Pradosh Chandra Mitra aka Feluda, the most iconic sleuth character in Bengali literature created by Maestro Satyajit Ray, comes back to our lives this festive season, not on the silver screen though but on the mobile screen. Srijit Mukherjee, the National Award-winning director, recreates the iconic character with much devotion and determination. Is it worth it considering the immense emotion and nostalgia attached to the character once immortalized by the thespian actor Soumitra Chattopadhyay?
Srijit has a fascination for thrillers as we see most of his accomplished works i.e, Baishe Srabon, Chatushkone, and Vinci Da have awe-inducing thriller elements. He has used several references of Feluda in his movies such as Baishe Srabon and Jatishwar. A lot of people have opined for Srijit to recreate the iconic character given his extraordinary cameraworks and dialogue writing skills.
Finally, that happens and he did not disappoint. The Social Media is divided between the applause and criticism of his rendition. Some avid Feluda Followers have a problem with the recreation of the iconic character citing the aura of the maestro Ray will be missing. The others are welcoming the recreation and applauding the work.
Let me come to my sense of judgement. I do not resent the recreation at all, if done well I would applaud it. The one thing that hooked me long back when it was announced was its treatment of the two stories in different timeframes. Chinnomonstar Ovishap in retro and Joto kando Kathmandute in modern day.
Feluda is a very dynamic, cosmopolitan person with the flamboyance of a boy-next-door. As we delve into the omnibus, we get to know about his fascination for modern electronic gadgets. Now if we look into the post-Ray Feluda movies directed by Sandip Ray, we surely miss that part. Can you imagine the ace sleuth not using a mere smartphone these days?
Srijit breaks that jinx by making the season one in retro. The camera works duly gives the retro vibes. The cinematography is very scenic and visually enchanting given the fact that Feluda stories are no less than travelogues. The beauty of Hazaribagh and North Bengal has been captivating.
The background music by Joy Sarkar is not as pathetic as expected from the trailer. The bgm does give the feel-good positive vibes but they are in abundance, silence has no role to play throughout the series. The constant usage of repetitive bgm becomes jarring sometimes and reminds you of the absence of foley sound. Who uses a bgm in the picnic sequence when you can let Nature do the talking? The famous Feluda denouement also gets no respite from the bgm.
Now comes the best part – casting. I find the casting choices very refreshing and apt. Tota Roychudhury does justice to the iconic character with a rugged touch. Tota, being a fitness freak, looks the part easily. He looks like he came out of the pages of the novel. The retro blazer with white strips suits him well, so is the kurta with a shawl. What he misses are the bangaliyana and the flamboyance. Feluda does not hesitate to steal the sweet from the platter of Topshe, neither he hesitates to lick his pinky finger while answering a phone call. The foodie and fun-loving Feluda never gets to come out from the shadow of an overtly serious and macho version played by Tota.
Srijit needs a commendable job with Topshe. Unlike a thirty-plus Topshe like Saheb Bhattacharya or a raunchy, over the top one by Riddhi Sen, Kalpan brings in the freshness of the character. Topshe, a well-mannered boy from a middle-class Bengali family, is not only Feluda’s deputy, accomplice but also the narrator of his accomplishments. The character arc of Topshe is very limited here. Topshe seems to be mouthing the dialogues for the sake of it. The chemistry between Feluda and Topshe is hardly visible.
Anirban Chakraborty of Eken Babu fame brings a fresh version of Jatayu. He never does the fallacy of mimicking the great Santosh Dutta. The chemistry between Feluda and Jatayu is a bit one-dimensional here. Jatayu often looks up to Feluda for some insights. Feluda reveres Jatayu as his elder even touches his feet for blessings but never insults him in front of a bunch of people. Tota’s Feluda does so deliberately twice – before the Circus Manager when Jatayu reacted to the news of the escape of the tiger and in the denouement act when Jatayu regretted not giving attention to details while reading the autobiography of Colonel Suresh Biswas.
Rishi Kaushik shines in his minimalist role as Mr. Karandikar, the guardian keeper of Sultan, the tiger(CGI is praiseworthy considering the budget). Dhritiman Chatterjee is a treasure for a filmmaker. His sturdy voice and seamless acting compliment the multidimensional character of Mahesh Chaudhury. Late Arun Guhathakurata as the protective best friend of Mahesh is brilliant in his posthumous work.
Chinnomostar Ovishap is touted to be the most intelligent Feluda story. Srijit deserves kudos for showing courage to adapt this story into a screenplay. Srijit adapts the story into the reel with barely any changes in the screenplay. The screen adaptation is supposedly a vivid version of the book with necessary changes to it. Satyajit Ray himself has changed his own stories for their on-screen adaptations. Srijit tried that before with his Kakababu movies and received severe backlash. So he goes the lenient way of the page by page adaptation. Social Media judgments should not cloud creativity. As Season 2 is set in the present days, we hope to see some vision of the director in it.
I must say any work of art should not be judged by its trailer. The trailer launch event itself makes for a case study about how not to do an event launch. The launch event was sabotaged by an unprofessional and wannabe-intellectual anchor who went ranting about random things. Can you imagine a legend like Saurav Ganguly raising his hand to get a chance to speak? Feluda is pure emotion for the Bengalees, not a brand to be associated with such unprofessionalism and stupidity. The viewers were in utmost disgust leaving a pretty bad impression for the series. In the end, the hard work pays off for Srijit and people are applauding him.
P.S: The young generation of kids are more engaged in mobile games and social media than reading books. The legacy of iconic characters i.e, Feluda, Tenida, Byomkesh Bakshi, Tarini khuro, etc. can only be revived through cinematic adaptations or they will die with the flow of time. So as a lover of Bengali literature we must support such initiatives.
