Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne

Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne
DVD Cover for Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne
Directed by	Satyajit Ray
Produced by	Purnima Pictures (Nepal Dutta, Asim Dutta)
Written by	Satyajit Ray, adapted from 'Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne' by Upendrakishore Roychowdhury
Starring	Tapen Chatterjee, Rabi Ghosh, Santosh Dutta, Harindranath Chattopadhyay, Jahor Roy, Santi Chatterjee, Chinmoy Roy
Cinematography	Soumendu Roy
Edited by	Dulal Dutta
Release date	8 May 1969
Running time	120 minutes
Country	India
Language	Bengali
Budget	Rs. 600,000 ($80,000)

Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne (Bengali: গুপী গাইন বাঘা বাইন Gupi Gain Bagha Bain) is a 1969 Indian Bengali fantasy adventure comedy film directed by Satyajit Ray and based on a story by his grandfather Upendra Kishore Roychowdhury. The film is the first film of the Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne series, followed by a couple of sequels - Hirak Rajar Deshe was released in 1980 and Goopy Bagha Phire Elo, written by Ray, but directed by his son Sandip Ray was released in 1992.

The film was based on the characters Goopy Gyne and Bagha Byne, who made their first appearance in the Sandesh magazine in 1915, with illustrations by Ray's grandfather Upendrakishore Ray Chowdhury. In 1961, after revival of Sandesh, Ray began contemplating the idea of making a film based on that story, and he was partly compelled by his son Sandeep to make a film which was less 'grim and adult'. This was matched by Ray's own desire to make a movie, which unlike his previous movies, would cater to children. Plus this would also give him an opportunity to lace the story with music and dancing, a point his movies' producers and distributors were always insisting upon. Ray managed to convince producers to finance the movie, even though it was clear from the beginning that the film would cost a lot of money.

The movie released to great critical and commercial reception, which held the record for longest continuous run of a Bengali-language movie in Bengal, as it ran for 51 straight weeks. It won the Best Feature Film and Best Direction awards at the 16th National Film Awards, and went on to win many other international awards as well. Critical reception was highly positive. Raja Sen called it to be the most innovative movie to have ever come out of India.Phil Hall said that the movie comes as a delightful surprise – Ray, it appears, not only possessed a great sense of humor but also enjoyed a stunning talent for musical cinema.