Film: Goopi Gawaiyaa Bagha Bajaiyaa
Cast: Rajiv Raj, Manish Bhavan, Shahnawaz Pradhan, Shailendra Pande, Vishal Kumar
Director: Shilpa Ranade
Rating: * * ½
This attempt to convert a Karadi folk tale into animation cinema is visually quite impressive but the story telling craft, aimed at young children below the age of 10, is not very exciting.
The story is about two musician brothers – one, Goopi (Rajeev Raj) a fabulous singer and the other, Bagha (Manish Bhawan) an exponent of the Dhol, who after getting expelled from their village, attain four boons from a magical ghost, and then travel at will to Shundi and Hundi, two rival kingdoms ruled by twin brothers. The two brothers hope to impress the kings with their musical talents and win over their daughters – but for this they must first help de-escalate the war like situation between the two kingdoms.
The animation style, earthy colour scheme, storyboard and character forms are wonderful. But there’s not much of a tempo or vigour to go with it. The drama feels lethargic. The issues that the ‘at war’ story tackles, has resonance in the contemporary but the writing and direction fails to make it more meaningful or resounding.
The timing of this tale may be perfect, given the similarities between warring neighbours carved out of the same hinterland – Hundi and Shundi and India and Pakistan, but the affect is minimal. The semi-classical music is quite accomplished. The dialogues though are not crisp enough and the distinct lack of sharpness in the telling delivers an alienating blow to the experience.