Immerse yourself in an atmospheric Indian soundscape as sarod star Soumik Datta and City of London Sinfonia perform a double bill of music for Indian film.

Oscar-winning director Satyajit Ray’s cult film Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne, will be projected on a large screen with a reimagined live cinematic score (King of Ghosts) that features the haunting sounds of Soumik’s sarod (19 stringed fretless lute), Cormac Byrne’s Irish folk rhythms and City of London Sinfonia.

The film which follows the magical journey of two unlikely heroes, Goopy and Bagha who are granted three wishes by the benevolent yet terrifying King of Ghosts, will take you on a breathtaking and magical journey across rural India – a vintage superhero film at its best.

In the first half of this double bill, Around India with a Movie Camera presents some of the earliest surviving footage from India, as well as enchanting travelogues, intimate home movies and newsreels from British, French and Indian filmmakers, drawn exclusively from the BFI National Archive’s early film collection. Commissioned by BFI, Soumik Datta provides his original music as a live soundtrack with percussionist Cormac Byrne and Al McSween on piano.

Taking in maharajas and viceroys, fakirs and farmhands, as well as personalities such as Sabu and Gandhi, this film by award-winning filmmaker Sandhya Suri explores not only the people and places of over 70 years ago but asks us to engage with broader themes of a shared history, shifting perspectives in the lead up to Indian independence and the ghosts of the past.

King of Ghosts
Composed by: Soumik Datta
Co-Composed by: Johannes Berauer, Cormac Byrne
Conducted by: Bill Barclay
Performed by: Soumik Datta, Cormac Byrne, City of London Sinfonia
Produced by: Shakespeare’s Globe, Soumik Datta Arts, City of London Sinfonia

Around India with a Movie Camera
Composed by: Soumik Datta
Performed by: Soumik Datta, Al McSween, Cormac Byrne
Commissioned by: BFI
Directed by: Sandhya Suri
Score produced by: Soumik Datta Arts