of Raj's brother, the grand vizier. Jai is executed by elephant while Maya watches from the crowd. As soldiers of the invading Shah take the king's palace, Maya walks away into the distance. Cast Indira Varma as Maya Sarita Choudhury as Tara, the princess Naveen Andrews as Raj Singh Ramon Tikaram as Jai Kumar Avijit Dutt as Vazir, The King's Prime Minister Rekha as Rasa Devi, teacher of Kama Sutra Harish Patel as Doctor Zoya Akhtar as Rasa Devi's courtesan Production Mira Nair had approached A. R. Rahman to compose the score and soundtrack for the film, but he turned down the opportunity citing he was uncomfortable with the film's title. He noted that he did not want international audiences to brand him as "the composer of Kama Sutra fame." Indira Varma said she did not realize when she read the script there would be explicit scenes in the film. "It wasn't called Kama Sutra when we were filming it," she said. "It was untitled. And then it says in the script, they make love. When you're young and naive and stupid you don't process the idea that it will take one day with your kit off to shoot that sentence." Critical reception On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film received 40% positive reviews from 20 professional critics. The website's critical consensus reads, "Kama Sutra refreshingly approaches sensuality from a female perspective, but audiences will be turned off by this romance's silly plotting." Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave it 2 out of 4 and wrote: "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." See also Tales of The Kama Sutra: The Perfumed Garden Tales of The Kama Sutra 2: Monsoon Kamasutra 3D References External links 1996 films British erotic films British Indian films Films shot in Rajasthan Indian erotic romance films Films set in India English-language Indian films English-language German films English-language Japanese films Films set in ancient India Films directed by Mira Nair Films based on the Kama Sutra German erotic films Japanese erotic films Trimark Pictures films Films scored by Mychael Danna Censored films Obscenity controversies in film Films shot in Madhya Pradesh Mirabai Films films Films about courtesans in India Films based on short fiction 1990s English-language films 1990s British films 1990s Japanese films 1990s German