Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne (1968)

User Rating:

8.3/10   

Director:

Satyajit Ray

Writers:

Satyajit Ray (screenplay)
Upendra Kishore Raychowdhuri (story)

Genre:

Family | Fantasy

Plot:

Goopy wants to sing and Bagha would love to play the Dhol(drum). They meet accidentally and is helped by King of Ghosts...

Plot Keywords:

Kids And Family | Character Name In Title

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Tapan Chatterjee	...	Goopy
Robi Ghosh	...	Bagha
Santosh Dutta	...	King of Shundi and King of Halla
Harindranath Chattopadhyay	...	The Magician
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Ajoy Banerjee	...	Visitor to Halla
Ratan Banerjee	...	Court singer at Shundi
Durgadas Bannerjee	...	King of Amloki
Binoy Bose	...	Village elder / visitor to Halla
Govinda Chakravarti	...	Goopy's father
Abani Chatterjee	...	Village elder
Kartik Chatterjee	...	Court singer at Shundi / visitor to Halla
Santi Chatterjee	...	Commander of Halla army
Gopal Dey	...	Executioner
Shailen Ganguli	...	Visitor to Halla
Tarun Mitra	...	Court singer at Shundi
Haridhan Mukherjee	...	Village elder
Prasad Mukherjee	...	King of ghosts / village elder
Khagen Pathak	...	Village elder
Jahar Ray	...	Prime Minister of Halla
Chinmoy Roy	...	Spy of Halla
Joykrishna Sanyal	...	Court singer at Shundi
Mani Srimani	...	Visitor to Halla

Also Known As:

The Adventures of Goopy and Bagha

Runtime:

132 min

Country:

India

Language:

Bengali

Color:

Black and White | Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Filming Locations:

Jaisalmer, Rajasthan, India

Company:

Purnima Pictures

Movie Connections:

Followed by Goopy Bagha Phire Elo (1991)

Not just a children's film

Still not available on DVD? This film (and it's sequel) are unique for Satyajit Ray, who (except for some tongue-in-cheek detective films)spent his cinematic career portraying the conflicts and contradictions of modern Indian society in films that are both realistic and poetic (like the films of his mentor, Jean Renoir). Many of them feature characters trying to make the transition from traditional, village-based life to modern urban life (e.g. the Apu trilogy, Mahanaghar), or trying to preserve traditions in a world that no longer has a place for them (e.g. Jalsaghar). This is one of the main themes of African literature and cinema as well.

Many of Ray's films also show women trapped by tradition (Devi, Charulata) or using their education and ingenuity to escape from it (Mahanagar). But in the fairy tale world of Goopy and Bagha, both talent and opportunity are given them by divine intervention, because their desire to make music attracts the deity's attention. And when one of them is betrothed to a princess (leaving the other empty-handed) a local king obligingly asks if they need another princess. Contrast this with the plight of Apu in the real India, looking for a job after graduating from college. A prospective employer shows him a large room full of people who spend all day, every day, sorting old buttons into trays.

As other reviewers have mentioned, Ray's fantasy is beautifully photographed, and full of realistic psychological detail (as well as sly humor) which draw us effortlessly into the story. How long will it be before this, and Ray's other films, are available on DVD?