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A Throw of Dice (Prapancha Pash, a lavish romantic adventure from the late silent era of Indian cinema, had been virtually unseen since it was released in 1929. Its restoration by the BFI in 2006 is a revelation, a rediscovery of a visually lush and dramatically energetic drama with a multinational pedigree: produced by Indian actor and entrepreneur Himansu Rai, directed by German veteran Franz Osten, shot on location in India with a European and Indian crew and a mix of German, English and Indian financing.
Adapted from a story from the Hindu epic The Mahabarata, the drama of rival kings and the beautiful woman they both pursue stars Eurasian actress Seeta Devi as the sheltered daughter of the Hermit (Sarada Gupta), a former teacher at the royal court who has fled the corrupt social world to live isolated in the jungle. The world of royal intrigue and corruption, however, comes to the Hermit when the hunting party of two kings marches into his village, complete with a parade of elephants and armies of servants and soldiers. Hospitable but wary, he tries to protect Sunita from these "Men from the world," but they bring their corruption with them. King Sohan (producer Himansu Rai) tries to murder his cousin, the kindly and trusting King Ranjit (Charu Roy), and the Hermit falls victim to the plots and schemes when he nurses Ranjit back to health after the failed assassination attempt. Ranjit is a romantic and a naif, oblivious to Sohan's ambitions and schemes (Sunita and her father both suspect Sohan, but oddly never confess their suspicions to Ranjit), and he falls in love with Sunita. But he is also gambler, addicted to games of chance, and Ranjit preys upon Sohan's weakness for the dice to get both his kingdom and his woman.
Himansu Rai was born into wealth and raised with an appreciation for the arts – his Bengali family had its own private theater in their manor. He studied law at the University of Calcutta and went to London to continue his studies in the early 1920s, where he became involved in the British theater scene and met by exiled Indian playwright Niranjan Pal. Soon his ambitions shifted to cinema, specifically to produce films back home in India, based on Indian themes and stories but for an international audience. Munich-born Franz Osten had begun as an actor and an exhibitor before directing his first feature in 1911, and by the 1920s was specializing in films with rural stories and location shooting for a studio run by his brother, Peter Ostermeyer. The two met when Rai went to Germany with the scenario for his first feature, the story of the life of Buddha, looking for a director with both a visual sophistication and experience in shooting in remote locations, which his production would demand. Osten saw great potential in the scenario, written by Niranjan Pal, and his brother agreed to provide the production crew and technical support for what he saw as a piece of "Oriental" exotica, which was all the rage in European cinemas.
Their debut collaboration, The Light of Asia, was not very successful in India but was a hit in Germany and Britain, as was their second film, Shiraz (1928), which was co-financed by the German studio UFA and the British Instructional Films. Rai starred in both productions, but for their third silent film, he cast himself as the villain. Charu Roy, who played the handsome King Ranjit, was a respected Bengali painter and later became a director in his own right. Seeta Devi, who starred in both of Rai's previous films, was of European and Indian ancestry, one of many Eurasian actresses making films in the socially conservative culture of Indian cinema.
Osten is a dynamic director with an eye for spectacular imagery and romantic visions and a gift for visual storytelling and energetic pacing. The story never feels rushed even as the film seems to drive forward at a breathless pace. The dramatic scenes are marvelously mounted against striking backdrops and lavish palace settings. According to film historian Bruce Bennett, Ria's family name and connections helped them secure those magnificent locations (those palaces!) and the resources it took to mount the film's spectacular set pieces. The film reportedly used a thousand horses, fifty elephants and 10,000 extras. Along with these theatrically lavish scenes is dramatic footage of jungle wildlife. In the opening scenes, a veritable zoo of exotic jungle denizens flee the thundering procession of the hunting party (except for the tigers, who lazily amble off as if they could barely be bothered by the intruding humans), all with a documentary camera that is startlingly closes to the creatures.
A Throw of Dice was their final silent film. It was released just as the talkies arrived, which instantly made foreign productions less exportable, and as the global depression made international financing much tighter. But they continued to collaborate. Rai founded his own production company, Bombay Talkies, which focused on the domestic Indian film market, and Osten returned to India to direct more than a dozen Hindu language features for the company until he was interned by the British after the outbreak of World War II.
Kino's disc features the recent restoration undertaken by the BFI and a vivid and involving new score composed by Nitin Sawhney and performed by the London Symphony Orchestra. Sawhney combines Indian themes and vocal textures with a European symphonic sound to create a memorable, dramatic soundtrack that beautifully matches the screen drama. The image is crisp and clear and vivid, a marvelous restoration with minimal print damage. Kino's disc, however, appears to have been taken directly from the British PAL transfer rather than the original print and the frame conversion leaves the film looking a little jerky. It's undetectable in most scenes, but apparent in some long takes. The DVD features a 35-minute video interview with composer Nitin Sawhney, a gallery of production stills and an 8-page booklet with an essay on the film and filmmakers by Bruce Bennett.
For more information about A Throw of Dice, visit Kino International. To order A Throw of Dice, go to
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by Sean Axmaker
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