1929
Directed by Franz Osten
I associate early Indian movies with Satyajit Ray, who was determined to make his characters and viewers as miserable as possible. Luckily Franz Osten has a different goal, and for a movie that is nearly a century old, it wasn't so bad.
The beautiful Sunita attracts the attentions of two rival kings, Ranjit and Sohan. She prefers Ranjit, but who cares what she thinks? The kings play a craps game to decide who gets her.
This movie is certainly impressive in its scope, even if the story and characters were a bit silly. I was also impressed by the pacing, which was abetted by a short runtime.
I am sure silent Indian films from 1929 are probably not on top of anybody's quarantine binge list, but it is still worth a watch. But if you are rolling your eyes at me, know that I am consuming plenty of movie/television garbage as well. Love is Blind, anyone?
RATING: ***--
Interesting Facts:
Includes the first kiss in an Indian movie.
Includes 10,000 extras and 1,000 horses.
The question of course is how Indian it actually is. Frantz Osten was a German director who brought a lot of German sensibilities into the movie and I think he just liked a big, Indian spectacle.
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