| Shiraz | |
| Director: | Franz Osten |
| Producer: | Himansu Rai |
| Starring: | Himansu Rai Enakshi Rama Rau Charu Roy Seeta Devi |
| Cinematography: | Emil Schünemann Henry Harris |
| Distributor: | British Instructional Films UFA Himansu Rai Film |
| Runtime: | 118 minutes |
| Country: | India United Kingdom Germany |
Shiraz (Shiraz: A Romance of India) (Das Grabmal einer großen Liebe in German) is a 1928 silent film, directed by Franz Osten and starring Himansu Rai and Enakshi Rama Rau. It was adapted from a stage play of the same name by Niranjan Pal, and based on the story of the commissioning of the Taj Mahal – the great monument of a Mughul prince for his dead queen. Due to the public's apathy towards silent films, a sound version was also produced in 1929. While the sound version has no audible dialog, it features a synchronized musical score with sound effects along with a theme song.[1]
Shiraz (Rai) is a potter's son, who is brought up as brother to Selima (Rau), a girl of unknown but royal lineage who was rescued from an ambush in childhood. Shiraz falls in love with Selima as a young adult and when she is kidnapped by slavers and sold to Prince Khurram, Shiraz follows her to Agra, where he will risk a horrible death to protect her and one day design her great memorial.[2]
The sound version of the film featured a theme song entitled “The Song of Shiraz (An Oriental Reverie)” by Eric Valentine (words) and Harry Collman (music).[3]
The film was shot in Jaipur.[2] It was an Indian/British/German co-production, and the second of three silent films made on location in India by star and producer Himansu Rai. The others are Prem Sanyas (The Light of Asia, 1926) and A Throw of Dice (Prapanch Pash, 1929).[4]
Shiraz was restored from original film elements by the BFI National Archive in 2017, and had its premiere as a gala screening at the 2017 London Film Festival, accompanied by a new score composed and performed by Anoushka Shankar. The Guardians film critic Peter Bradshaw praised the film as " a startlingly ambitious epic weepie-romance".[5] The restored version subsequently played in a number of venues in India in late 2017.[6] [7] The film was shown as part of the BFI London Film Festival's lineup at in 2020.[8]