Few characters perhaps stir as much feeling in the young and old alike as Feluda, the detective personality created by Satyajit Ray, does even today. Feluda is firmly ensconced in the Bengali psyche.
Feluda, who came to life through a story in a children’s magazine Sandesh in 1965, >turns 50 this year . Much has changed in his city of birth, but his appeal has endured the passage of time, catching the fancy of readers beyond the boundaries of States so much so that a young woman travelled from Pune to visit the action-sites here.
This and several other such nuggets of information come to light through a documentary that is now under way. Titled ‘Feluda: The Sleuth’s Story,’ it probes, documents and revisits the books and films woven around him. Above all it seeks to celebrate the character whose films can still fill theatres. Director Sagnik Chatterjee, who assisted Ray’s son Sandip in directing the Feluda movies, launched the project two years ago. “To me Feluda is a superhero who has no vulnerabilities. It was my tribute to Ray,” said Chatterjee.
Endearing qualities
Many felt that Feluda or Pradosh Chandra Mitter was born out of Ray’s interests in crime-thrillers inspired by Arthur Conan Doyle; that the character was fashioned after Ray himself. Ray infused into the character of Feluda and his ‘assistant’ Topshe (Feluda’s cousin) qualities that were as endearing as they were educative. For 27-year-old Feluda is an early riser — a martial arts-trained fitness buff who carries a firearm but rarely uses it. He also promotes family values.
However, while Ray’s novels (translated into four Indian and five foreign languages) were well-read, it was the films which left lasting imprints.
To historian and social-scientist Gautam Bhadra, any assessment of Feluda as the quintessential Bengali man would be incomplete without taking in the entire ambience created through the series by the maestro. “You have to take in the character of Sidhu Jyatha and Jatayu. Siddheshwar Basu (Sidhu Jyatha to Feluda) is the modern-day Internet search engine in whose archival memory the sleuth dips in whenever he wants to cross check some information or a long-past incident. He has entered the Bengali lexicon as an embodiment of knowledge on just about everything. Jatayu is the pen name of Lalmohan Ganguly, a crime-thriller writer crafted by Ray as a comic sidekick. He writes incredulous thrillers and is portrayed as a simple, well-loved character who sends the readers into peals of laughter with his ‘serious’ comments.”
Dr. Bhadra also points out that Feluda relies mostly on his intelligence to crack a case. Importantly, the stories are shorn of any major violence and gory scenes. “The idea seemed to be to promote values, without preaching.”
Ray made only two Feluda films — Sonar Kella (The Golden Fortress) and Joy Baba Felunath (The Elephant God). Soumitra Chatterjee’s portrayal of Feluda in Sonar Kella is a story that unfolds around the sandstone fort in Rajasthan’s Jaisalmer and is among the auteur’s most endearing films.
Reminiscing about his experience during the film’s shoot, Mr. Chatterjee said in the documentary, “Shooting for this movie with Ray was like a picnic. A more joyous picture I have not seen.”
Sandip Ray who was his father’s still-photographer during the making of the movie turned nostalgic as the documentary maker revisited Sonar Kella . Speaking about this trip, Lolita, Sandip’s wife and costume designer, recalled how the film transported her husband and the Sonar Kella actors back in time. “For much of the shoot, they tried locating the nooks and the crannies that were there when my father-in-law made the movie; so much has changed” she told The Hindu .
Sagnik also went to Varanasi where Ray shot Joy Baba Felunath . But, Ray brought his Feluda series of movies to an abrupt halt following the sudden off screen death of Santosh Mohan Dutta, who played Jatayu in a manner that Ray felt no one else could.
“No” was Ray’s cryptic reply to actors imploring him to take up another Feluda venture. “Santosh is no more… I will not make another [Feluda[ movie, he told me,” says Sabyasachi Chakraborty, Sandip Ray’s Feluda, in the documentary. “Despite the success of the Feluda movies no producer was forthcoming… we then tried doing the series for a television audience,” he says.
Across three generations Subsequently, Sandip made a few Feluda movies. The detective’s appeal has sustained through nearly three generations of actors, the last one being enacted recently by a young Abir Chatterjee.
The magic of the Feluda name is such that not only do three generations of actors face the camera, but three generations of the Ray family — Satyajit Ray, Sandip and now grandson Souryadip — were also brought together behind the camera. Souryadip is the still photographer for this documentary.
Interestingly, unlike other Ray movies, the Feluda series did not engage the minds of film-theoreticians in the manner in which Ray masterpieces made between 1955 and 1970 did. “Perhaps the Feluda series was not considered challenging”film-historian Mainak Biswas said.
Mr. Chatterjee is keen to enrich his documentary with comments from film stars such as Amitabh Bachchan, Martin Scorsese and Clint Eastwood. “I am keen on interviewing them,” he said.
The Ray family and Richard Peters, the producer, and the director expect to get a national release for this film in multiplexes. “For that we need support from everyone, and friends are coming forward from across the world,” said Sagnik.
indrani.dutta@thehindu.co.in
(The main photo caption has been changed for a factual error)
