Shiraz: A Romance of India

A potter's son grows up beside a foundling and loves her; she is sold into Prince Khurram's household and becomes Mumtaz Mahal; and when she dies and the emperor calls for a monument, Shiraz, blind now, has spent years carving the model in secret. The film ends at the Taj Mahal, with the story of how it was made told as a story about who is allowed to make things. Shot in India with Indian players and no sets, the second of Himansu Rai's three silents with the German director Franz Osten. The BFI's 2017 restoration is the version to see. British Instructional Films and Ufa, 1928.