Shatranj Ke Khiladi
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Shatranj Ke Khiladi (The Chess Players) is a 1977 film by Bengali director Satyajit Ray, based on the short story of the same name by Munshi Premchand, featuring the actors Sanjeev Kumar, Saeed Jaffrey, David Abraham and Tom Alter. Richard Attenborough plays the role of General James Outram, and Amjad Khan plays the role of Avadh king Wajid Ali Shah.
The film is set in 1856 and shows the life and customs of 19th century India at the eve of the Indian rebellion of 1857, and importantly the politics of colonial expansion by the British East India Company and the deluded divisions of Indian monarchs.
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[edit] Cast
- Sanjeev Kumar - Mirza Sajjad Ali
- Saeed Jaffrey - Mir Roshan Ali
- Shabana Azmi - Khurshid, Mirza's wife
- Farida Jalal - Nafisa, Mir's wife
- Amjad Khan - Wajid Ali Shah
- David Abraham - Munshi
- Victor Banerjee - Prime Minister
- Farooq Shaikh - Aqueel
- Tom Alter - Capt. Weston (Outram's aide de camp)
- Leela Mishra - Hirya, Khurshid's maid
- Samarth Narain - Kallu
- Bhudo Advani - Abbajani
- Amitabh Bachchan - (narrator)
[edit] Story
The film shows in parallel the helpless, historical drama of the Indian kingdom Awadh (whose capital is Lucknow) and its Muslim king Nawab Wajid Ali Shah, who is captured by the British alonside the story of two chess-obsessed noblemen. Nawab, artist and poet, no longer in command, could do nothing but cry in poetic fashion, because the British had already signed with him a treaty of protection. Parallel to this drama is the personal (and sometimes humorous) tale of two rich noblemen of this kingdom, inseparable friends, who became passionately obsessed with the game of chaturanga or chess, neglecting their wives. The role of Captain Weston, so British in his ways, but in love with Urdu poetry, is also worth noting.
In the last scene, after which Mir shoots at Mirza and complains out loud "I won't have a partner to play chess with", Mirza responds to him "but you have one in front of you!" (thus making him understand that he forgives him) and he finally concludes that "after nightfall, we will go back home. We both need darkness to hide our faces."
[edit] Parallels
Similarities can be found between this movie and:
- The comedies of Molière, especially those about an obsessed character
- Shakespeare: like in Shakespeare the work has many levels, and concentrates on the individual dramas in the middle of historical dramas.
- The saying of Jean Giraudoux in Electre about the passion that most hinders happiness: perseverance - "a happy family, that is a local defeat. Happy times, that is a general capitulaton" This is the bitter lesson of the film: to come to terms with defeat, any wisdom can be individual or collective, at least one's fate.
- There is an anti-parallel with the Hindi movie Lagaan which was released 24 years later. Shatranj Ke Khiladi depicts the British modifying the Indian game of Chess and subsequently their political rules of engagement with the India of the Raj while Lagaan has the Indians (villagers burdened by oppressive taxes or "lagaan") playing the British game of Cricket to challenge the Raj.
[edit] External links
| Films directed by Satyajit Ray |
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| Pather Panchali (1955) • Aparajito (1957) • Parash Pathar (1958) • Jalsaghar (1958) • Apur Sansar (1959) • Devi (1960) • Teen Kanya (1961) • Rabindranath Tagore (1961) • Kanchenjungha (1962) • Abhijan (1962) • Mahanagar (1963) • Charulata (1964) • Two (1965) • Kapurush (1965) • Mahapurush (1966) • Nayak (1966) • Chiriyakhana (1967) • Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne (1969) • Aranyer Din Ratri (1970) • Pratidwandi (1971) • Seemabaddha (1971) • Sikkim (1971) • The Inner Eye (1972) • Ashani Sanket (1973) • Sonar Kella (1974) • Jana Aranya (1976) • Bala (1976) • Shatranj Ke Khiladi (1977) • Joi Baba Felunath (1978) • Hirak Rajar Deshe (1980) • Pikoor Diary (1981) • Sadgati (1981) • Ghare Baire (1984) • Sukumar Ray (1987) • Ganashatru (1989) • Shakha Proshakha (1990) • Agantuk (1991) |
