair's work on The Perez Family. Yea, right.

Peter Lewis A true African-American, Peter has led a peripatetic lifestle, and after graduating from UCF with a film degree, he is pondering life as another wannabe, devoting his time to working on a novel, his thesis film, a suntan and the dubious benefits of Rogaine. Other Articles I've Written