Summary: The third Osten-Rai collaboration (
Prem Sanyas, 1925;
Shiraz, 1928, the latter also subtitled 'A Romance of India') no longer used existing kings addicted to gambling, Ranjit (Roy) and the evil Sohan (Rai), also vie for the same woman, Sunita (Seeta Devi), Kanwa the hermit's (Gupta) daughter. Ranjit loses his kingdom and his love and becomes Sohan's slave through a crooked game of dice. The conflict is eventually resolved when the trickery is exposed and Sohan plunges to his death fro ma cliff after the people, led by Ranjit, revolt. The happy ending is sealed by a passionate kiss between the lovers. The lavish production with art direction by Promode Nath uses over 10,000 extras, a thousand horses and fifty elephants, benefiting from the largesse of the Royal houses of Jaipur, Udaipur and Mysore. Unusually, star and producer Rai played the villain. The German release was longer at 8277 ft. The print at the NFAI is 6694 ft.
Suresh Chabria writes: ‘Borrowing from the basic premise of the pivotal gambling episode in the Mahabharata, Prapancha Pasha is about two neighbouring kings addicted to gambling. King Sohat’s plot to kill King Ranjit with a poisoned arrow is foiled when a hermit restores him to health. Ranjit falls in love with the hermit’s daughter Sunita, but Sohat has him framed for the murder of her father. Ranjit is able to establish his innocence when the real murderer confesses his guilt on his deathbed. Before Ranjit’s marriage to Sunita, Sohat challenges him to a game of dice. Ranjit loses everything but the secret of the trick dice used by Sohat is accidentally revealed and his army liberates their king. In the final shot Ranjit and Sunita embrace and kiss on a mountaintop against a splendid sunset.
As captivating as any orientalist fantasy made in Germany, Prapancha Pasha was the most lavish of the three Himansu Rai-Franz Osten co-productions. Again several Maharajas freely gave their palaces, gardens and armies for this extravaganza. Incidentally, V. Dharamsey has suggested that the Seeta Devi roles in the three films are played by two diðerent actresses—the sisters Reneé and Percy Smith. Be that as it may, the actress who appears in each of the films is worthy of being ranked among the most bewitching female stars of that period.
Later Satyajit Ray was to recall the film with the following remarks: ‘How wonderful to be able to see today, fifty years after it was made, a print of A Throw of Dice that looks as if it was shot yesterday on the finest grained panchromatic stock! That the story is a cross between A Thousand and One Nights and The Mahabharata is beside the point. What is important is that the people involved in its making, Indian and Germans, realised the need for preservation, which makes it possible for us to see it now in its historical perspective.’. From Suresh Chabria ed. Light of Asia: Indian Silent Cinema 1912-1934, New Delhi: Niyogi Books/Pune: National Film Archive of India, 2013, pg 63-64
