EVERYTHING IS AVAILABLE HERE: Shatranj Ke Khilari (’The Chess Players’) (1977)

A film of “exquisite performances” (Variety) and epic sweep, The New York Times praised The Chess Players for “the manner in which an entire civilization has been encapsulated in a few particular gestures.” Adapted from a short story by Hindi author Munshi Premchand, The Chess Players evenly examines both colonial greed and Indian aristocratic indolence with the same dramatic scrutiny. His first-ever historical drama, The Chess Players is imbued with the same “deep observation, understanding and love of the human race” (Akira Kurosawa) that made Satyajit Ray one of the preeminent figures of international cinema.

Written, composed, and directed by Indian master Satyajit Ray (Pather Panchali), The Chess Players presents a stylized world in which the landed gentry lounge about, endlessly pulling on hookahs and engaging in the “king of games.” Outside their gilded doors, the order that allows them this luxury–let alone their marriages–is crumbling. They couldn’t be more oblivious. As the narrator notes, “Mr. Meer and Mr. Mirza are only playing at warfare. Their armies are pieces of ivory. Their battlefield: a piece of cloth.” Set in 1856 Lucknow, the noblemen (Saeed Jaffrey and Sanjeev Kumar) are situated in one of the few Indian territories not ruled by Britain’s East India Company. The British, meanwhile, are also playing a game of chess, and equally oblivious Oudh ruler Nawab Wajid Ali Shah (Amjad Khan) is the king they intend to capture. (–Kathleen C. Fennessy - Editorial Reviews - Amazon.com)

EVERYTHING IS AVAILABLE HERE

Goldy Sekhon

Friday, August 29, 2008

Shatranj Ke Khilari (’The Chess Players’) (1977) - Satyajit Ray

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