''Shatranj Ke Khilari'', also subtitled and later internationally released with the translated title ''The Chess Players'', is a

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democrat ...

Indian film written and directed by Satyajit Ray, based on

Munshi Premchand Dhanpat Rai Srivastava (31 July 1880 – 8 October 1936), better known by his pen name Premchand (), was an Indian writer famous for his modern Hindustani literature. Premchand was a pioneer of Hindi and Urdu social fiction. He was one of ...

's short story of the same name. Amjad Khan plays the role of Nawab

Wajid Ali Shah Mirza Wajid Ali Shah ( ur, ) (30 July 1822 – 1 September 1887) was the eleventh and last King of Awadh, holding the position for 9 years, from 13 February 1847 to 11 February 1856. Wajid Ali Shah's first wife was Alam Ara who was better k ...

Nawab of Awadh The Nawab of Awadh or the Nawab of Oudh was the title of the rulers who governed the state of Awadh (anglicised as Oudh) in north India during the 18th and 19th centuries. The Nawabs of Awadh belonged to a dynasty of Persian origin from Nishap ...

, and Richard Attenborough enacts the role of General James Outram. The main cast includes actors

Sanjeev Kumar Sanjeev Kumar (born Harihar Jethalal Jariwala; 9 July 1938 – 6 November 1985) was an Indian actor. He is well remembered for his versatility and genuine portrayal of his characters. He acted in genres ranging from romantic dramas to thrille ...

and

Saeed Jaffrey Saeed Jaffrey (8 January 1929 – 15 November 2015) was a British-Indian actor. His career covered film, radio, stage and television roles over six decades and more than 150 British, American, and Indian movies. During the 1980s and 1990s he wa ...

as the chess players. It also has

Shabana Azmi Shabana Azmi (born 18 September 1950) is an Indian actress of Hindi film, television and theatre. One of India's most acclaimed actresses, Azmi is known for her portrayals of distinctive, often unconventional female characters across several ge ...

, Farooque Shaikh,

Farida Jalal Farida Jalal (born Farida Sami; 18 May 1950) is an Indian actress who primarily worked in Hindi films. In a film career spanning almost fifty years, Jalal appeared in over 200 films. Best known for her character-driven roles in independent cin ...

, David Abraham, and

Tom Alter Thomas Beach Alter (22 June 1950 – 29 September 2017) was an Indian actor. He was best known for his works in Hindi cinema, and Indian theatre. In 2008, he was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India. Early life Born in Mussoorie ...

. It has Amitabh Bachchan as the narrator. This is the only full-length

Hindi Hindi ( Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...

feature film of filmmaker Satyajit Ray. He later made a short Hindi film for TV named '' Sadgati'', another adaptation of Munshi Premchand's short story.

Summary

The film is set in 1856 on the eve of the

Indian rebellion of 1857 The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857–58 against the rule of the British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the British Crown. The rebellion began on 10 May 1857 in the fo ...

. The British are about to annex the

Oudh State The Oudh State (, also Kingdom of Awadh, Kingdom of Oudh, or Awadh State) was a princely state in the Awadh region of North India until its annexation by the British in 1856. The name Oudh, now obsolete, was once the anglicized name of ...

(also spelled Awadh). The daily life of two wealthy men who are devoted to chess is presented against the background of scheming officials of the British

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and South ...

, the history of its relations with the Indian ruler of Awadh, and the ruler's devotion both to his religious practice and the pursuit of pleasure. ''The Chess Players'' employed stars of the

Bombay cinema Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...

( Amjad Khan,

and Amitabh Bachchan as a narrator) together with British actors (such as Richard Attenborough). It was India's entry for the

Best Foreign Language Film This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...

at the 51st Academy Awards, but did not receive a nomination.

Plot

The film shows in parallel the historical drama of the Indian princely state of

Awadh Awadh (), known in British historical texts as Avadh or Oudh, is a region in the modern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, which was before independence known as the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh. It is synonymous with the Kośāla region of ...

(whose capital is

Lucknow Lucknow (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the second largest urban agglomeration in Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and division ...

) and its

Nawab Nawab ( Balochi: نواب; ar, نواب; bn, নবাব/নওয়াব; hi, नवाब; Punjabi : ਨਵਾਬ; Persian, Punjabi , Sindhi, Urdu: ), also spelled Nawaab, Navaab, Navab, Nowab, Nabob, Nawaabshah, Nawabshah or Nobab, ...

who is overthrown by the British, alongside the story of two noblemen who are obsessed with

shatranj Shatranj ( ar, شطرنج; fa, شترنج; from Middle Persian ''chatrang'' ) is an old form of chess, as played in the Sasanian Empire. Its origins are in the Indian game of chaturaṅga. Modern chess gradually developed from this game, as i ...

, i.e.,

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to dist ...

. Amjad Khan plays the ruling

. He is a languid artist and poet, no longer in command of events and unable to effectively oppose the British demand for his throne. Parallel to this wider drama is the personal (and humorous) tale of two rich, indolent noblemen of this kingdom, Mirza Sajjad Ali and Mir Roshan Ali. Inseparable friends, the two nobles are passionately obsessed with the game of ''

'' (

). Both effectively neglect their wives and fail to fight the takeover of their kingdom by the

. Instead, they escape their harangued wives and responsibilities, fleeing from Lucknow to play chess in a tiny village untouched by greater events. Ray's basic theme in the film is the message that the self-centredness, detachment and cowardice of India's ruling classes catalysed the annexation of

by a handful of British officials. The role of Captain Weston, so British in his ways, but in love with

Urdu poetry Urdu poetry ( ur, ) is a tradition of poetry and has many different forms. Today, it is an important part of the cultures of South Asia. According to Naseer Turabi there are five major poets of Urdu which are Mir Taqi Mir (d.1810), Mirza Ghali ...

, is also worth noting. In the last scene, after which Mir shoots at Mirza and complains out loud "(If you die) 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). He finally concludes that "after nightfall, we will go back home. We both need darkness to hide our faces."

Cast

as Mirza Sajjad Ali *

as Mir Roshan Ali *

as Khurshid, Mirza's wife * Richard Attenborough as General James Outram *

as Nafisa, Mir's wife * Amjad Khan as

* David Abraham as Munshi Nandlal *

Victor Banerjee Victor Banerjee is an Indian actor who appears in English, Hindi, Bengali and Assamese language films. He has worked for directors such as Roman Polanski, James Ivory, Sir David Lean, Jerry London, Ronald Neame, Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen, Shyam ...

as Prime Minister ("Madar-ud-Daula") *

Veena The ''veena'', also spelled ''vina'' ( sa, वीणा IAST: vīṇā), comprises various chordophone instruments from the Indian subcontinent. Ancient musical instruments evolved into many variations, such as lutes, zithers and arched harps ...

as the Queen, Mother of Wajid Ali Shah. * Farooq Sheikh as Aqueel *

as Captain Weston, Outram's aide de camp *

Leela Mishra Leela Mishra (1 January 1908 – 17 January 1988) was an Indian actress. She worked as a character actor in over 200 Hindi films for five decades, and is best remembered for playing stock characters such as aunts (''Chachi'' or ''Mausi''). She ...

as Hirya, Khurshid's maid *

Saswati Sen Saswati Sen is an Indian dancer and choreographer, and an exponent of Kathak, an Indian classical dance form. She was a senior disciple of Pandit Birju Maharaj, and still teaches and performs at his Kalashram Institute in the Jor Bagh distric ...

as Kathak dancer in the song 'Kanha main tose haari' *Samarth Narain as Kallu *

Bhudo Advani Bhudo Advani (17 August 1905 – 25 July 1985) was an Indian character actor and comedian. He started his acting career in theatre with the notion of spreading awareness on social issues. He came to Bombay on the advice of an Ajanta Cinetone rep ...

as Abbajani * Agha as Chuttan Miyan - Abbajani's attendant - (Uncredited) *

Barry John Barry John (born 6 January 1945) is a former Welsh rugby union fly-half who played, during the amateur era of the sport, in the 1960s, and early 1970s. John began his rugby career as a schoolboy playing for his local team Cefneithin RFC bef ...

Kamu Mukherjee Kamu Mukherjee (14 June 1931 – 6 December 2003) was a Bengali actor, best known for his role as Mandar Bose in '' Sonar Kella'' and Harun in Sandip Ray's first film '' Phatik Chand''. Career Mukherjee's first film appearance was in the 1959 fi ...

* Amitabh Bachchan as Narrator

Reception

The film was well received upon its release. Despite the film's limited budget, ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'' critic Gary Arnold gave it a positive review; "He aypossesses what many overindulged Hollywood filmmakers often lack: a view of history". According to

Martin Scorsese Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Scorsese emerged as one of the major figures of the New Hollywood era. He is the recipient of many major accolades, inclu ...

, "This film deals with a moment of incredible change in Indian history and is told from a comical view that is a hallmark of Ray’s work. Watching it again, I realize this is what it must really feel like to live through a moment of historic change. It feels this big and tragic at the same time."

Awards and nominations

Preservation

''The Chess Players'' was preserved by the

Academy Film Archive The Academy Film Archive is part of the Academy Foundation, established in 1944 with the purpose of organizing and overseeing the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ educational and cultural activities, including the preservation of m ...

in 2010.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Chess Players, The 1977 films 1970s Hindi-language films Films directed by Satyajit Ray Films about chess Chess in India Films based on short fiction Films set in the British Raj Films set in Lucknow Adaptations of works by Premchand Films whose cinematographer won the Best Cinematography National Film Award Films set in the 1850s Films with screenplays by Satyajit Ray Indian films with live action and animation Films scored by Satyajit Ray Films about the Indian Rebellion of 1857 Best Hindi Feature Film National Film Award winners Films shot in Lucknow Cultural depictions of Indian monarchs Films based on works by Premchand