The meeting of two Legends of the Indian Film Industry Satyajit Ray and Shabana Azmi on the sets of Shatranj Ke Khiladi feels like two
distinct cinematic sensibilities meeting in strict adherence to rules. Ray’s only full-length Hindi feature was based on Munshi Premchand’s short story, set in 1856 Awadh on the eve of British annexation, and it unfolded with the patience of literature rather than the urgency of mainstream cinema. Shabana Azmi essayed as Khurshid, the neglected wife of Mirza, and in true Ray fashion, she wasn’t written as background furniture; she was irony, frustration, sensuality, and political metaphor wrapped into one restrained performance. Ray didn’t raise his voice as a director, he orchestrated silence, detail, texture, and history with unnerving control, even composing the music himself. The film turned out to be India’s official entry to the Academy Awards that year. It rightly deserved so, since it treated colonial politics and domestic boredom with the same elegance. Watching Ray direct Shabana must have felt like being asked to lower your volume and sharpen your mind at the same time. That is the beauty of this collaboration, no theatrics, just intelligence meeting craft.
News Edit KV Raman
