HIMANSHU RAI’s incredible silent film Shiraz has been brought back to life and is coming to a theatre near you. Anoushka Shankar, Alan Gemmell and Robin Baker shared their experience of being a part of its revival. By Kritika Dua
A brother-sister bond...lovers who are destined to meet and separate... and indulge in most passionate love in between. Shiraz, the classic silent era film on Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal’s love story, has been remastered by the British Film Institute and made contemporary with a background score by Anoushka Shankar.
A truly global initiative, the film is being supported and promoted by the British Council in India. A historical romance set in the Mughal Empire. Selima is a princess-foundling raised by a potter and loved by her brother, Shiraz. She is abducted and sold as a slave to Prince Khurram, later emperor Shah Jahan, who falls for her, much to the chagrin of the wily Dalia. Shiraz is condemned to be trampled to death by an elephant for attempting to lure royal attention through Selima. But a pendant reveals Selima’s royal status and she saves her brother, marries the prince and becomes Empress Mumtaz Mahal while Dalia is banned for her machinations. When Selima dies (1629), the emperor builds her a monument according to the design of the now old and blind Shiraz.
What makes the film more special is that it was directed by a German filmmaker, Franz Osten, and produced by one of the pioneers of Indian cinema, Himanshu Rai. The Indo-British-German production is a beautiful example of three cultures coming together.
The British Council and the British Film Institute (BFI) have restored Shiraz over a course of 18 months. Says Robin Baker, BFI Head Curator, “People expect a silent film to be old fashioned and creaky. Sure it’s different from modern films but the emotions are as sophisticated and refined. Although, it’s a love story at heart, it’s not a straightforward one. It’s not about a woman who falls in love instantly or yields to a man of power but about how Shah Jahan had to earn Mumtaz Mahal’s love. It’s modern in the way it has shown kissing scenes. Our cinematic treatment was so mature in 1928.”
The film, which has already been screened in london will come to our city on November 4, at Siri Fort Auditorium. It will be travelling to Hyderabad, Kolkata and Mumbai.
Shankar has tried to retain the authentic flavour of the movie through her music. Having grown up watching her father Pandit Ravi Shankar create musical masterpieces, even for films, she doesn’t deny the influence. “I have observed my father making music of all kinds throughout my life. I took part in lot of his creative projects over the last 20 years of his life. However, I wasn’t alive and around when he had created scores for films. So, I never saw him scoring films, but the films exist. I have grown up watching them, many of which are iconic pieces of work with iconic soundtracks. Yes, my father’s work influenced me but not directly. His teaching is the biggest influence of my life.”
Talking about her musical takeaway from the film which she tried to convey through her music, Shankar says, “My first response to the film was simply being quite amazed by its scope and scale. I had never seen anything at that level of filmmaking that was made in India at that time. The fact that it was a co-production between these different cultures was moving. I practise that in my own music today and I feel that it’s important to do so.”
The film was made 90 years ago and has a human element to it which has a universal appeal. “It’s people falling in love, trying to be happy, trying to find their way in life and has a simplicity to the continuation of elements of life. I find that really moving personally.”
The restoration of the movie comes at a time where The Taj Mahal’s history is being discussed and revised today. Shankar expresses her opinions on whether the divisionism and politicisation of the Taj impacted the work on the film. “It’s a coincidence that we are here with this film at this time period but it wasn’t our intention to be here with it as part of that. But, I am glad to be here and to celebrate the Taj Mahal – the most recognisable monument and a beautiful piece of work as is the film. Hopefully, the music I have made tries to celebrate culture and beauty.” It’s crucial that the music she makes reaches across borders and touches people’s hearts. Her previous album revolves around crossing borders trying to foster dialogues between cultures and people who seem different from each other but “one can always find a commonality through human elements – emotions, empathy, dialogues. I believe in it and stand for this. The same I have tried to do through this film.”
She believes that there is a massive love, understanding and appreciation for Indian classical music. “I do 50-60 concerts a year around the world and there is massive audience for our classical music.” The music she has done for the film is multi-cultural, moving out of the Indian soundscape into western genres.
Alan Gemmell OBE, Director, British Council India, talks about the idea behind the film’s revival: “Shiraz is an incredible treasure that we are bringing to life by collaborating with BFI and Anoushka Shankar. The audience today deserves to see the wonderfully done remastering of one of the best Indian films with celebrated kisses of the early 20th century. It’s a great privilege through British Council to be a part of it. I am hopeful that the new audience will be captivated by Shankar’s music.” He says that the response they received at the london screening was phenomenal.
On the choice of this particular film, he says, “It says a lot about the the history and our (UK and India) relationship. It speaks volumes of the cultural collaboration. The technical, cultural and the filmmaking collaboration is as relevant today as during that time. Not many young people know of or have seen the film.”
Says Baker, “These gala performances of Shiraz are the culmination of the thousands of hours it has taken the BFI National Archive to restore and transform a silent film classic, ensuring that it is safely preserved for future generations. Very few Indian silent films survive, which makes Shiraz all the more important and precious. It seems particularly fitting that in this UK-India Year of Culture 2017 we celebrate with a film that brought together talent from India and the UK 90 years ago – while the new score brings the film right up to date thanks to the genius of Anoushka Shankar.”
Baker explains that any restoration is a combination of analog skills and digital techniques. Talking about the restoration process, he says, “The first hindrance was getting the best copies of the film. Somehow we managed a decent one with a few damages. We tried to understand the damages and then rectify them. This was followed by scanning, which is a lengthy process – making it sharp frame by frame. The alignment of different frames was not in sync– it jumped up and down. We worked on it to make it look rigid. We worked on every little part of it to restore it successfully. My friends call me a restoration artist.” The problems they came across were focus and flickering but the most time-consuming was the damage to the material overtime a result of scratches, bad handling. He thanks Shankar for shaping the emotions of the film. “Her music is like a fusion of cultures coming together which comes from a strong Indian heart.”