The Chess Players
by Satyajit Ray
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Actor: Farida Jalal, Saeed Jaffrey, Sanjeev Kumar, Shabana Azmi, VeenaDirector: Satyajit Ray
Brand: Kino International
Cinematographer: Soumendu Roy
Writer: Satyajit Ray
Editor: Dulal Dutta
Producer: Suresh Jindal
Writer: Javed Siddiqui
Writer: Munshi Premchand
Writer: Shama Zaidi
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Subtitled); English (Original Language); Hindi (Original Language); Urdu (Original Language)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC, Subtitled
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 129 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-04-18
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Model: 4082
Studio: Kino Video
Product features:
- CHESS PLAYERS, THE SHATRANJ KE KHILARI (DVD MOVIE)
DVD Reviews of The Chess Players
DVD Review: Check Mate!
Summary: 5 Stars
Films like this tend to be a reflection upon the societies that create them. Perhaps this was not intended here, but the result seems to indicate so. Drawing on actual events the movie chronicles the British East India Company's aquistition of the Proinvce of Oudh in 1856, a year before the historic and barbarous Seapoy Mutiny of 1857. This is not your standard Bollywiood flick with song, dance and outlandish plots. Here there are subtle pararells drawn. The two dedicated Chess Players reflect the monied class of India at that time. Decadent, lazy and easily influenced their fixation on playing Chess is a reflection of higher faults within Indian Society at that time, and perhaps even today. Both are products of a restrictive Caste System, they are have arranged marriages which are loveless and bordering on dissipation. Chess seems to give their lives a higher meaning which seems lacking otherwise.
The frivilous ruler of Oudh who is shown as a victim of British Colonialism was representative of his kind. Indolent, inefficent, and whimisical he is a fair portrait of most of the independent petty rulers and princes of India at that time. Through a policy of divide and conquer the East India Company had gradually expanded its influence over the last century against such rulers as these. Indeed, it is not surprising that the British were able to rule India in this fashion as the remnants of the decayed Mogul Empire were easily manipulated. Had the British not done this a far more ruthless regime might well have been established by either France or Russia since India was not capable as a forged nation at this time to resist such. A patchwork of petty rulers like this India had no greater sense of nationhood. Even the Great Seapoy Mutiny a year later in 1857 was no expression of such, as some revisitionist historians would like to portray.
Although the British are shown rightly as opportunists, the film does gave some consdieration and character development to them. Having Sir Richard Attenborough play General Outram is a deffinite plus and raises the film above the norm. Saeed Jaffrey is always nice to see even though he tends to be a standard character in many films made during this period. Recall MAN WHO WOULD BE KING where he plays a Gurkha!
1856 would prove to be the last year of John Company in India as the awful events of the Mutiny a year later would see Queen Victoria and the Crown assume direct rule of the empire. Hence the RAJ would be born. While modern sympathy's with perceived oppressed native peoples tends to be in vogue now, it is important to look at the historical facts. Princely States like Oudh were often ruled incompetently. When the British took over efficient administration usually resulted. This legacy has been passed down to the India of today.
A great film with excellent characters and a fascinating historical background. Well acted and directed with classic themes. Should be better known.
Description of The Chess Players
CHESS PLAYERS - DVD MovieWritten, 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. Forthright General Outram (Sir Richard Attenborough, Ghandi), assisted by the more culturally erudite Captain Weston (Tom Alter), is the man charged with the task. It shouldn?t be difficult: Like Meer and Mirza, Wajid would prefer to relax--to write poetry, to fly kites--rather than to rule. Along the way, Oudh will fall, but the chess will continue. Based on a story by Munshi Premchand, The Chess Players was Ray?s most elaborate production. It was also his first in Hindi (with English) and its frames are filled with music, dance, opulent pageantry, and humorous banter--even a lively animated sequence. Behind the attractive façade, however, lies a lament for lost opportunities. --Kathleen C. Fennessy
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