Throw of the Dice

A Throw of Dice (Prapancha Pash) is a 1929 silent film by German-born director, Franz Osten, based on an episode from the Indian epic The Mahabharata. Franz Osten made 19 films in India between 1926 and 1939, and the film formed the final part of a trilogy of Indo-German productions, between Franz Osten and Indian actor-producer Himanshu Rai, the other films being Prem Sanyas (1925) and Shiraz (1928). After a gap, Osten returned to India, and worked with Bombay Talkies formed by Rai. Soon, during the production of Kangan (The Bangle) in 1939, Osten, a member of the Nazi Party, was arrested by British colonial officials and held through to the end of the World War II. The film has been in the British Film Institute (BFI)’s archives since 1945, though rarely seen. In 2006, the film was digitally restored, in honour of the 60th anniversary of Indian independence, and re-released at the Luminato Festival, Toronto, Canada, on 13 June 2008, with a new orchestral score by British Indian composer, Nitin Sawhne. The United States release occurred on 30 July 2008 during Grant Park Music Festival at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Chicago, Illinois.[ PLOT SUMMARY: Two rival 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.