Always had a wish to work with Satyajit Ray: Gulzar

Mumbai: Poet, filmmaker, and lyricist Gulzar says that he always wanted to work with the late iconic filmmaker Satyajit Ray. With his association on “Goopi Gawaiya Bagha Bajaiya”, he feels his wish has been fulfilled in some way.
Gulzar is happy that for the upcoming animation film “Goopi Gawaiya Bagha Bajaiya”, he has translated the original “Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne”, written by Ray’s grandfather.
On his desire of working on children’s literature and entertainment, Gulzar told IANS: “I always had the wish to work with Ray Saab. After the success of ‘Goopi Gyne Bagha Byne’ in Bengali, which Ray made based on a book written by his grandfather Upendrakishore Ray Chowdhury, we were supposed to make it in Hindi.
“Though I started writing the script in Hindi, after a point, he dropped the idea. I was pretty upset because I so wanted to work with him.
“Then I went to him when he decided to make ‘Shatranj Ke Khilari’ because there is so much to learn from him. But then, he said in his baritone voice, ‘Sorry, I have committed to another one, you know!’ I realized that I lost my chance… However, I kept my dream alive because I felt the need to carry forward a classic story like ‘Goopy…’ to the new generations of children.” That is why the author translated the Bengali story into English in a book titled “Magical Wishes: The Adventures Of Goopy And Bagha” in 2012. It was published by Scholastic.