This unique film was produced entirely in India
without aid of studio sets, artificial lights, artificial properties or make
ups…
This proclaims one of the introductory title cards for
The Light of Asia/ Prem Sanyas (Love or Asceticism) the first of the
famous three collaborations between German director Franz Osten and the Indian
lead actor and producer Himansu Rai, the others being Shiraz (1928) and A
Throw of Dice (1929). Based on Sir Edwin Arnold’s book, The Light of
Asia (1879), which tells the story of how Prince Siddhartha Gautama became
the Buddha or the "Enlightened one" and founded Buddhism; it’s
Buddhist in tone as well as content, a very vegetarian film and one in which
kindness is its own reward. Osten and Rai’s next two films would feature
Islamic and then Hindu storylines, reflecting the Sub-Continent’s cultural
breadth and something which would be sadly more controversial today. The
adaptation is from Niranjan Pal and features “specially selected titles from
Sir Edwin Arnold’s masterpiece…” which add to the lyrical quality of this
spectacular yet peaceful journey – Namaste as my mate Alan the Buddhist
would say.
Rai’s face is now so familiar to me that I almost feel I
know him along with the other star of all three films, Seeta Devi. The
Anglo-Indian actor, born Renée Smith, matures a lot between this film, when she
was only thirteen, and the other two and, whilst it’s only make believe, as
with Loretta Young for example, only just 15 when Laugh, Clown, Laugh
(1928) was released, it’s rather disconcerting. The producers knew as much when
she was described as sixteen in the publicity for a film that did well in
Europe and elsewhere.
That said, the love on display is rather chaste and
spiritual, at the end of the day, this is a beautifully made epic featuring an
all-Indian/Anglo-Indian cast of thousands, plus elephants, camels and a
world-class crew mostly from Germany, is still a joy to watch. Shot entirely on
location against a backdrop of some of the most glorious architecture,
including that owned by the Maharajah of Jaipur who funded the film, as well as
ordinary streets the Prem Sanyas is as much a travelogue as it is a
fantasy.
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| Seeta Devi and Himansu Rai |
The film starts with an elephant roar and scenes of
contemporary Delhi (shooting was mostly in Lahore, in what is now Pakistan)
following some of the Europeans attracted to the “romantic” country to see the
land of many wonders and many contrasts. These are the crowded streets my
Grandfather Bill experienced as a teenage conscript in 1918, an experience that
was to change his view of empire and British society, and it’s striking to
think of the lad from Widnes walking these pathways.
Then there is the Jumma-Musjid, then the largest place of
worship in the Islamic or indeed any, world towering over the teeming
worshipers as a tram passes advertising Dunlop Tyres… wonders and contrasts
indeed! Next we see Benares, one of the oldest cities in the world and regarded
by the “Hindoo” as the Holy of Holies. Onto the Temple of Buddha-Gaya, 16, not
17 centuries old and the Bodhi Tree – the Tree of Knowledge – under which
Buddha sheltered for 40 days and nights to find a cure for human sorrows.
A group of tourists asks a holy man about Buddha and we
cut back to two and a half thousand years – the Iron Age in Britain but an age
of palaces and princes in India when there was a consolidation of smaller
chiefdoms into larger states accompanied by increased urbanization and the rise
of new religious movements including Jainism and Buddhism. Against the backdrop
of medieval and more recent architecture used in the film, you marvel not only
at how India has changed but how enduring aspects of its culture and style have
remained whilst “we” still lived in huts and villages.
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| Temple of Buddha-Gaya, dating from 5th/6th Century |
Any road up, in one such palace their lived a King Suddhodhana
(Sarada Ukil) and his queen (Rani Bala) who were sorely in need of a male heir
and were even so desperate as to use the traditional method of getting a sacred
elephant to choose a worthy lad from the streets but, in this case the animal,
having found someone sensed no need as months later a son was born to the queen
who promptly died.
The young man grew up to be Gautama (Rai) a noble
and a pure-hearted, noble prince he was too, stopping the royal hunt when he
saw the carnage and rebuking his cousin and rival, Devadatta (Profulla Roy) for
wanting to continue the bloodshed. Soon after the King has a dream which his
mystics interpret as meaning his son will renounce the throne in order to
pursue a holy path or service and reciprocal altruism. You can’t fight fate but
the King tries by keeping his son free of the outside world and the suffering
to be found there.
The King has also tried to get his son interested in the
opposite sex but it is only when they visit a noble neighbour, King Dandapani,
that Gautama experiences love at first sight with Gopa (Seeta Devi). To truly
win the young princesses hand and heart he has to defeat all comers in a
contest involving three challenges: picking a feather from the ground on a
racing horseback, shooting an arrow at a drum blind-folded and them pushing his
opponent – that Evil Cousin again – off his horse using a lance but without
injuring him. This is all filmed in a large arena with all the finery and
thousands of locals as extras, the Maharajah of Jaipur honouring his forebears.
Having won fair maiden we now get the marriage between
the two observed in detail with traditional finery and a magnificent wedding
march they seem set for cosseted contentment… Gradually Gautama gets restless
and insists on a visit through the streets of the city and, whilst the King
forbids the present of the old and the sick – on pain of death – he can’t hide
them all and, for the first time, the young prince glimpses reality. Seeking
answers, he resolves to leave the royal compound and, giving away his clothes
to a humble beggar sets of in search of enlightenment in the world of men.
This is the night, choose thou the way of greatness or
the way of good…
Himansu Rai provides a highly accomplished lead especially
for a man who had initially wanted to become a barrister in London and he and
the Indian Players, followed by Bombay Talkies were to advance Indian cinema learning
from their shared experience with western crew and production companies.
Interestingly according to Veronika Fuechtner, in The
Many Faces of Weimar Cinema (2013)* whilst Devi continued in silent film,
she did not speak Hindi being English educated and so wasn’t able to continue
in talkies. Fuechtner also points out that the Anglo-Indian community were less
prejudiced against acting as a profession even as they were viewed as rather
upper class. It’s not unusual to see men playing women in Indian cinema of the
silent period but not so with Osten and Rai.
Accompaniment for the live screening was provided by Cellophon
featuring Paul Rittel and Tobias Stutz (Cello duo) but for this online stream
it was Willy Schwartz and Riccardo Castagnola who combined a mix of traditional
Indian instruments all played and composed by Schwarz, with Castagnola’s more
contemporary electronica adding to the magical mix.
The streaming also used a different material with a rare
35mm print of the German version from the collection of the Friedrich Wilhelm
Murnau Foundation was screened whilst for those of us lazy souls online we got
the restored English version, digitised by DFF in 2013, which looked great but…
analogue dreams.
*Available from Amazon and other tax-paying booksellers.
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