Shiraz: A Romance of India

The story is set in the seventeenth century, under the Mughal Empire. There is a potter’s son. There is a girl he grew up beside. The girl in fact comes from the court. Nobody knows that. Slave traders take her away. They sell her into the household of a Mughal prince. The potter’s son follows her. His road leads to the imperial court at Agra. Reaching her means putting his life at risk. The story imagines how the Taj Mahal came to be. The film was made in the silent era. The cast is entirely Indian. It is one of three films Himansu Rai and Franz Osten made together. The BFI restored it from the original elements in 2017. Anoushka Shankar composed the score. Enakshi Rama Rau and Charu Roy also appear in the hundred and six minute film, a German, Indian and British production Franz Osten finished in 1928.