Kama Sutra -- Why Women Love it and Indian Men Don't (fw)

[Bala Pillai <bala@malaysia.net>]

Movie Review
Kama Sutra -- Why Women Love it and Indian Men Don't 
Meera Srinivasan (Ms)

http://www.sulekha.com/articles/ms_kamasutra.html


         I did not go see Kama Sutra when it was "hot" in the film-watching
scene. It was categorized as a foreign film, an erotic film and of course a
period piece that might not interest everyone. Whether the title "Kama
Sutra" was a deliberate marketing ploy or not it certainly sold well both
in India and the US. There is a generation of Westerners brought up on the
spiritual, the exotic, the passionate and the erotic that is India.

In India the movie was probably desired by the same "men" who watch
"Bartilloni" movies in French. It is not for aesthetic or intellectual
reasons. I remember thinking "I am glad I am not in some Indian theater
watching this movie!" Some guy would be masturbating next to me, some jerk
would attempt to put his hand on my breast and all guys would be leering at
me and other women as we left the theater. I am not sure the Indian
audience especially the Indian male species has the maturity or the
complexity to handle a film like "Kama Sutra" which is about "love"
"respect" and "sensuality" not "sex".

The film is also about a woman who can express her passions without
inhibitions to the man she desires (kindly note the words "she desires")
Indian men continue to think Nandinis and Shalinis should dance and sing
when they ask them to except this time dressed like Indira Varma. The idea
of a woman leading or a woman having needs or a woman rejecting a man's
overtures is not part of the Indian male psyche. Because  Kama Sutra
explores these issues women love the film though the story itself lacks depth.


The bad guy in the movie, the Maharaja, is exactly the kind of guy that
keeps many women single. He is arrogant, thoughtless, insensitive,
lecherous but definitely charming, rich and ultimately weakened by his lust
for women. Maya the servant girl, played by the gorgeous Indira Varma,
seduces the Maharaja (the king) in matter of minutes. On the other hand any
woman who looked and dressed like Maya can seduce any man in a matter of
minutes. Her suggestion to her depressed friend "Tara", the Maharaja's
wife, that seduction can be learnt is a very insightful peice of advice.
Indian women can teach their Western feminist counterparts about women's
sensuality and the power it has over men. Camille Pagalia touches on this
but spoils it by belittling feminist intellectual thought that also has its
place.

Movies like these tell or teach Indian women that there was a time in India
where women dressed revealingly, touched, flirted and of course had sex
with lovers other than their husbands. Yet what was beautiful about the
film is that it revealed that "be it the act of sex" or the "feeling of
sensuality" or "a moment of passion" or "an in-depth exploration of
intimacy", "sex" cannot be seprated from the body, mind, feelings,
kindness, attraction, the environment and of course that elusive thing
called "love."

When Maya ultimately gives her body willingly and powerfully (not
forcefully, impulsively or with an intention to manipulate) she does so to
a man who is patient, sensitive, respectful, sensual and ultimately loving.
Even when she plays her courtesan games of seduction and sexual
entertainment to the king, to whom she is indentured, Maya's real inner
passion is revealed only to the man she loves. The scene when Maya attempts
to sexually placate the king but he begs for her heart knowing that the
ultimate pleasure will be found in such an union is very touching and
powerful. She refuses to give him her heart because the heart cannot lie
and she cannot pretend. There is a line between sexual acts that are mere
performances and that which is shaped by "love."

There are scenes in the movie that are funny and quite hilarious. Near the
end when the king is sick and is tormented with guilt, remorse and
rejection, his

wife Tara, whom he has scorned and humiliated, after learning the art of
seduction from Maya, arouses him and then bites him. Yet, after his own
humiliation, he reaches out to her for comfort and says, "I guess, in the
end, one always comes back to the wife." I roared with laughter. I can
actually picture a plump Gujarati woman in London with Godrej keys in her
hip who has spent years agonizing over her husband's philadering with goree
and angrazee girls but accepts it knowing that one day he would come back
to her with devotion when he gets old or ends up with syphillis.  Hillary
Clinton too will have her last laugh!

The stars in the movie are attractive. Rekha is beautiful and throws in the
bit about how some women are born "courtesans". I could not agree more.
This woman is truly beautiful and makes me feel proud to be a dark dusky
big-breasted South Indian woman. Way to go Rekha!

The two male leads are, of course, your Punjabi dudes from London with
sculpted bodies and an ability to mimic Indian accents with the right touch
so as to be exotic. They were too short for my taste but I would have
definitley wanted to see them nude up front. Mira Nair was not that bold.


The music and the cinmatography were exqusite. The earthy tones with the
lush green background and of course the fine combination of folk and
pre-Islamic jewelry were out of this world. It is, no doubt, a pretty
picture. My favorite scene is the bathing scene in the Ganges with the
sunset as a backdrop. I remember a trip through Thanjavur as a fifteen year
old and catching a group of men and women bathing in a temple pond. While
the early moring light tinted their hair I could hear the sounds of birds
and the Sanaskrit chants in the back. The scene tugged at my heart and I
still cannot find the words to describe it.

While the theme of the Kama Sutra can be very appealing to women who
understand what intimacy and sexuality is all about, I fear in India, where
complexity of human sexuality has been lost and things have gotten more
ritualistic and "consumeristic," the depth of the story will be lost and it
is only for the sexual scenes that Indian men will come while women sit
with their heads bowed down letting men abuse them, emotionally and now
sexually.

I am not surprised that many young Indian men hated the film including some
of my friends. It is because the idea of an unmarried Indian woman
undressing herself willingly to a man who is not her husand without fear is
unthinkable. They prefer the   Aare-na-Mujo-chodo or Abhi
kyan-karen-blink-blink-eyes type. It also must hurt a lot of our Computer
and engineer babus, who come to the US  to make money, to realize that a
"king", an actual "Maharaja", could be rejected. Imagine the Shalinis and
Malinis of India saying no to our Indian male green card holders. How truly
preposterous! It must also be a blow to the Indian elites' ego like the IIT
wallas that some of us women may actually settle for the "nice" guy.
(Surprisingly, my father liked the film and plans to write a book titled,
"Women in my life". I joked whether he was going to reveal stuff like Bill
Clinton. He said "no" but he realized with age, experience and raising two
outspoken daughters that women are going to rule the 21st century. I think
he is right! :)


The film does carry some flaws. It over emphasiszes body rituals rather
than actual dialogue except for one liners many of which were not amusing
or enlightening. The convent school accent of the women annoyed me. I also
did not see the purpose of the "wrestling matches." The camera movements
from one scene to another were not always smooth. The purpose seemed to be
nothing more than to show a lot of Indira Varma and nude bodies. The
kissing in places was clumsy.

The characters also lacked depth. Much of who they are is based on what
they do rather than their "non-verbal acting or talent". I found Sarita
Chaoudhary far more sesnual than our fair-skinned Ms Indira Varma who is
very beautiful but not really "sensual". I found the lesbian sex scenes
deliberate and contrived rather than natural. I also found that the acts of
seduction were not slow and sensual as it should have been. People were
taking their clothes off within a minute after meeting each other or
falling in love. The very nature of "sensuality" is that it has a character
of timelessness.

The sensuality in the scenes could have been extended: the dress, the way
Indian women walk or saunter, the way they do their daily chores, etc.  I
did love the period clothes and the white beaded costume that Indira Varma
wore was creative and terrific. (Ms.Nair can you tell me where I can get
one?) The men lacked a certain "Oomp" that would  appeal to women in their
late twenties and beyond. There is only so much biceps that intelligent
women can admire. The sculptor-lover of Maya  had no sense of humor while
the "king" was a real jerk. He's the sort of guy that adult women like me
would figure out very quickly. (Maybe that is why he goes for fourteen year
old naive silly women. He should try Monica Lewinsky.)

The end was very disappointing with Maya in a white saree walking into the
horizon. It felt like it was Hindi movie all over again where the free
spirited girl suffers and loses her lover. Excuse me! I would have felt
better if the elephant turned around the killed the king. And Maya, instead
of pleading with the king to let her lover go, hit him between the crotch
and basically poisoned him. I hate women who in the name of sensuality
become sad faced and apologetic. Not my style. Where the hell is the "new
bond girl" when I need her? Maybe it was the 16th century but if women took
their clothes off freely there must be one who also murdered a guy who was
being such a jerk!

Anyway, overall, a good movie for women. I suggest you women take your
thick skulled boyfriends, lovers, husbands and explain every statement.

Advice for men: if you are going to see it for nudity, sex, or Indira Varma
kindly see it in your houses and maybe watch it with your computer and
engineering buddies as a tribal ritual. If you are pursuing women I suggest
you learn the first lesson of Kama Sutra - love is never a stright line!

Goodbye boys and good day ladies.