A shuddh desi romance from 1928

Taj Mahal is known world-over as the monument of love built by Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan for his beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal. But the love story at the heart of the Taj Mahal is not just the one between Shah Jahan and Mumtaz. The ivory-hued mausoleum is actually a labour of love, quite literally, of one who loved Mumtaz much more than his own life, albeit from a distance. And it’s his story that Shiraz: A Romance of India follows.
Based on Niranjan Pal’s original play that presents a romantised version of events leading to the construction of India’s most iconic building, Franz Osten’s Shiraz is a sumptuously Indian silent classic, shot completely on location in Agra, featuring an entirely Indian cast. One of the very few surviving films of the era, Shiraz, which was meticulously restored by the British Film Institure (BFI) was screened to a packed auditorium in Hyderabad on Wednesday, kicking off the first in a series of four screenings as part of its India-wide premiere.
“It’s only befitting that Shiraz’ s India tour begins in Hyderabad because the erstwhile state of Hyderabad Deccan and Empire of Great Britain had a long-standing alliance. It’s not just a fond association between two organisations that you see today, but between two nations and cultures,” said Mohammed Ali Baig, who collaborated with BFI to bring the unique show of a silent film with live ensemble orchestra to Hyderabad as part of the Qadir Ali Baig Theatre Festival.
Nicola Gallani, International Manager for BFI said, “Less than one per cent of the films made in that era have survived. So it’s a remarkable feat that the original negative of Shiraz arrived in the UK and the talented team at BFI was able to restore it. It was a true labour of love — it took longer to restore the film than it did to make it. And, it looks better today than it ever did... so what you have here is a rare treat.”
Rare it is because remarkably, this was perhaps the first ever screening of the British-German-Indian production in the country in decades. What was even more remarkable was the fact that the film was brought to life by the very talented Anoushka Shankar and her ensemble who performed the background score live, even as the film played out. What makes her a real star is the fact that she ensured this wasn’t an Anoushka show. No. So long as the film was running, it was a Shiraz show out and out. So immersive was her music, that you simply got involved in Shiraz’s story of love and loss, forgetting totally that you had the pleasure of listening to an eight-member ensemble adding the third dimension to the 2D film that you were so engrossed in. And so, with her very first film score, Anoushka proves she has a winner in hand already.
The film opens with the scene of a caravan travelling through a desert. The most precious thing it carries is a baby princess. But an ambush en route leaves all the soldiers and her mother dead, and the little princess is left orphaned. A potter heading home to his desert village finds the crying babe in the ravage and decides to take her home. Back in the village, his wife is getting her young son Shiraz’ fortune told. “The desert will bring love, great sorrow and immortal fame for this boy...” says the seer, writing in the sand. And in comes the potter from the desert, bearing the little girl in his arms.
This humble potter’s family doesn’t know she is a princess, but they name her Selima and bring her up with all the love they have. As Shiraz grows up, his love for his playmate grows too. But to his great sorrow, the beautiful Selima is kidnapped by slave raiders who sell her off at the slave market of Al Kalab. She’s purchased for a 1000 ‘dinans’ and taken to the palace of Khurram, the crown prince of India, who later goes on become the great emperor Shah Jahan.
Selima’s virtue, grace and beauty enchants the prince, who wishes to win her love. But she’s a free-born, she says her heart cannot be won by force. The much-in-love prince bids his time, and eventually, the two grow close. When the prince leaves for Delhi, he seals his love for Selima with a kiss. An onscreen liplock in a 1920 Indian film, ironically, made the 2017 Indian audience gasp in surprise. But there were more surprises to come.
A heartbroken Shiraz moved to Agra to be closer to the palace where his Selima is ‘imprisoned’. In a bid to save her, he risks his own life, and enters the palace falling into a trap laid by Lady Dalia, who wants to eliminate Selima and become the empress herself. A long string of events takes Shiraz to door of death and back, and in an anti-climatic scene that ensues, Selima — by now in love with the prince — declares that she loved Shiraz only like she would a brother!
A silent film it may have been, but it engaged the audience enough to elicit some loud reactions. “No way! Did she just bro-zone him?” “Poor Shiraz... But girls are smart. Even back in 16th century!” “Nothing’s changed since 1920s” — were some of the muffled whispers from the audience who felt deeply for the humble hero of the film, played aptly by Himansu Rai, one of the pioneers of Indian cinema.
Devastated, Shiraz wishes his childhood love well and hands over to her a talisman that she wore since she was a child. Closer inspection of that talisman confirms that Selina is indeed royalty — grand niece of Noor Jahan — thereby making her eligible to wed Prince Khurram and become Mumtaz Mahal, the empress of India.
Shiraz’ love isn’t lost. Though blind now, he devotes the rest of his life to his love, staying close to the palace and watching her, albeit from a distance. When she dies, Shah Jhahan calls for all the craftsmen in India to come up with designs for a monument that would match Mumtaz’ beauty and virtue. None make the cut. Blind Shiraz pours his love and memories out into a marble structure that he fashions with his own hands, and thus the first model of Taj Mahal is born. The film ends with Shah Jahan and Shiraz looking at the monument built in memory of the woman they both loved. As the screen fades out and the lights turn on, you notice the musicians who worked the real magic of the evening once again. Anoushka (on sitar) and her ensemble — Ravichandran on bansuri and kanjira, Idris Rahman on clarinet, Preetha Narayanan on violin, Danny Keane on chello and piano, Pirashanna Thevarajah on mridangam, ghatam; Sanju Sahai on tabla and Christopher Kemsley on harmonium, moog and modular synthesiser — received a standing ovation from the spellbound audience.
How Shiraz came to life again?
The restoration of Shiraz is based on the only surviving British version of the film as the German and Indian versions appear to be lost. The original nitrate negatives were duplicated in the 1950s and it is the safety film master that formed the principal source for the 4k scan, with some sequences supplied by the negative to cover specific areas of damage. It was not possible to base the restoration wholly on the original negative as this has deterioration of its own. This underlines the wisdom of keeping original elements for as long as possible, even when preservation duplicates have been made, since these will also degrade in time. The scans went through
an extensive grading and clean-up process before the digital elements were produced for screening.