Feluda

Feluda ( _bn. ফেলুদা) is a fictional character starring in a series of novels and short stories written by the famous Indian film director and writer Satyajit Ray. He is a private detective living at Rajani Sen Road, Ballygunj, Kolkata. Feluda first made his appearance in a Bengali children’s magazine called “Sandesh” in 1965.

Feluda was always accompanied by his cousin Topshe and in later stories by a popular thriller writer Lalmohan Ganguli.

Feluda's real name is "Pradosh Chandra Mitter" (although Feluda prefers to spell his name as 'Pradosh C. Mitter'), His nickname is "Felu", the suffix “da” being short for “dada” or “elder brother” in the Bengali language.

Other Characters

Tapesh Ranjan Mitter, Felu's cousin, who is fondly referred to as Topshe, is based on Sherlock Holmes' John Watson. He is the quintessential accomplice and faithfully records each adventure accurately. Though Feluda often teases his young cousin, he is extremely fond of Tapesh and is very protective of him. Feluda lives with Topshe's family at 27, Rajani Sen Road, Kolkata-700019. Although there really is a Rajani Sen Road in Kolkata, the house numbering only goes up to 26.

Lalmohan Ganguli, or Lalmohan Babu, is a close friend of Felu and is described as the author of a series of Bengali crime thrillers written under the pseudonym Jatayu. His novels are described in the stories as unbelievable, considering that his main character is always the six-and-a-half foot tall superhero Prakhar Rudra. Though all his novels seem to have become bestsellers, he often tends to make extremely silly mistakes such as spelling igloos as "ilgoos". (In "Baksho Rahasya" or "A Mysterious Case") he confuses hippos with walruses - a tendency that Feluda often tries to correct. He sometimes serves as a perfect foil to the group and in Ray's own words provides "dollops of humour", although he sometimes does some brave acts not expected of him. He owns a green ambassador car, the chauffeur is a man called Haripada, who provided enormous service to Feluda in a few stories, especially in "Gorosthaney Sabdhan" where he saved the life of the trio. In the first two films on Feluda, which were directed by Ray himself, the character was played by Santosh Dutta, and after the first one, Ray modified the character to some extent, making him look and behave quite like Santosh Dutta. Jatayu lives at Gar Par in Kolkata, Ray's own childhood neighborhood.

Sidhu Jyatha is an aged character who has described himself to be like Sherlock Holmes's brother Mycroft, living in Sardar Sankar Road, Lake Market, Calcutta. He is a bibliophile and has an extensive base of general knowledge,current and historical affairs. He is a close friend of Feluda's father, being neighbours in their ancestral village. Feluda's jyatha(uncle) is said to have a photographic memory and is a vast source of information and comes in handy when Feluda is in need of some. His vast knowledge comes from his collection of varied kinds of newspaper clippings which he has accumulated over the years.

Srinath is the domestic cook of Feluda and Topshe.

Maganlal Meghraj is a villainous character that appears in several of Feluda's stories, including "Joy Baba Felunath", "Jato Kando Kathmandute" and "Golapi Mukta Rahasyao". He has been compared to Professor Moriarty. Utpal Dutt immortalized this character in one Feluda movie Joi Baba Felunath, which Satyajit Ray directed.

Fiction

Satyajit Ray wrote thirty-five Feluda stories, most of which were extremely popular among Bengali children as well as adults.

Some of the stories were published in hard-cover editions, while some stories were published as a collection with other new stories. Some stories also appeared in the short story collections of Ray, which characteristically used to contain 12 short stories, including a few featuring Feluda.

Every year a new Feluda adventure appeared in the special Autumn edition or Durgapuja edition of the Bengali periodical - Desh, and also in Sandesh.

Lately, a series of Feluda collections have also been published, containing several stories in a single title. Most recently Feluda titles have been accumulated under Feluda Shamagra.

Following is a list of hard cover edition books with some details:

Feluda's books have also been translated into English and have been published by Penguin Books.

Feluda Stories

In addition to the above, Ray also wrote some shorter stories on Feluda which have been included in many of his short story collections. These include:
*Feludar Goendagiri (Danger in Darjeeling)
*"'Bhusarga Bhayankar
*Bombaier Bombete (The Bandits of Bombay)
*"'Londone Feluda
*"'Nepolioner Chithi
*Kailash Choudharyr Pathar (Kailash Chowdhury's Jewel)
*Ghurghutiyar Ghatana (The Locked Chest)
*Golapi Mukta Rahasya
*Samaddarer Chabi (The Key)
*Sheyal Debota Rahasya (The Anubis Mystery)
*Ambar Sen Antardhyan Rahasya (The Disappearance of Ambar Sen)
*Jahangirer Swarnamudra (The Gold Coins of Jehangir)
*Golokdham Rahasya (Mystery at Golok Lodge)
*Bosepukure Khunkharapi (The Acharya Murder Case)
*Shakuntalar Kanthahar (Shakuntala's Necklace)
*Indrajal Rahasya (The Magical Mystery)
*Dr Munshir Diary (Dr Munshi's Diary}
*Apsara Theatre-er MamlaApart from these a number of unfinished Feluda stories have also been published in various collection of stories of Satyajit Ray.

Feluda in other media

Films

Satyajit Ray directed Sonar Kella and Joi Baba Felunath into movies in Bengali, starring actor Soumitra Chatterjee as Feluda, Santosh Dutta as Jatayu and Siddhartha Chatterjee as Topshe.

In recent years, Sandip Ray has directed two Feluda-films—"Bombaiyer Bombete" (released December 2003) and "Kailashey Kelenkari" (released in December 2007)— which stars a new set of actors, Sabyasachi Chakraborty as Feluda, Paramabrata as Topshe and Bibhu Bhattacharya as Jatayu. Another film, "Tintoretor Jishu" is scheduled to release in December 2008. Another Installation will be Done in 2009 ' Gorosthane Shabdhan'.

Telefilms

In addition to the Feature Films, many of the Feluda stories have been filmed by Sandip Ray as Telefilms under the names/packages:

*Satyajit Ray Presents (In Hindi)
*Dr Munshir Diary (Dr Munshi's Diary)
*Feluda 30 (Commemorating 30 years of Feluda)

In the Hindi telefilms, Feluda was played by Shashi Kapoor and Jatayu by Mohan Agashe. Feluda was played by Soumitra Chatterjee in a few of the Bengali telefilms made in the 1990s while Sabyasachi Chakraborty played that role in most of the telefilms made later. Jatayu was played sometimes by Rabi Ghosh, sometimes by Anup Kumar and finally by Bibhu Bhattacharya after the death of Santosh Dutta.

Radio

In January, 2007, the BBC World Service announced that it would produce at least two 'episodes' of the popular detective stories. Bollywood star Rahul Bose speaks the leading role, with Anupam Kher voicing Lalmohan. The first episode, "The Golden Fortres", aired on February 10, 2007 with the second episode, "The Mystery of the Elephant God" following on August 11, 2007.

Comics

Some of the Feluda stories have been made into comic strips by different artists and authors. These have been published by Ananda Publishers.English versions of comics have appeared in The Telegraph

Feluda in Pujabarshiki

Nearly every Feluda story was published annually in the Pujabarshiki Desh (the edition of Desh commemorating the Durgapuja published every year). Thereafter the stories were published as hard-back editions by Ananda Publishers. Some of the stories were published originally in Sandesh, a children's magazine co-edited by Satyajit Ray.

Feluda in Bengali mindset and Socio-ethical Perspective

Feluda's adventures offer an interesting commentary on socio-ethical change, and the deep psychological and sociological transformation due to the student unrest and political upheavals in eastern India during the later half of the 20th century. Through Feluda, its creator Satyajit Ray captured the diverse cross-segments of the Indian (and more specifically Kolkata) society, in a dispassionate manner, while remaining firmly rooted in middle class intellectual idealism and thereby subconsciously maintaining a discreet distance from the social substratum of the malefactor.

Aami aar Feluda- A book by Sandip Ray

Sandip Ray, the son of Satyajit Roy has come up with his account of the time he has had with Feluda in the book named "Aami aar Feluda", published by Deep Prakashan. First published in the magazine "Sukhi Grihokon" as a short series, "Aami aar Feluda" retains the flavour of "Ekei Bole Shooting", written by Satyajit Ray. Sandip's book deals with the background stories of all Feluda Movies and Telefilms. "Aami aar Feluda" is ghost-written by author Sebabrata Banerjee. Sebabrata has tried to follow the smart and fluent style of writing introduced by Satyajit Ray which has made the new Feluda number a good reading experience. A collectors' Item for Hardcore Feluda fans.

ee also

*Kolkata culture
*Satyajit Ray

External links

* [http://feludanet.tripod.com Feluda fan site]
* [http://www.parabaas.com/satyajit/articles/bibliography.html Bibliography of Satyajit Ray]
* [http://www.parabaas.com/translation/database/reviews/brSatyajitRay.html Divergent Rays: Review by Susan Chacko of Two Books by Satyajit Ray, including "The Adventures of Feluda"]
* [http://www.satyajitray.com/content/books/fictions2.htm A list of Feluda books]