Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne (The Adventures of Goopy and Bagha) Series: First Light : Satyajit Ray from the Apu Trilogy to the Calcutta Trilogy [2009] Director: Satyajit Ray, Country: India, Release: 1968, Runtime: 132
The Adventures of Goopy and Bagha, far and away Ray’s greatest box office success in India, is hardly known abroad. Goopy, a farmer’s son, inadvertently wakes the king with his awful singing and is quickly banished. On the road, he meets Bagha, a drummer banished from another kingdom for his awful drumming. Together they meet the King of Ghosts, who grants them three wishes, beginning with musical talent through a pair of magic slippers.
Goopy, based on a story by Ray’s grandfather, is a sheer delight, with wonderful and appropriately corny special effects. The six-minute ghost dance using shadow puppets is one of the most remarkable sequences in all of Ray’s work.
This film was preserved by the Satyajit Ray Preservation Project at the Academy Film Archive. Print courtesy of the Academy Film Archive.
