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Shatranj Ke Khilari

Shatranj Ke Khilari
Chess players.jpg
Directed by Satyajit Ray
Produced by Suresh Jindal
Screenplay by Satyajit Ray
Based on Shatranj ke khiladi, a short story
by Munshi Premchand
Starring Sanjeev Kumar
Saeed Jaffrey
Shabana Azmi
Richard Attenborough
Farida Jalal
Amjad Khan
David Abraham
Victor Banerjee
Farooq Shaikh
Tom Alter
Leela Mishra
Samarth Narain
Bhudo Advani
Narrated by Amitabh Bachchan
Music by Satyajit Ray
Cinematography Soumendu Roy
Edited by Dulal Dutta
Release date
March 11, 1977
Running time
129 minutes
Country India
Language Hindi
Urdu
English
Budget 2,000,000

Shatranj Ke Khiladi (Hindi: शतरंज के खिलाड़ी; The Chess Players) is a 1977 Indian film by Bengali director Satyajit Ray, based on Munshi Premchand's short story of the same name. Amjad Khan plays the role of Wajid Ali Shah, King of Awadh, and Richard Attenborough plays the role of General James Outram. The film also features the actors Sanjeev Kumar, Saeed Jaffrey, Shabana Azmi, David Abraham and Tom Alter.

The film is set in 1856 on the eve of the Indian rebellion of 1857. The British are about to annex the Indian State of Awadh (also spelt Oudh). 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 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 (Amjad Khan, Shabana Azmi and Amitabh Bachchan as a narrator) together with ethnic European actors such as Richard Attenborough.

It was India's entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 51st Academy Awards, but did not receive a nomination.


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