The Chess Players
Shatranj Ke Khilari
Synopsis
In 1856, as the British East India Company under General James Outram marches to annex the wealthy kingdom of Awadh and depose its poet-king Wajid Ali Shah in Lucknow, two indolent, aristocratic Muslim nawabs remain totally oblivious to the collapse of their civilization, abandoning their neglected wives to obsessively play chess day and night, fleeing into a rural ruin to continue their game as British redcoat troops pass on the road. Satyajit Ray and Munshi Premchand's Oscar-submitted historical comedy-drama starring Sanjeev Kumar, Saeed Jaffrey, Shabana Azmi, and Richard Attenborough.
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The Chess Players
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Satyajit Ray
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