SHATRANJ KE KHILADI The Chess Players 1977 Satyajit Ray Dr Niva Bhandari (for English students) 4/18/2011 CURAJ Dr Niva Bhandari (for English students) 4/18/2011 CURAJ Shatranj Ke Khiladi • Based on the text by Munshi Premchand • Falls in the film genre of – Comedy/Foreign/British/History – Art Cinema Dr Niva Bhandari (for English students) 4/18/2011 CURAJ Director: • Satyajit Ray Starring: • Amjad Khan • Farida Jalal • Saeed Jaffrey • Sanjeev Kumar • Shabana Azmi • Sir Richard Attenborough • Victor Banerjee Screenplay: • Munshi Premchand • Satyajit Ray Dr Niva Bhandari (for English students) 4/18/2011 CURAJ Dr Niva Bhandari (for English students) 4/18/2011 CURAJ Dr Niva Bhandari (for English students) 4/18/2011 CURAJ Dr Niva Bhandari (for English students) 4/18/2011 CURAJ Dr Niva Bhandari (for English students) 4/18/2011 CURAJ • 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.“ • 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. Dr Niva Bhandari (for English students) 4/18/2011 CURAJ • Portrayal of a troubled history • Though the movie is set in the 1850s era, the time of making of the movie – During PM Indira Gandhi, emergency and reduced constitutional rights • Dared to examine India’s future through its past. • The Chess Players evenly examines both colonial greed and Indian aristocratic laziness with the same dramatic analysis. Dr Niva Bhandari (for English students) 4/18/2011 CURAJ Major Characters • Meer – Saeed Jaffrey • Mirza – Sanjeev Kumar • British General – Sir Richard Attenborough • Awadh’s King – Amjad Khan • Prime Minister – Victor Banerjee • Mother of Awadh’s king Dr Niva Bhandari (for English students) 4/18/2011 CURAJ Plot • Set in Lucknow of 1856 • Chess – A never ending passion for Meer and Mirza, two idle aristocrats • King of Awadh lost in his own creative pursuits, neglects his state duties. • The scheming and strategy of the chess board is played out in the real-life. • British General plots his own moves against Awadh’s king. Purpose – To remove the Nawab from his throne and bring the state under British jurisdiction. • Meer and Mirza ignore and are indifferent to the political and family responsibilities. Dr Niva Bhandari (for English students) 4/18/2011 CURAJ • Consequently they suffer loss • Collapse of the domestic and political structure that it causes. • The British soldiers march on their homeland – plot against Awadh successful • The innocent game of chess leads to their deadly confrontation and a great loss. Dr Niva Bhandari (for English students) 4/18/2011 CURAJ Parallelism • Chess – a war-strategy game • Chess – a symbol of the cunning moves by the British to capture the kingdom. • While the two men play, their marriages disintegrate. • These images are juxtaposed with those of the King who, while flying kites, has one of his poems skillfully dissected by General Outram (Attenborough), thus providing grounds for invasion/take over of the kingdom. Dr Niva Bhandari (for English students) 4/18/2011 CURAJ The two plotlines are beautifully brought together at the end when, after hearing that Company troops have moved in and the Nawab has handed over the kingdom, the chess playing friends change their board layout to the western manner, which involves the king and queen changing their starting positions: “Move over, king. Make way for [queen] Victoria!” Dr Niva Bhandari (for English students) 4/18/2011 CURAJ • Dealt with heavy issues • Story told with a light touch • No dramatic scenes, no villains/heroes, fighting is mutely shown • SHATRANJ KE Khiladi is one of the first films to break away from the commercial traditions of Bollywood Dr Niva Bhandari (for English students) 4/18/2011 CURAJ Issue no. 1 • The king, Wajid Ali Shah: Options: – To give up his throne or – To fight a battle. • Neither the will nor the means to fight the British • Fears the blood-shed of his people in a hopelessly unequal battle. Thus, the king opts to hand over the kingdom to the British without a fight, singing to himself a Thumari that he has composed - Dr Niva Bhandari (for English students) 4/18/2011 CURAJ Thumari that the king sings Roughly translated: As we leave our beloved city of Lucknow, see what we have to go through... Dr Niva Bhandari (for English students) 4/18/2011 CURAJ • The poetically humane King’s is also concerned about his kingdom and prajaa • Hence the regal refuses to budge from his throne. Dr Niva Bhandari (for English students) 4/18/2011 CURAJ Issue no. 2 • General Outram, on the other hand, is troubled with the illegal means he must follow to take over Avadh despite a treaty of friendship with the kingdom. He is bound by his duty to the British Empire. • Contradiction -The concept of baadsahat: According to wajid ali shah, “ek badshash agar baadshat na kare toh kya karen..” which means that whatever he was doing was Baadsahat in his eyes.. • General sees the whole idea of baadsahat from a very (then) European understanding of public Dr Niva Bhandari (for English students) 4/18/2011administration and legal authority. CURAJ Issue no. 3 • Mir and Mirza learn about the British Company's troops marching towards Lucknow. Scared that they may be called to fight the British forces, run off to a remote village to continue playing chess. • For Mir and Mirza, the chess continues even as the British troops march into the city until they have a fight over the game. • A game, as it turns out, that ends up putting their friendship at stake just like the throne of their clueless King. • Mir, who has nearly shot Mirza and is ashamed of his behavior, says, "We cannot cope with our wives, so how can we cope with the company's army?" Dr Niva Bhandari (for English students) 4/18/2011 CURAJ Issue no. 4 • While Mirza’s wife (Shabana Azmi in a small but well placed role) decides to find solace in the housekeeper’s stories, Mir’s wife (a chubby and visibly mischievous Fareeda Jalaal) chooses to find solace in the arms of a much younger man (a nervous Farooque Shaikh) right under the nose of her unsuspecting husband. Dr Niva Bhandari (for English students) 4/18/2011 CURAJ Unique elements • Ray employed a cast/actors not drawn from the Bengali film world • Shatranj Ke Khilari was Ray's most expensive film boasting of stars from western and Hindi cinema of Bombay. • Reported to have cost about two million rupees in comparison of his earlier films that were made under half a million rupees. • The average budgets of the contemporary Hindi films of Bombay, ranging from 4 to 10 million rupees. • While Munshi Premchand's story focuses on the two chess players Mirza and Mir, Ray expanded the story by elaborating the characters of Wajid Ali Shah and General Outram and adding a few more characters. • Ray was attracted to the story by the parallel that Munshi Premchand draws between chess games of Mir and Mirza, and the Dr Niva Bhandari (for English students) 4/18/2011crafty moves by the British to capture the king. CURAJ • Though the character of Mirza’s wife, Begum Sahiba is very exasperate in the original story and she often scolds Mirza whereas in the film, the character of Begum is moulded in such a way that she is very nice at heart and misses her husband’s presence in the bedroom. In fact the character (played by Shabana Aazmi) is written as a romantic woman. • In the original story by Premchand, Begum Sahiba is depicted as very irritating who is jealous of the chessboard which could be understood by a dialogue of Begum in the story “khaane ki bhi fursat nahi hai ? le jaakar khaana sir par patak do..khaaye chahe kutte ko khilaayen.” Dr Niva Bhandari (for English students) 4/18/2011 CURAJ • But this whole sequence of the helplessness of Shabana Azmi (wife of Mirza) and the discomfort of Farida Jalaal (wife of Mir) which could hold the film were covered in single scenes. Consequently the personal story of the two players overtook by all these political activities and audience somehow deviates from the real thread line. Dr Niva Bhandari (for English students) 4/18/2011 CURAJ Satyajit Ray’s skills • The film displays some great skills: • When a kid of Awadh expresses his wishes of seeing the british army in their uniform, but another moment he questions Mirza that, “ab humaara baadshah gore honge ? (Shall we now be ruled by british ?) • Mirza thinks for a while and this makes him uncomfortable. Now this is not in the original story but Ray introduced it beautifully. • Light and camera position - When Mir changes the mohra in the absence of Mirza. The shot taken from behind the curtains with a moderate amount of light, exhibits his unbeatableDr Niva Bhandari skill (for asEnglish a students) director. 4/18/2011 CURAJ • In the story both kills each other at the end. • But Ray wanted to finish it in a more realistic manner, so he kept the two players alive in the end. • The scene of surrender of the Nawab becomes almost flat in the film but in the story it strikes our conscience. Premchand has written about the surrender in this way: Dr Niva Bhandari (for English students) 4/18/2011 CURAJ “navaab waajid ali shah pakad liye gaye the..aur sena unhe kisi agyaat sthaan par le jaa rahi thi..shaher me na koi halchal thi na koi maarkaat..ek boond khoon bhi nahi gira tha..aaj tak kisi swadheen raja ki parajay itni shanti se bina khoon bahe na hui hogi..yeh ahinsa na thi jis par devta khush hote the..ye kaayarpan tha..awadh ke vishal desh ka nawaab bandit hai aur lucknow aish ki nind me tha.” Dr Niva Bhandari (for English students) 4/18/2011 CURAJ • Mirza : kisi ne khandaan me shantranj kheli ho tab na..ghaas chheelne waale shatranj kya khelenge.