Goopi and Bagha in Lange Park

The trinidad+tobago film festival’s Community Cinergy Series—a free outdoor cinema experience, sponsored by bpTT—continues this Saturday (April 8) at Lange Park Recreational Grounds, Chaguanas, from 7 pm, with the family-friendly animated film The Wonderful World of Goopi and Bagha.

Filled with vibrant colour and music, Shilpa Ranade’s film is a magical adaptation of a cherished Bengali children’s classic, and a remake of renowned Indian director Satyajit Ray’s beloved work.

Acclaimed as one of the great masters of world cinema, Satyajit Ray’s 1969 film was his most commercially successful, and was itself an adaptation of his grandfather Upendra Kishore Roychowdury’s storybook Goopy Bagha.

With an anti-war message at its heart, Ranade’s latter-day animated version, in Hindi with English subtitles, premiered to great acclaim at the Toronto Film Festival in 2013 and was shown at ttff/14.

The film follows the misadventures of Goopi and Bagha, two musicians banished from their respective villages for their tone-deaf music making. Left to wander the forests, their noisy cacophony, attracts the attention of a fearsome Ghost King who, enthralled by their sound, grants them three boons (blessings), plus a fourth to be saved for the future. They wish for tasty food to appear whenever they’re hungry, magic shoes that will transport them wherever they want to go, and the ability to enchant anyone who listens to their music.

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