Saturday, May 24, 2014

Mira Nair's Kama Sutra: A Tale of an Idiot

Somehow clicked on a link and ended up watching this old movie again. The last time I watched it I was still with WWF, maybe. That was a very long time ago...

I can't remember why I liked it the first time around. Maybe because it had those erotic scenes and they spoke English and not your typical Indian movie...

But now, I noticed that many facts were mixed up and obviously the girl, supposedly the 'heroine', was pretty stupid.

The 'king' was called Shah, suggesting it was during the Mughal empire, and Islamic, but their rituals and temples were decidedly Hindu. I suppose all of them had 'harems' and concubines or mistresses, whatever, so it didn't much matter what religion they were.

Now, this girl, Maya. She slept with the king on his wedding night to spite her princess 'friend' Tara who had insulted her. So she was found out and got kicked out of the castle. She slept at the temple and soon met Jain Kumar the sculptor and they fell in love. He took her to a Kama Sutra/ concubine school where the lady took her in as a 'daughter'. Soon she was 'ready' to have sex with Kumar. Then Kumar freaks out because it was too intense. So what did she do? Instead of trying to understand, she went and asked to be made a concubine. Because she was damn hot, it wasn't long before she was found by scouts and taken to the king.

Tara was 'queen', but completely ignored by her wayward husband. Seeing her old friend Maya as the latest concubine makes her nuts. Her brother saw this and didn't like the way the king was treating her.

Now the king discovers Kumar and makes him his friend. And he asks the sculptor to make Maya his model. Now the 2 lovers are reunited and the sculptor finds his way into the harem while the king was too busy smoking opium. Until one day they were discovered. So Mr Kumar was taken away and chained to the rocks. Maya tries to bargain for his freedom but fails. Boyfriend was executed.

In the meantime, the queen's old, hunchback brother had told the Shah about the idiot king's debauchery. So on the same day, he got the severed head of his prime minister, and the castle was attacked. Maya ran off.

Now, had Maya just been a bit smarter and a little more principled, as opposed to easy, there wouldn't be much of a tale, but it would make a lot more sense. Fine, if she slept with the idiot king that first time and got kicked out, then she would have the opportunity to meet Kumar. But after that, once he freaked out, she could have waited it out and got back together with him. Yang kau bodoh pergi jadi concubine tu sapa suruh? Yang makcik tu pun pergi galakkan dia apasal? Bodoh piang punya perempuan. Who are you trying to get back at?? Once dah jadi concubine, dah tak boleh balik dengan Kumar. Last2 tak pasal mamat tu mati. Hang pi bawak diri...

The story doesn't deserve the moniker "A Tale of Love". It's a tale of bad choices and idiocy. Haha... review made like 10 years after the story came out. But it shows that our views can change. Whatever. New review - very lame story. 2 thumbs down.

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