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Kama Sutra

Play trailer Poster for Kama Sutra R 1996 1h 54m Romance LGBTQ+ Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
41% Tomatometer 17 Reviews 71% Popcornmeter 5,000+ Ratings
In 16th-century India, Princess Tara (Sarita Choudhury) is raised alongside her maid Maya (Indira Varma). The two best friends turn into enemies when Tara becomes engaged to King Raj Singh (Naveen Andrews). Embittered by Tara's sudden poor treatment of her, Maya sleeps with Raj on his wedding night and is expelled from the palace. With her mastery of sexual technique, Maya continues to entice Raj, who is too distracted by hedonistic pursuits to realize his kingdom is in danger.

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Kama Sutra

Kama Sutra

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Critics Consensus

Kama Sutra refreshingly approaches sensuality from a female perspective, but audiences will be turned off by this romance's silly plotting.

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Critics Reviews

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Roger Ebert Chicago Sun-Times 01/01/2000
2/4
The film is lush and voluptuous to regard, but I expected more from Mira Nair, and I was disappointed. She is better than this work. Go to Full Review Emanuel Levy EmanuelLevy.Com 04/05/2011
C
Mira Nair's film fails as a melodrama as well as erotic fantasy; the sexul material had to be toned down due to censorship. Go to Full Review Rob Gonsalves Rob's Movie Vault 08/04/2007
F
"Kama Sutra," while easy to look at, is even easier to laugh at. Go to Full Review Michael Dequina TheMovieReport.com 01/03/2005
2/5
Dennis Schwartz Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews 01/04/2004
C-
It all seemed inane. Go to Full Review Greg Muskewitz eFilmCritic.com 12/30/2003
3/5
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Audience Reviews

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Athena Y @LargeMarge316 Oct 5 I personally found it enchanting. I recommend this to anyone who enjoys romance and historical fiction. This movie provides an interesting perception of this time period through the characters. I loved seeing the culture of this time period. The love story overall was very nice and the characters I found very intriguing. If you haven't seen it and like a good tragic love story I would give it a shot. See more Steve D @RT35616104 09/18/2023 Indira is better than the material. See more 08/25/2020 Indian sex skills different from Europe See more 01/30/2019 Wow, Indians make some good movie. Visually beautiful, intense, good acting, good story. Flows well. Just a good movie about love, jealousy, power, gluttony, competition See more dustin d @RT12543299 08/14/2017 Kama Sutra is lovely to look at, but I had a hard time getting engaged, even though there is a lot of drama. I liked it best when the characters were being over-the-top evil, but none of them ever became anything more than a cardboard cutout. The movie was melodramatic and filled with laughable, contrived dialogue. See more Fong Kok Hoong F @RT29722865 09/17/2016 Gloriously lensed and seething with erotic Indian mysticism, it is a fairly affecting tale about the tragic afflictions a young woman's amorous beauty brings upon herself and her kingdom. See more Read all reviews
Kama Sutra

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Cast & Crew

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Mira Nair

Director

Indira Varma

Maya

Sarita Choudhury

Tara, the Queen

Ramon Tikaram

Jai Kumar

Naveen Andrews

Raj Singh

Rekha

Rasa Devi, teacher of the Kama Sutra

Movie Clips

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Kama Sutra

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Kama Sutra

Kama Sutra (1996) Kama Sutra (1996) View more photos

Movie Info

Synopsis In 16th-century India, Princess Tara (Sarita Choudhury) is raised alongside her maid Maya (Indira Varma). The two best friends turn into enemies when Tara becomes engaged to King Raj Singh (Naveen Andrews). Embittered by Tara's sudden poor treatment of her, Maya sleeps with Raj on his wedding night and is expelled from the palace. With her mastery of sexual technique, Maya continues to entice Raj, who is too distracted by hedonistic pursuits to realize his kingdom is in danger.
Director
Mira Nair
Producer
Mira Nair, Lydia Dean Pilcher
Screenwriter
Mira Nair, Helena Kriel, Wajida Tabassuh
Production Co
Trimark Pictures
Rating
R
Genre
Romance, LGBTQ+
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Feb 28, 1996, Original
Release Date (Streaming)
Feb 1, 2010
Box Office (Gross USA)
$4.1M
Runtime
1h 54m
Sound Mix
Surround, Dolby Digital