Legendary Bengali director Ray's only film in Urdu, Shatranj Ki Khiladi or The Chess Players, looks at the denouement of Indian Muslim power in the 1850's, focusing on the northern state of Oudh, also known as Awadh, prior to the epochal 1857 'Mutiny'.
The film contains two narratives. One narrative focuses on the political machinations of the bullish, pragmatic representative of the British, General Outram, played capably by Richard Attenborough, and the diffident response of the cultured but cloud-headed Indian Muslim King of Oudh, played with great feeling by Amjad Khan.
The other narrative shifts focus to the tragi-comic situation of two well-born Indian Muslim gentlemen, played by the always-wonderful Saeed Jafarey and Sanjeev Kumar, and their obsession with a game of chess, leading them to neglect the momentous tide of history which is about to sweep over them. Indeed, not only is chess a metaphor for the power struggle between Indian and British, but the two chess players' family situations are too, with both men locked into domestic struggles with their wives, the haughty, beautiful Khurshid, played with characteristic commitment by Shabana Azmi and the lascivious, lying Nafisa, well-played by Farida Jalal.
The twin approach is useful and well integrated, and there is even some humorous animation. Ray brings his characteristic eye for ravishing beauty, balanced with his close, sympathetic interest in humanity, particularly when under pressure, and a real feeling for the period. Also typical is the universality of the director's humanitarian outlook, with the nominally Hindu Ray studying Muslims and the British with the same warm but clear-eyed assiduousness.
Overall, this is a film, like all of Ray's films, to treasure, not only for a person of Indian ancestry such as myself.
The film contains two narratives. One narrative focuses on the political machinations of the bullish, pragmatic representative of the British, General Outram, played capably by Richard Attenborough, and the diffident response of the cultured but cloud-headed Indian Muslim King of Oudh, played with great feeling by Amjad Khan.
The other narrative shifts focus to the tragi-comic situation of two well-born Indian Muslim gentlemen, played by the always-wonderful Saeed Jafarey and Sanjeev Kumar, and their obsession with a game of chess, leading them to neglect the momentous tide of history which is about to sweep over them. Indeed, not only is chess a metaphor for the power struggle between Indian and British, but the two chess players' family situations are too, with both men locked into domestic struggles with their wives, the haughty, beautiful Khurshid, played with characteristic commitment by Shabana Azmi and the lascivious, lying Nafisa, well-played by Farida Jalal.
The twin approach is useful and well integrated, and there is even some humorous animation. Ray brings his characteristic eye for ravishing beauty, balanced with his close, sympathetic interest in humanity, particularly when under pressure, and a real feeling for the period. Also typical is the universality of the director's humanitarian outlook, with the nominally Hindu Ray studying Muslims and the British with the same warm but clear-eyed assiduousness.
Overall, this is a film, like all of Ray's films, to treasure, not only for a person of Indian ancestry such as myself.