Satyajit Ray’s ‘Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne’ Making to be Chronicled in Srijit Mukherji’s ‘Maharaja Tomare Selam’
Indian filmmaker Srijit Mukherji will direct “Maharaja Tomare Selam”, a film about the making of Satyajit Ray’s 1969 classic “Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne”. The project will explore Ray’s creative decisions and pressures in politically charged Kolkata, adding to recent Bengali films examining the director’s legacy.
Jeetu Kamal, Ritwik Bhowmik, Rudranil Ghosh, Satakshi Nandy, Sairity Banerjee and Arijit Dutta will star, with filming due to begin in January 2027. The original film told of two banished musicians granted magical powers to prevent war, while also addressing class, art and politics; it later became a trilogy completed in 1992.
In short
- Srijit Mukherji is making a film about Ray’s 1969 classic.
- “Maharaja Tomare Selam” begins filming in January 2027.
- The project explores a landmark of Indian cinema.
Explained simply
Satyajit Ray was a Bengali filmmaker whose work helped bring Indian cinema to international audiences. His 1969 film Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne follows two musicians who are cast out of their villages and gain magical powers, which they use to try to prevent a war.
The film mixes fantasy and music with themes including class, artistic freedom and political power. It became the first part of a series of three films, completed in 1992, and remains one of Ray’s best-known works.
Srijit Mukherji is a contemporary Bengali filmmaker whose new project centres on the making of Ray’s film. Its focus on the creative choices and pressures behind a landmark work connects it to wider interest in Ray’s influence on Bengali cinema.