#charu roy

[filmap]

Shiraz Franz Osten. 1928

Chamber Mussaman burj, Agra Fort, Rakabganj, Agra, Uttar Pradesh 282003, India See in map

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[haveyouseenthismovie-poll]

Have you seen A Throw of Dice (1929)?

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Voting ended onJan 14, 2025

[vintagewoc]

enakshi rama rau and charu roy in shiraz (1928)

[myluckyerror]

Himansu Rai and Charu Roy in “Shiraz” (1928), dir. Franz Osten, an Anglo-Indian-German co-production filmed on location

[ofimaginarybeings]

A Throw of Dice (Franz Osten, 1929)

Charu Roy and Seeta Devi in A Throw of Dice 

Cast: Seeta Devi, Charu Roy, Himansu Rai, Modhu Bose, Sarada Gupta, Tincory Charkrabarty. Lala Bijoykishen. Screenplay: Niranjan Pal, W.A. Burton, based on a story from the Mahabharata. Cinematography: Emil Schünemann. Art direction: Promode Nath. 

India would become one of the great filmmaking centers of the world, but the silent film A Throw of Dice, though one of the early classic films made in the subcontinent, was directed by a German, Franz Osten, who would be arrested in India in 1939 for being a member of the Nazi party. Osten was a prolific filmmaker who did much of his work in India, often in collaboration with actor-producer Himansu Rai, who plays the heavy in this story based on an episode in the Mahabharata. It’s about two kings who fall in love with Sunita (Seeta Devi), the beautiful daughter of a hermit, Kanwa (Sarada Gupta), who has fled the corruptions of court life. When one of the kings, Ranjit (Charu Roy), wins the heart of Sunita, the other, Sohat (Rai), plots against him. He proposes a game of dice, with the stakes being each other’s kingdom. Using loaded dice, Sohat not only wins Ranjit’s kingdom and the hand of Sunita, but also tricks Ranjit into becoming his slave. But when Sohat’s deception is uncovered, Ranjit’s subjects mobilize and attack Sohat’s palace. In desperation, Sohat leaps from a high cliff. It’s a slight tale in the telling, but the beauty of the north Indian setting and the opulence of the palaces give the story a sumptuous frame. There’s also a cast of thousands on display and a whole menagerie of tigers and elephants and other animals.