Mira Nair’s Kama Sutra, A Tale of Love: A Critical Perspective

Abstract

Cinema is a form of expression which attracts a good amount of masses as a punter. It is a medium that educates, enlighten, entertain and sometimes act as a watch dog to the society. ‘Film is not only a piece of art but also a tool of social reform as it expresses the feelings of humans and their ideas of contemporary society. Films are the mirror that reflects the society’ says Aatish Palekar in his article “Films: The Reflection of Society”. Filmmakers like Mira Nair who has worked upon issues like communal clashes, slum children,
interracial marriage, and many other socio political based issues. And in Kama Sutra: The Tale of love (2000) she has interrogated a wide range of issues dealing with human relationship, complicated workings of male female sexual dynamics and along with it the importance of female bonding in a country like India, where sex is considered to be a taboo to be openly discussed. Mira Nair, an internationally acclaimed film maker who is much known for her serious thematic content, has always tried to portray reality through the subject matter she selects. Born in Orissa, studied in Delhi University has got her ground work of filmmaking learned and
practiced after she went to Harvard. This paper will focus on her movie Kama Sutra: The Tale of Love and proposes a critical analysis of it in terms of its screenplay, casting and plot narrative.