The Making of Shatranj Ke Khilari
by Andrew Robinson
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Form pairs. Use a dictionary to find and write the meaning of each term related to films and film-making.
SCREENPLAY = Written text that provides the basis for a film production. Screenplays usually include not only the dialogue spoken by the characters but also a shot-by-shot outline of the film's action.
POLOT = A sample film of a proposed television series made to induce sponsorship.
PROLOGUE = A prologue is an introductory scene of a film that introduces the audience to the film, its characters, the tone, and/or pertinent themes.
PROTAGONIST = The leading character of the film. All the incidents rotates around him/her.
CNEMATOGRAPHY = Cinematography is the art and technology of motion-picture photography. It involves such techniques as the general composition of a scene; the lighting of the set or location; the choice of cameras, lenses, filters, and film stock; the camera angle and movements; and the integration of any special effects.
Comprehension
Read and answer
1. Match each person to his/her occupation.
=
|
Person |
Occupation |
|---|---|
|
a. Satyajit Ray |
i. barrister. [c] |
|
b. Munshi Premchand |
ii. producer. [e] |
|
c. Atulprasad Sen |
iii. art director. [f] |
|
d. Ustad Allauddin Khan |
iv. director. [a] |
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e. Suresh Jindal |
v. screenplay writer. [g] |
|
f. Bansi Chandragupta |
vi. author. [b] |
|
g. Shama Zaidi |
vii. musician. [d] |
2. Fill in the timeline based on the information given in the text.
=
|
Year/s |
Event |
|---|---|
|
mid-1920s |
Premchand’s ‘Shatranj Ke Khilari’ first appears in print in Hindi. |
|
early 1940s |
|
|
1944-46 |
|
|
1951 |
|
|
1974 |
Satyajit Ray meets Suresh Jindal and Shama Zaidi. |
|
1976 |
|
|
1977 |
|
Reference to context
3. "It is like a Shakespeare scene. Only 300 words are spoken but goodness! - terrific things happen."
a. Who made this remark? Which film is the speaker is referring to?
= V. S. Naipaul made this remark.
The speaker is referring to the film 'Shatranj Ke Khiladi'.
b. Who was the director of the film? Name two other films directed by the same person.
= Satyajit Ray was the director of the film.
Two other films directed by Satyajit Ray are - 'Pather Panchali' and 'Jana Aranya'.
4. "Nothing but poetry and music should bring tears to a man's eyes."
a. Who made this statement and to whom?
= The King Wajid Ali Shah made this statement to his tearful prime minister in the screenplay of the film - 'Shatranj Ke Khilari'.
b. What does this tell us about the speaker's likes and personality?
= This tells us about the speaker's like towards music. He was a patron of music, art and culture.
c. What effect did this aspect of the speaker's personality have on Satyajit Ray?
= Satyajit Ray said that the fact that the king was a great patron of music was one redeeming feature about him. But that came after long months of study, of the nawabs, of Lucknow and everything.
Reflect and answer
5. Describe three new things that we learn about Lucknow in the early 1900s through this text.
= First of all Lucknow is a city of music, houses hummed with music of every kind, and the guests displayed polished manners to match. Lucknow hold the atmosphere of courtly refinement.
Secondly, Lucknow was known as the 'Paris of the East' and the 'Babylon of India' due to all the famous sights of it.
Thirdly, we come to know about the shell of the British Residency, with the marks of cannonballs still visible on its walls and a marble plaque commemorating the spot where Sir Henry Lawrence had fallen during the Indian Mutiny/Uprising of 1857.
6. Satyajit Ray was a perfectionist. Find one example from the text that tells us this.
= He was reluctant to work on a story in a language which he did not know properly. His reluctance was principally due to his doubts about writing a screenplay and working with actors in a language - Urdu, the court language of Lucknow - that was not his own. According to Shama Zaidi, his chief collaborator in the writing of the screenplay, remarked that he did not like to do anything unless he was really good at it. This indicates to Ray's perfectionist nature.
7. What factors made it difficult for Satyajit Ray to portray Premchand's story in the form of a film?
= Ray faced certain formidable difficulties in trying to make a screenplay of Premchand's story.
First came the widespread ignorance of the facts of the relationship between Britain and Awadh in the century leading up to the Annexation - in India as much as elsewhere
Second, there was the fact that chess is not inherently dramatic on screen.
Third was the need to portray the king sympathetically.
Finally, an overall had to be found that was in harmony with the pleasure-loving decadence of Lucknow, without seeming to condone it.
8. What are the factors that eventually gave Satyajit Ray the confidence to make the film?
= The factors the eventually gave Satyajit Ray the confidence to make the film are -
i) His affection for the story. The story had first appeared in print in Hindi in the mid 1920s. Ray read it in English translation in the early 1940s as an art student at Rabindranath Tagore's university in Bengal and was immediately drawn to it for several reasons.
ii) He discovered able Urdu collaborators.
iii) He was aware of the talent of a pool of Urdu-speaking actors in Bombay.
9. Why is it important for films to include dramatic events? How would you, as a screenplay writer and director, portray the game of chess between Mirza and Mir in a dramatic manner?
= It is important for films to include dramatic events to represent contemporary society, economic structure and philosophy of the people in the film. The director has to recreate the entire culture and confront his own ambivalence through the dramatic events.
Me, as a screenplay writer and director, would would portray the game of chess between Mirza and Mir with a series of dramatic interruption. I would show them for sometime and then the other scene of the city to show the contemporary contradiction of the situation. Though Lucknow was sunk in pleasure, there was no situation at all to get into pleasure. The British were usurping Indian continent gradually. People were unware of the consequence of it. They were feeling it in their inner self but could not express their disgust against it. I would use the smash-cut technique of the scenes and some music with dejected tone to bring the essence of their mental state.