 He started working in filmmaking in 1949, and his first job was as assistant director to Krešimir Golik on the making of Golik's 1950 feature film "Blue 9" ("Plavi 9").Babaja's directorial debut was the 1955 documentary short "Jedan dan u Rijeci".He went on to film several short films before directing is first feature film "The King's New Clothes" ("Carevo novo ruho") in 1961, a screen adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen's short tale.