Before making his first Hindi- film, Shatraj Ke Khiladi, noted Indian filmmaker Satyajit Ray visited the India Office Library (currently part of the British Library) in 1976 to see the original 19th century Murshidabad and Lucknow paintings. From this visit,he took the idea of ​​the set and costume of his film Shtraj Ke Khiladi.Satyajit Ray adapted his film Shatranj Ke Khiladi from a short story by noted Hindi writer Munshi Premchand (1880–1936). The story is based on two Awadhi nobles accustomed to chess players, who were completely oblivious to the political situation in the year (1856), when the East India Company took over the administration of the province of Awadh by abdicating the provincial Nawab of Oudh.