Wazir - Bollywood thriller with chess
1/20/2016 – It is always interesting to see a film not simply include a chess board or scene, but use it as a key element. An Indian film was just released, classified by IMDB as “Crime/Thriller” in which a ‘grief-stricken cop and amputee grandmaster are brought together by a peculiar twist of fate as part of a wider conspiracy that has darkened their lives.’ Trailer and review.
Wazir - Official Trailer
Official poster of the film
The Guardian published a review on the film, highlighting typical Bollywood weaknesses, but also its strengths, concluding that it is 'compelling viewing' and 'fun to watch'
Around the turn of the millennium, the venerable Indian writer-director-producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra was set to make his Hollywood debut with Chess – nothing to do with the musical, but a self-penned thriller about a traumatised cop that circled the studios with names such as Dustin Hoffman attached. The vagaries of 21st-century production meant Chopra had to wait until last year’s Broken Horses to take his American bow, but traces of Chess have apparently persisted into Wazir. Delegated to emerging director Bejoy Nambiar, this plan B arrives bearing the Big B: Amitabh Bachchan, who collaborated with Chopra on 2007’s fine Eklavya, assumes the chewy character part Hoffman would surely have been eyeing.
Rookish grandmaster … Amitabh Bachchan in Wazir
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And there’s another colourful part for the increasingly prominent Neil Nitin Mukesh (Prem Ratan Dhan Payo) as a cackling sociopath who willingly introduces himself as The Queen. (Any American version would have had to do a lot of explaining around him.)
Discussion and Feedback
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From what I've read of the history of chess, the piece that later became the Queen originated in pre-modern times as minister. Btw, the naming of the piece that is the bishop (Christian religious figure) is obviously a later Westernization.
Actually calling it "minister" or "Wazir" is apt since the piece does everything to protect its own king and attack the opponent's. I doubt the actual queen will do so much for the king in real battles.
Wazir (Arabic: وزير) is an official title, meaning minister in several West and South Asian languages. Its equivalent in English is vizier not Queen. And actually in arabic, persian, kurdish, ... we don't have a chess piece called Queen, We Call It Wazir (وزير).
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