Hirak Rajar Deshe

Hirak Rajar Deshe (In the kingdom of diamonds)
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Satyajit Ray
Produced by	Government of West Bengal
Written by	Satyajit Ray
Screenplay by	Satyajit Ray
Story by	Satyajit Ray
Starring	Tapen Chatterjee, Rabi Ghosh, Utpal Dutt, Soumitra Chatterjee, Santosh Dutta, Promod Ganguli, Ajoy Banerjee, Kartik Chatterjee, Haridhan Mukherjee
Music by	Satyajit Ray
Cinematography	Soumendu Roy
Edited by	Dulal Dutta
Release dates	19 December 1980 (1980-12-19)
Running time	118 mins
Country	India
Language	Bengali

Hirak Rajar Deshe (Bengali: হীরক রাজার দেশে Hirok Rajar Deshe, lit. "in the land of the Diamond King". English title: Kingdom of Diamonds, 1980)^[1][2] is the sequel to 1969 film Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne and the second installment of Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne series directed by Satyajit Ray. A unique aspect of the film is that most of the dialogues exchanged by the protagonists of the film are rhyming. The only person who did not speak in rhyme, was the teacher, symbolizing that though the thoughts of everybody else is bound, the teacher was a free-thinker. The film was followed by the third film of the series directed by Satyajit Ray's son, Sandip Ray.

Plot

The magically musical duo of Goopy Gyne and Bagha Byne make a comeback in this sequel, where they are invited to the court of the Hirak Raja (The Diamond King), for their musical skills. They are to perform at the kingdom's Jubilee Celebrations.

Goopy and Bagha are bored with their lives as crown princes of Shundi and Halla. They are looking for a change, which comes in the form of a chance to visit Hirak Rajya (Land of Diamonds), known for its huge diamond mines. They jocundly set out for Hirak Rajya. But little do they know of the machinations of Hirok Raja (Utpal Dutt). The king is a tyrant. Diamonds and riches get pent up in his treasuries, while his subjects starve and suffer. Those who protest are taken care of in the 'Jantarmantar', a chamber for brainwashing devised by the scientist (Santosh Dutta), who the king mocks calling as "Gobeshok Gobochondro Gyanotirtho Gyanorotno Gyanambudhi Gyanochuramoni." His ministers are mere puppets. The only enemy the king has in his land is Udayan Pandit (Soumitra Chatterjee). He is a school teacher and, more than that, he is a believer of values. The king forcefully closes his school down. Udayan flees to hide in the mountains.

Meanwhile, Goopy and Bagha are on their way to Hirok Rajya. By coincidence, they meet Udayan, who intimates them of the king's true nature. The two impress Udayan with their magical powers, who plans to use them against the tyrant. Goopy and Bagha agree. The duo then head into Hirok Rajya, where they are welcomed with grandeur. They entertain the rogue king,fooling him into believing that they think he is great. They rob the treasury (which was guarded by a tiger) using their magical music, for bribing the guards.

The king has his tricks, too. He captures Udayan and all his students, and takes them to the Jantarmantar for brainwashing. But Goopy Bagha have already reached there using their magical powers. They have also bribed the Gobeshok onto their side, with the guards. On reaching the laboratory, the king and his ministers are stunned magically by Goopy's singing and then pushed into the Brainwashing machine. After the king is brainwashed he turns to the good side,he then along with the villagers pull down his own statue situated at the center of the village,and everything goes back to normal in the land of hirak raja.

Crew

• Producer: Government of India
• Director: Satyajit Ray
• Editor Dulal Datta
• Art Direction : Ashoke Bose
• Sound : Robin Sen Gupta, Durgadas Mitra^[3]

Cast

Awards

Songs

All the songs were composed and penned by Satyajit Ray. He prominently used Anup Ghoshal as a voice of Goopy. So most of the songs were sung by Anup Ghoshal except one ("Kotoi Rongo Dekhi Duniay") sung by Amar Pal.

The soundtrack won 3 National Film Awards in three categories. Satyajit Ray won 2 awards, one for the Best Music Direction and other for Best Lyrics Award for the song "Aha Ki Anondo Akashe Batashe". Anup Ghoshal won the Best Male Playback Singer Award for the song "Paaye Podi Baghmama".

Background scorer

Sequels

Goopy Bagha Phire Elo

Sandip Ray, son of director Satyajit Ray directed another sequel named Goopy Bagha Phire Elo. The film released twelve years after release of Hirak Rajar Deshe.

Future

Sandip Ray want to make another sequel to this series. He had received many request to make the fourth Goopy - Bagha movie. Ray said to The Times of India about the plot of fourth film: "Making a Goopy Bagha movie without Tapen and Rabi is unthinkable. The only way I can do a fourth is by taking the story forward and introducing Goopy and Bagha's sons," he said. The idea to weave a story around the next generation came from a line from the introductory song 'Mora dujonai rajar jamai in 'Hirak Rajar Deshe' — "aar ache polapan, ek khan ek khan... (we have one child each)".^[4]

See also

• Joychandi Pahar

References

External links

• Hirak Rajar Deshe at the Internet Movie Database
• Satyajit Ray Film and Study Collection, UCSC
• satyajitray.org on this film