The Chess Players (1977)

Original title

शतरंज के खिलाड़ी

Directed by

Satyajit Ray

Genre

drama film, comedy film, historical film

Country

India

Runtime

1h 53m

Rated

U

Rating

7.0 of 10 from 54 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

Two wealthy noblemen in 1850s India ignore their crumbling kingdom around them as they obsess over chess. Their personal distraction mirrors the larger political takeover by the British East India Company.

slow-burnwrymeditativebittersweetintimatemeasuredobservationalunderstated

What happens

Shatranj Ke Khilari, also subtitled and later internationally released with the translated title The Chess Players, is a 1977 Indian film written and directed by Satyajit Ray, based on Munshi Premchand's short story of the same name. Amjad Khan plays the role of Nawab Wajid Ali Shah, Nawab of Awadh, and Richard Attenborough enacts the role of General James Outram. The main cast includes actors Sanjeev Kumar and Saeed Jaffrey as the chess players. It also has Shabana Azmi, Farooque Shaikh, Farida Jalal, David Abraham, and Tom Alter. It has Amitabh Bachchan as the narrator. It was India's entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 51st Academy Awards, but did not receive a nomination. This is the only full-length Hindi 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. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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