Prem Sanyas (1925) | Directed by Franz Osten - Full Movie

This adaptation of Arnold's 1861 Orientalist epic opens with documentary shots of tourists in Bombay watching street performers. Then a white-bearded old man sitting under the bodhi tree tells the tourists the story of Gautama (Rai), son of King Suddodhana (Ukil) and Queen Maya (Bala), who left his consort Gopa (Seeta) and became a wandering teacher credited with founding Buddhism. The religious epic, with its idealized figures, takes up the narrative in flashback and ends with Gopa kneeling before Gautama asking to become his disciple.

Prem Sanyas (The Light of Asia) (Die Leuchte Asiens in German) is a 1925 silent film, directed by Franz Osten and Himansu Rai. It was adapted from the book, The Light of Asia (1879) in verse, by Edwin Arnold, based on the life of Prince Siddhartha Gautama, who founded Buddhism by becoming the Buddha or the "Enlightened one".

Directed by: Franz Osten, Himansu Rai
Written by: Edwin Arnold (story), Niranjan Pal (screenplay)
Produced by: Great Eastern Film Corporation, Münchner Lichtspielkunst AG
Starring: Seeta Devi, Himansu Rai, Sarada Ukil
Cinematography: Willi Kiermeier and Josef Wirsching.
Music by: Hansheinrich Dransmann
Distributed by: Münchner Lichtspielkunst AG, Great Eastern Film Corporation
Release date: 22 October 1925 (Germany), 5 July 2001 (restored version)
Running time: 97 min
Countries: Weimar Republic, India