Thursday, 04.07.2024, 8 pm
Bhaskar Sarkar (Santa Barbara)
Between enchantment and critique: GOOPY GYNE BAGHA BYNE (1969) and modernity’s folk cultures
Ray’s 1969 musical, which turned out to be one of his biggest box office hits, was based on a short story that his grandfather wrote for Sandesh, the magazine that he had launched in 1913 for the development of quality children’s literature in Bengali. In bringing this enchanting tale of two talentless musicians to screen, Ray recast it as a musical, consciously playing up the original’s characteristic folk idioms to conjure a distinctively Bengali milieu that, nevertheless, remained open and receptive to the wider world.
Bhaskar Sarkar is Professor, Film and Media Studies at the University of California Santa Barbara.
Film: GOOPY GYNE BAGHA BYNE (GOOPY SINGS AND BAGHA PLAYS), India 1969, 114 min.