Comments on: Ghost Dance from Goopy-Bagha

By: BongoP'o'ndit

BongoP'o'ndit — Tue, 26 Sep 2006 12:35:58 +0000

@Beau Peep: Brain-washing and propaganda machineries are certainly not the exclusive preserves of ‘commies’ – leftists, rightists (take one look at Faux News), even liberatarians – are all guilty of it. Welcome to the world of ‘truthiness’

That said, Hirak Rajar Deshe was definitely a very political film – with some scatching attacks on the contemporary ruling class for their attempted subversion of democratic practices. And yes – the brining down of Lenin’s statues was apt too.

By: Beau Peep

Beau Peep — Tue, 26 Sep 2006 05:42:01 +0000

Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne is a true classic by the maestro. The sequel to the film is Hirok Rajar Deshey is even better. It hides how the commie despots brainwash their people and exploit them. Then comes the revolution that brings them down.

Amazingly, the story was ages before its time. We saw how Lenin’s statues were brought down years later in the breaking USSR.

By: Ghost Dance « Suhassinator…

Ghost Dance « Suhassinator… — Sun, 24 Sep 2006 00:53:57 +0000

[...] I am actually very impressed by the special effects, seems way ahead of its time! Incidentally, heres bongopundit’s explanation of the video. [...]

By: Ruchira Paul

Ruchira Paul — Sat, 23 Sep 2006 21:04:28 +0000

To be fair, the King of Halla was a harmless soul, made to do the bidding of the evil and greedy minister only under a magic spell.

And you don’t see a parallel of the greedy, power hungry minister in Dick Cheney and the assorted neo-cons ? That said, I would grant you that G.W.B. is not as harmless as the King of Halla. But he couldn’t have pulled off Iraq just by his lonesome self.

By: BongoP'o'ndit

BongoP'o'ndit — Sat, 23 Sep 2006 16:34:37 +0000

@Ruchira: That was exactly my thoughts too !

Those belligerent cries of “Juddho ! Juddho !” (Juddho=War) by the King and his Minister….made me smile at the contemporary relevance.

To be fair, the King of Halla was a harmless soul, made to do the bidding of the evil and greedy minister only under a magic spell.

By: Ruchira Paul

Ruchira Paul — Sat, 23 Sep 2006 02:32:47 +0000

What I would like is a clean copy of this film. I own a VHS version with poor sound and horrible visuals. Any suggestions?

I’ll also copy the comment I left at Amardeep’s here:

“There is a very amusing song in the movie which chants, “Halla Cholechhe Juddhe…. Ha, Ha, Ha, Halla Cholechhe Juddhe!” which translates as “Halla goes to war… Ha, Ha, Ha, Halla goes to war!” The king of Halla was a particularly bellicose soul and loved to go to war.

For many months after the illegal invasion of Iraq, my name for George W. Bush was “King of Halla” or rather, more accurately in Bengali – “Halla’r Raja.”
If only someone had sung the right melody in Bush’s ears instead of the lethal whispering that Cheney did!”