Tara and Maya are two inseparable friends in India. Their tastes, habits, and hobbies are the same. Years later, the two have matured, but have maintained their friendship. Tara gets married to the local prince, Raj Singh, who soon succeeds the throne as the sole heir. After the marriage, Raj gets bored of Tara and starts seeking another female to satisfy his sexual needs.

He notices Maya and is instantly attracted to her. He has her included as one of his courtesans, and is intimate with her. It is though her striking beauty and her skills of seduction learned through the Kama Sutra, the Indian book of love, that Maya exacts her revenge on Tara by seducing her husband on her wedding day thus beginning a destructive struggle for power where revenge is the goal, but tragedy the outcome.

# Directed by Mira Nair
# Unrated, with nudity, sex and violence
# Starring
Indira Varma ... Maya
Sarita Choudhury ... Tara, the Queen
Ramon Tikaram ... Jai Kumar
Naveen Andrews ... Raj Singh
Rekha ... Rasa Devi, teacher of the Kama Sutra
Khalid Tyabji ... Biki
Arundhati Rao ... Annabi
Surabhi Bhansali ... Young Maya
Garima Dhup ... Young Tara
Pearl Padamsee ... Maham Anga
Kusum Haidar ... Dilki
Harish Patel ... Doctor Mani
Ranjit Chowdhry ... Babu
Achala Sachdev ... Rupa
Arjun Sajnani ... Bashir
Avijit Dutt ... Vazir, the King's Prime Minister
Anjum Rajabali ... Madho Singh
Siddharth Anand Kumar ... Prem
Debi Basu ... Dance Teacher
Rahul Vohra ... Royal Messenger
Manize Boga ... Aunt Laila
Prabeen Singh ... Praveen
Cinia Jain ... Begum Para
Urvashi Nair ... Rich Friend
Bhanumathi Rao ... Old Woman
Vasudeo Bhatt ... Astrologer to the King
Moneeka Misra Tanvir ... Madame
Mina Sareen ... Rasa Devi's Courtesan
Maya Krishna Rao ... Rasa Devi's Courtesan
Shyamoli Varma ... Rasa Devi's Courtesan
Nandita Mehrota ... Rasa Devi's Courtesan
Zoya Akhtar ... Rasa Devi's Courtesan
Deepti Datt ... Rasa Devi's Courtesan
Piu Dutt ... Rasa Devi's Courtesan
Dinaz Stafford ... Rasa Devi's Courtesan
Purnima Raju ... Rasa Devi's Courtesan
Daphnée Breytenbach ... Swimmer
Celesteann Cruz ... Swimmer
Nizami Chattarpur ... Deaf Old Man
Yasmine Stafford ... Purnima
Sunil Chabra ... Smart Aleck (as Sunil Chhabra)
Himanshu Malik ... Young Merchant
Shubha Mudgal ... Singer

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