According to the Bengali calendar, 8 May 1969, was the 25th day of Baishakh. It was the 108th birthday of Tagore. However, it is recognised as the day that Satyajit Ray’s iconic fantasy film, Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne, which was based on the story by his grandfather Upendrakishore Roy Chowdhury, was released.

It’s “one of India’s most original films,” according to director Raja Sen, where “Ray conjured up two musician heroes and a world of ghosts.” In the story, two young, aspiring musicians named Goopy and Bagha were exiled from their respective villages – Amloki and Hortoki – because their music tortured their neighbours. Subsequently, the king of ghosts, was pleased by their off-key singing and drumming in the forest and gave the singer-drummer duo Goopy and Bagha three boons: enchanted shoes that let them travel anywhere by clapping their hands together, the power to summon food and clothing at will, and – most remarkably – the capacity to captivate and spellbind an audience. Both Goopy and Bagha eventually rose to prominence as court musicians in the Shundi kingdom, and each of them married a princess. Everybody had a happy ending. Everyone, eh?

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The film explores universal themes of brotherhood, compassion, love, and selflessness in addition to its blend of fantasy, comedy, and adventure. It also persuasively argues for peace in a humane world. For fifty years and more, Ray’s Goopy Gyen Bagha Byen has induced Bengalis, and it will undoubtedly continue to mesmerise for many more years. The film’s depiction of class differences and anti-war sentiment, among many other socio-political themes, are timeless. Let’s talk about one such significant social viewpoint and how it has changed over the past hundred years. In the narrative of Goopy Gyen and Bagha Byen, Goopy’s father, Kanu Kyen, was a grocer in Amloki, his village. It was........

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