The Tiger of Eschnapur

The Tiger of Eschnapur, or in original German, Der Tiger von Eschnapur, is a 1959 West German-French-Italian adventure film directed by Fritz Lang. It is the first of two films comprising what has come to be known as Fritz Lang's Indian Epic; the other is The Indian Tomb (Das Indische Grabmal). Fritz Lang returned to Germany to direct these films, which together tell the story of a German architect, the Indian maharaja for whom he is supposed to build schools and hospitals, and the Eurasian dancer who comes between them. Plot Architect Harold Berger travels to India, hired by Maharajah Chandra to build schools and hospitals. While traveling to see the Maharajah, Berger meets Seetha, a temple dancer who has also been invited to the palace. En route, he saves her life when her caravan is attacked by a man-eating tiger. The two quickly begin to fall in love. During one of their conversations, Seetha plays a song she remembers her father singing. Berger recognizes it as an old Irish song. Because of this memory and the features of her face, he deduces her father might be European. Seetha barely remembers her father, as he left her when she was very little, but suspects this to be true. Regardless of this, she still feels like an Indian woman at heart. While examining the palace's foundations for reparations, Berger discovers a series of desolate underground tunnels. There, he sees the cells where people sick with leprosy are kept in inhumane conditions. This discovery makes him rethink Chandra's apparent kindness. Berger also finds a secret tunnel that leads to the temple where Seetha is dancing for a religious ceremony. Seetha's dance inadvertently causes the Maharajah to become infatuated with her. As his wife died years before, Chandra now plans to marry Seetha. He treats the dancer with kindness, hoping to gain her affection. However, Seetha only has eyes for the architect. While not being forced to be the Chandra's wife, Seetha believes that it is not wise to refuse the ruler's desires. Her sense of duty to him is exacerbated when he saves her from being sexually assaulted by a group rebelling against the Maharajah. This leads to tension between Chandra and Berger. Meanwhile, scheming courtiers, including the Maharaja's older brother, believe that Chandra's potential marriage to the dancer could become a pretext for toppling his reign.