Starring Indira Varma, Sarita Choudhury, Naveen Andrews and Ramon Tikaram Directed by Mira Nair Unrated, with nudity, sex and violence Running time 120 minutes We give this film a rating of 7 out of 10

(April 11, 1997) -- When you compare it to the other sex-drenched mythological epic films from India you've seen, Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love looks good.

Of course, most folks never have seen a sex-drenched mythological epic film from India. Still, Kama Sutra is an undeniably stylish and unique film that does not try to be anything but itself. What is that self? Well, it isn't a whole lot like Batman. Or Deep Throat. In fact, the film has all the grandiloquence and high drama of a Shakespearean play. Director Mira Nair (Mississippi Masala) has built a classic tragic love story around the sexual lessons that are the best-known part of the ancient Indian Kama Sutra text.

The result is a film fable that is earthily erotic, yet far more concerned with love than flesh. Set in 16th-century India, Kama Sutra tells the story of princess Tara and her servant girl Maya, best friends as children despite their class differences. As they grow older, it becomes apparent that, while Tara (Sarita Choudhury, of Mississippi Masala) has all the opportunities, Maya (the stunning Indira Varma) has all the sex appeal.

When princess Tara meets her husband-to-be King Raj (Naveen Andrews, of The English Patient), she sees his eyes roll toward the more fetching Maya. Tara's long-held jealousy erupts and she spits on her best friend. Best friends being what they are, Maya then avenges herself by seducing the king on his wedding night.

Unfortunately, news gets out and only moments after Tara rides off with her new husband to his kingdom, Maya is banished from the kingdom. In the way of myths, she seems to walk about three blocks before she meets a gorgeous sculptor named Jai (Ramon Tikaram), who happens to work for Tara's new kingly husband.

From there things just get messier and sexier, but not crude. With photography by Declan Quinn (the man who took us with Nicolas Cage, shopping for booze in Leaving Las Vegas), the film is a lush revelation of the beauties of India, both its physical landscape and its highly erotic culture.

Flesh touches flesh again and again in this film, whether it's Jai and Raj wrestling, Maya leaving marks on Tara's body to make her husband jealous, or a mother's natural massaging of her daughter's back.

Kama Sutra is a film about the power of touch: to heal, to scar, to transcend these earthly bonds. It is also about the limitations of the flesh, about how jealousy in all its manifestations can poison life.

No, it's not like Batman -- and that's a good thing.