Brightlyme i know i wasted 90 mins of my life.

GazerRise Fantastic!

Cleveronix A different way of telling a story

Kodie Bird True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

lastliberal If a simple embrace between Richard Gere and Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty caused all that furor, it is no wonder that this film is banned in India and Pakistan.I really don't feel completely qualified to judge this film as it is the first Indian film I have seen, and probably wouldn't even have tuned in except to see Lost's Naveen Andrews, who played the King. As Mel Brooks said, "It's good to be the King." He sits around smoking opium and has a nice harem, which included Maya (Indira Varma). I thought she was hot in the short-lived TV show 3 lbs. She is even hotter here and I can see why the King lost it over her.Sarita Choudhury plays the Queen and childhood rival of Maya. She starred with Denzel Washington in Mississippi Masala.The costumes and cinematography were outstanding.

bottlerocketboom I had the opportunity of seeing Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love late one night when it was on HBO. At first I was a bit apprehensive, as with a title like that, one would think it is a cheesy sexploitation film. But, as I sat and watched, I was proved all too wrong. The first thing that struck me about this film was the great cinematography. The costumes were vibrant and really caught the eye, and the locations they shot in were breathtaking. Second of all, the script and storyline were well-written. You really feel for these characters, whether it be sympathy or repulsion. The love scenes were NOT soft-core porn, as i had heard from previous viewers, but very sensual, and really draws you closer to the characters.Lastly, the acting in this film was excellent, for the most part. Indira Varna is one of the most beautiful women i've seen, and her presence is a strong one. The supporting actors were great also (Sarita Choudury, Ramon Tikaram, and Rekha are strong standouts.) Naveen Andrews does a fairly good job at playing the womanizing, opium addict Raj Singh.In conclusion, this movie is an excellent pick to sit down one evening with your loved one. Its a feast for the eyes, but make sure you approach it with an open mind due to the strong love scenes.

Andy (film-critic) I believe that I would like to place a moment of blame on this film. Due to the title alone, I was nervous about viewing it with the windows open. Prior to my viewing, I was unaware that it was directed by famed director Mira Nair, and was fully prepared to draw my blinds as I embarked on this film adventure. The title was Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love, what was I to assume. After watching nearly two hours of this film, I was disappointed. I was upset with not only the lack of commitment to the characters, the tired storyline, and the anti-climactic ending, but also due to the lack of sexuality surrounding this film. "Kama Sutra" headlines this feature, but alas, it is not the central focus, and this is where I believe Nair failed us and my moment of blame was born. I would like to make it clear that I did not desire a film of pornography, I knew that this was a "mainstream" film, but I did want something deeper and centered around the art of "Kama Sutra" instead of just another cliché story of rival girlfriends. I realize that I am generalizing the overall theme of this film, but at the core of this movie it was not about the art of sex, but instead the decay of man.I did not like this film. I understood this film to be considered an adult fairy tale, but alas, I never saw the elements of a fairy tale in this story. Written in part by Nair, I saw this film as her opportunity to demonstrate the power of a woman's sexuality over even the strongest of men. In a very small part she succeeded, but her attempt to build this opportunity failed with her characters. When you make a film centered on love, or the passion of its act, you must hire actors that will give the audience that sensation. The audience must feel the sweat, the energy, the excitement of what is happening on screen or it will fall swiftly into just another Skin-a-Max midnight movie. Sadly, Nair could not accomplish this. When her characters, whether it was Maya, Tara, Raj, or even Jai, were "forced" into the "Kama Sutra" part of the film, it felt scripted and staged. There was no instant passion between these characters, which destroyed, utterly ripped from its roots, any attempt that Nair had to create the theme of sexual independence. Without the fire behind her actor's eyes, the rest of the film fell to the wayside as just your "average" film.Nair had another opportunity to capture back her audience with this film, but she never took it. Nair could have pulled a Gandhi-esquire moment for us by countering the horrible acting with beautiful images of India. Nair could have coupled the beauty of "Kama Sutra" with the beauty of the land, thus creating at least one moment of visual eye-candy for the viewers, but again, she did no such thing. The few moment of fresh scenery that we had seemed like it came from National Geographic stock footage. I realize that she was actually in India, but what concerned me was that I didn't feel like I was in India. Throughout the film I realized that I was sitting on my couch watching bad acting with recycled images of India. I was nowhere close to being swept away by a lavish love story. Wait. This wasn't an original lavish love story. This was nothing more than the cliché story of two friends whom find themselves fighting over the same man with a foreign twist. Perhaps I needed more influx into India's culture or even more back-story on our smaller characters, but nothing took my breath away. The character's lack of passion cheated me, and now Nair's choice of scenery felt just as plastic.Finally, I would like to say that (without giving anything away); the ending was rather lackluster. Void of emotion to our characters and obvious cliché India images only strengthened the forgettable ending. Again, the title of this film was Kama Sutra, which invokes images of lust and passion, sadly the ending evoked nothing of the sort. There wasn't a care in the world for our characters, so why should we feel impassioned about them in the final climactic moments? I didn't. As I watched this film I felt as if I was on a Disney ride through India. The tracks were in place so my cart couldn't go off the forsaken path, while the robotic characters did what they were supposed to do without any surprises or excitement. The only character (and I hate to go back on this rant again, but it is the central reason this film fell hard) worth enjoying was that of Naveen Andrews, but I think it is because of his Lost connection. By the time the ending finally happened, I was sculpting my own story in rock and hoping that Hollywood would produce it.Overall, this film did have potential, but by giving it a name like Kama Sutra it over promised and ultimately did not deliver. Again, I would like to make it clear that I was not hoping for a heavily sexual film, but it needed to be a stronger point in the story than just a "quick-cut" or a side quest. Kama Sutra failed because of its characters and their obvious lack of devotion to the story. There were no surprises, there was no excitement, and there was no romance, just cliché plot points that you can see in any film across the fine Earth. Could Nair been more adventurous? This reviewer thinks so. She could have taken us off the beaten path, deeper within the darkness, but instead she glossed over the truth giving us a Kama Sutra that was more pastel than passionate.Grade: ** out of *****

Jessica Carvalho I watched ''Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love'' 3 years ago, and it was the first Indian movie I watched in my life. Needless to say that I fell in love right away, but only now I can make a review about it. I found both actresses Indira Varma and Sarita Choudhury very beautiful(specially Indira) and after this film, I had more interest in watching Indian movies.In the 16th Century India, Maya and Tara are friends,but they belong to different casts: Maya is a servant and Tara is a princess. The only reason why Maya can play with Tara, is because Maya's adoptive mother nursed both Tara and her brother Biki. But the time passes, and soon Tara becomes jealous of Maya's beauty, specially when she is going to marry a king and he prefers to look Maya than Tara. They split their friendship,and Maya as a revenge sleeps with the king Raj Singh. Bikki,who always was in love with her, asks her to marry him, but when she answers no, She is banned from the places she lives, going to find help with Rasa Devi, the teacher of the Kama Sutra who teaches all women to become courtesans. She lives there and learns the art of Kama Sutra. When she is ready, she goes to be Raj Singh's courtesan, and Tara gets very angry with her, as Jai Kumar, a man she once loved, but not cared about her very much when they were lovers.