Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love |
| Original title | Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love |
| Country of production | India |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1996 |
| length | approx. 117 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK film: 16 / DVD: 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Mira Nair |
| script | Mira Nair, Helena Kriel |
| production | Lynda Dean Pilcher |
| music | Mychael Danna |
| camera | Declan Quinn |
| cut | Kristina Boden |
| occupation | |
| |
Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love (also known as Kama Sutra: The Art of Love in Germany ) is an Indian film by Mira Nair from 1996.
action
In 16th century India, the orphan Maya grew up with her aunt in the palace of an Indian ruling house, developing a friendship with Princess Tara. Her hunchback brother, Crown Prince Biki, is in love with Maya, but she doesn't share this feeling. Even as children, there was a conflict between the two girls, as Maya would like to be more than just a servant, and her beauty surpasses that of Tara.
As an adult, Tara is said to marry Prince Raj Singh. When he shows more interest in Maya, Tara spits in her face, whereupon Maya seduces Raj on their wedding night. This is observed by Biki, and when Maya refuses his love again, he reveals the events of the night to his mother, whereupon Maya is banished from the palace. On her hike, she meets the sculptor Jai, who had already noticed her at the wedding. He places her with an elderly courtesan named Rasa Devi, who takes Maya under her wing and initiates the secrets of the Kama Sutra. Devi's offer to become the king's courtesan is rejected because she loves Jai, but he can't cope with his feelings, which is why he rejects her. When Raj sees Jai's female statues, he recognizes resemblances to Maya, tracks them down, and names Jai his sculptor and Maya his favorite courtesan. This offends his wife Tara, whose bed is avoided by her husband.
Maya, Jai and Tara are unhappy with the situation. Raj falls for opium, he also fails as a king, and he realizes all the more that he only has Maya's body, but not her love. Tara attempts suicide but is rescued by Maya, and the two women reconcile. So that Tara can win her husband back, Maya teaches her the basics of the Kama Sutra. When Tara tries to seduce her husband, who is now almost bedridden, she expresses her disgust at his decline and leaves him. In the end, Raj has Jai executed out of jealousy while his kingdom is conquered by his enemies who have allied themselves with Biki. Maya escapes and wanders off with an unknown destination.
production
Nair's initial idea was to show “the sensual, original world of India”, in which women in particular are liberated and happy through the Kama Sutra. She criticized today's India, which "became prudish by Victorian England", where "rape is socially accepted in film, but a love scene is not". The basis of the film was the short story “Hand Me Downs” ( Eng .: used goods ), which Nair's husband Wajida Tabassum discovered. Here an arrogant princess humiliates a servant by giving her only her discarded clothes ("Hand Me Downs") to wear. The servant takes revenge by seducing her future husband and passing it on to the princess as "second-hand goods". This became the first quarter of an hour in the film.
Nair described the main conflict of the film as a kind of "sexual chess", in which women and men use their physical stimuli to achieve their goals. With the male characters, Nair wanted to express the contrast between Prince Raj Singh, who stands for “sensuality without spirituality”, and the sculptor Kumar, who despite his poverty is morally superior to his opponent.
For the screenplay, Nair cooperated with Helena Kriel, who let the film play in the 16th century during the Mughal Empire , as this rule was determined by “enlightenment and decandence, mostly at the expense of women”. This gave rise to the idea that a greedy king (Raj) gets lost between a rich noblewoman (Tara) and a poor servant (Maya) who are also good friends. Two taboos were deliberately broken: firstly, there is no happy ending, and secondly, women do not sacrifice themselves. Naveen Andrews (Raj) was cast by Nair in the film The English Patient after good reviews . Sarita Choudhury (Tara), who had already worked with Nair in Mississippi Masala , had initially applied as Maya until she was committed to the role of Tara. Two newcomers, Ramon Tikaram and Indira Varma, were cast for the tragic roles of Jai and Maya , and Nair was fascinated by Varma's “natural beauty”.
The shooting demanded a lot from the leading actresses Varma and Choudhury. Varma, who is of Anglo-Swiss origin, had to learn an Indian accent . For three weeks she and Choudhury learned the demanding Odissi dance from teacher Protima Gauri at the Nrityagram School in Bangalore and lived for this "in mud huts with snakes and scorpions". Both had to keep a strict diet. Because of the elaborate costumes, four jewelers were needed. a. sewed a costume made of pearls in four hours directly around Varma's body.
The sitar player Vilayat Khan , the violinist L. Subramaniam and the Hindustani singer Shubha Mudgal - the latter also visually present in the film - were hired for the musical design of the film . As art director , Nitin Desai was responsible for the film set .
The erotic scenes of Kama Sutra: A Tale Of Love were in stark contrast to the puritanical sexual morality in the Indian film industry , according to which a kiss can lead to criminal prosecution. During production, the film was simply called "Tara and Maya" because the Indian authorities would have definitely banned a film called "Kama Sutra". Whenever the state supervision came to the filming, the actors improvised mock scenes that had nothing to do with the film. When the contents became known, officials were bribed without further ado. Mira Nair later explained that the Indian censors wanted to cut out a bathing scene in which Maya (Varma) can be seen naked from the front, and a love scene in which Maya teaches the basics of the Kamasutra to Tara (Choudhury) and caresses her abdomen. Nair was put on trial for almost two years because of "shocking" scenes, until the film was finally allowed to be shown to an exclusively female audience in some Indian cinemas. In Pakistan the film is still indexed today. In contrast, Naveen Andrews, who had shot many extreme love scenes in other films, found the controversial scenes "almost tame".
Regarding the nude scenes, Nair admitted that more female than male nudity would be shown because, in her opinion, there were "neither interesting nor logical passages" for "male pubic areas", and Nair could draw more from Varma and Choudhury than "on a visual level" of the male protagonists.
Indira Varma was critical of the collaboration with Mira Nair. When she was hired, "fresh out of drama school away," the script merely "They Make Love" (Eng .: They make love ) by name, and the Kamasutra was no talk until she "was asked one day to undress" and hoped in vain not to have to shoot sex scenes. She was “young and naive”, allowed herself to be duped and since then “has almost been branded as a porn star ”, which would have hindered her career. Varma said that the role of the "courtesan of Kama Sutra " to be determined to be and act "slightly paranoid" to this day.
Sarita Choudhury deliberately wanted to act in a film that was not as kitschy ("kooky") as most Bollywood films and that "would make you think". For them, the above was above all. Interesting conflict between ancient India, the source of the Kama Sutra, and today's strictly puritanical India. Still, the film required some effort for Choudhury, who comes from a conservative family, due to the erotic scenes. She admitted that she had not visited India for some time after the "intense controversy" surrounding the film and decided to pursue her career in the United States. She said that she would never have shot the film if she had not had “absolute confidence” in Mira Nair's “sensual interpretation of nudity”.
Prices
- 1997 - Independent Spirit Awards - Best Cinematography
Reviews
Srini Narayanan from the local India Star expressed disappointment with Kama Sutra: A Tale Of Love , which despite a lot of local color, many fight and erotic scenes and "a scene with almost interesting lesbian caresses" is rated as "unbearably boring" and in which the The opportunity was missed to express the mysterious power of the eponymous Kamasutra . The Asian women's association SAWNET (The South Asian Women's Network) criticized the fact that only women were shown naked, not men, and suspected that a lesbian scene between Varma and Choudhury was built in less for plot reasons and more to "satisfy male urges" . Indolink.com criticized the "uninspired storyline and underdeveloped characters". There was also criticism that a lot of female, but little male nudity would be shown, and that the fair-skinned Varma would be portrayed more positively than the dark-skinned Choudhury.
Roger Ebert gave Kama Sutra: A Tale Of Love two out of four stars and criticized the "constructed and unconvincing story in which moments of truth were sacrificed for moments of beauty" and said he had expected "more" from Nair, but praised it the “classic beauty” of Varma and the highly erotic charisma of Choudhury's facial expression. Owen Gleibermann from Entertainment Weekly delivered a similar review, according to which the film was a “libido-controlled fever dream full of numbing sensuality” and often “fuzzy and illogical”. The “beguiling beauty” of the little-known Indira Varma is striking. Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times called the film "stupid and sensual" and criticized the "far too serious plot ... which borders on self-parody". Todd McCarthy of Variety praised the blaze of color and the camera work, but criticized the plot as a "misguided, too simple attempt to convey feminism". Janet Maslin of the New York Times said that the film invites the viewer “into a seductive world of shimmering silks, bewitching colors, mystical music, attractive bodies and seductive movements… and the atmosphere is so inviting that the plot is almost an afterthought is ”what ultimately makes the film“ predictable and flat ”.
The mirror was also negative and critical. Nair manages to "offend two cultures at once": the Indian one with allegations of pornography, the western one through failed expectations, since the film name arouses expectations that it does not meet due to its "lack of focus".
Individual evidence
- ↑ Official homepage: film production ( Memento of September 13, 2006 in the Internet Archive ), thekamasutra.com.
- ↑ Kama Sutra; To Interview With Mira Nair ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as broken. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , The Daily of the University of Washington.
- ↑ a b Muir, J. (2006): Mercy in Her Eyes: The Films of Mira Nair , pp. 109-135
- ↑ a b Indira Varma: From the naked to the dead , Jaspar Rees, The Telegraph .
- ↑ Official homepage: Maya, the servant ( Memento of July 17, 2006 in the Internet Archive ), thekamasutra.com
- ↑ Kevin Sandler: The Naked Truth: Why Hollywood Doesn't Make X-rated Movies (2007), p. 162
- ↑ Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love ( Memento of the original from August 11, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , ARTE.tv.
- ↑ A CHAT WITH MIRA NAIR ( Memento of the original from February 10, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , desires.com
- ↑ Indira Varma Interview ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Kama Sutra queen to Delhi mom , The Times of India , Chandna Arora.
- ↑ 'I only do nudity When I trust the director' , Arthur J. Pais.
- ↑ KAMA SUTRA: A TALE OF LOVE ( Memento from February 23, 2004 in the Internet Archive ), Srini Narayanan, India Star.
- ↑ Kama Sutra, Directed by Mira Nair ( Memento of the original from June 20, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , The South Asian Women's NETwork .
- ↑ Planet Bollywood Film Review: Kama Sutra ( Memento of the original from June 8, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , indolink.com.
- ↑ Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love , Roger Ebert.
- ↑ KAMA SUTRA: A TALE OF LOVE (1997) , Owen Gleiberman, ew.com.
- ↑ 'Kama Sutra' a Tale of Tragic Love , Kevin Thomas, Variety .
- ↑ Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love ( Memento of the original from May 3, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Todd McCarthy, Variety .
- ↑ Kama Sutra (1996): Seduction, A Skill That Gets Results , Janet Maslin, New York Times .
- ↑ Sex in a Sari , spiegel.de.
Web links
- Official homepage ( Memento of October 16, 2006 in the Internet Archive )
- Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love in the Internet Movie Database (English)