Did you meet Soumitra Chatterjee before you played Feluda in Baksha Rahasya?
Yes, I did. And he was extremely encouraging. He said he was delighted to hear I had been offered the role and that he had always felt I was the right person to play the character. When I asked him for advice, all he said was I needed to use my eyes well. He explained in great detail what he meant, and I must concede it was invaluable advice coming from a person of his calibre.
Tell me about Baksha Rahasya. How did it all turn out in the end?
There is little doubt I was nervous, and Baksha Rahasya was not my best performance as Feluda. If you see the sequence where Feluda tells Lalmohan-babu that the hotel is Clarks, the place is Shimla and the country is Bharatbarsha to pre-empt him from screaming out Swit-zer-land (which he does irrespective), you will feel Feluda is trying to lecture Jatayu. Again, in the car, on the way to Shimla, when Lalmohan-babu is speaking about how a boomerang is used, Feluda corrects him in a teacher-like manner. That’s not how it should be. Feluda never lectures Jatayu. Nor does he scold him. All he does is indulges Jatayu, who is no fool himself, because an unintelligent person cannot write twenty-eight thrillers, all bestsellers. I should have said these dialogues with a hint of a smile on my face. When I finally realized my error, it was too late to change. Babu-da had very little time at hand, and a retake wasn’t a possibility. I said to myself that I would be far more relaxed from the next project onwards, and make sure that Felu shares many lighter moments with Jatayu. I consciously tried to do this when shooting for Gosainpur Sargaram, and if you see the later films you will see Feluda smiling a lot more.
The one scene in Baksha Rahasya that we were all looking forward to doing was the one in Shimla in the snow. Babu-da had done a recce, and we caught up with him in Delhi when he was on his way back. The first thing he said to us was that the Shimla shoot would be gorgeous with all the snow around. Snow in Bengali films was a rarity, and it was expected to work very well with the audience. However, when we finally reached Shimla, we were stunned to see that there was no trace of snow anywhere. The locals told us that, with the sun out in full force, all the snow had disappeared. Babu-da was upset at the sudden turn of events, but said nothing. The next day we filmed at Wild Flower Hall and finished the scene where Feluda returns the suitcase to Mr Dhameeja. Even while filming, we were hoping it would snow that night, and we could shoot the climax the next morning. It did not, and all we did the next day was film the scenes inside the hotel. Because we were operating on a tight budget, I really don’t know what we would have done had it not snowed that night. Thankfully, the next morning, Shimla was all white. Babu-da was delighted, and we managed to shoot the film’s climax to our satisfaction.
Tell me a little about Jatayu. When Sandip Ray tried to launch you as Feluda, he was also looking to relaunch Jatayu, which, everyone agrees, is one of the most difficult things to do if you are a Bengali film-maker?
Oh yes. Santosh Dutta as Jatayu was just fantastic. Satyajit Ray changed the whole character of Jatayu for him. And, like I said, it was because Santosh Dutta was no more that Satyajit Ray refused to do another Feluda film. So there is little doubt Babu-da had a very difficult job at hand.
However, I do think Rabi Ghosh was very good as Jatayu. It cannot be that a character is set in stone and no one else can play it. That’s never happened anywhere else in the world and can’t happen here as well. For example, Jeremy Brett was brilliant as Sherlock Holmes. That doesn’t mean Benedict Cumberbatch can’t do it better. Again, David Suchet is outstanding as Poirot. But does that mean no one else will ever do Hercule Poirot, and that the franchise is dead? Jatayu is no clown, and I thought Rabi Ghosh played the character extremely well in Baksha Rahasya. It is a pity that he passed away after doing Gosainpur Sargaram. Had he done a few more Feluda films, he would surely have found acceptance as Jatayu. Rabi Ghosh portrayed Jatayu as an intelligent man, and I would think the success of Baksha Rahasya owes a lot to his acceptance as the new Lalmohan-babu.
You went on to do a whopping eleven Feluda films in your career. Which is your favourite and why?
If I look back, I am proud to have been associated with so many Feluda adventures. In my three-decade-long career as an actor, every character that I have played has come to me. I have never asked a director for a particular role, excepting Feluda. This is the one character I was desperate to play and I remain grateful to Sandip Ray for giving me the opportunity. In fact, I am fairly certain that Satyajit Ray must have said something to his son about me. I have never asked Babu-da about this, but it is my hunch that Babu-da must have discussed the issue with his father. It is thanks to him that I continue to be Feluda to a generation of Bengalis. Some people used to know me as Gora-da, but later I was only Feluda.
It is very hard for me to pick a personal favourite. Each story has its uniqueness and I have thoroughly enjoyed doing them all. Having said that, the one story which has given me the most satisfaction is Royal Bengal Rahasya. This is because a large part of Royal Bengal was shot in the jungle, and as you know, I am an absolute wildlife fanatic. Each time I take a break, I go to the nearby jungle or safari, and I just love being in a natural setting. Royal Bengal was shot in three sets of jungles and that’s the only reason why I would pick that movie over some of the others I have done.
What about Feluda’s villains? Feluda stands out because each of his villains are heroes in their own right. Would you agree?
Absolutely. None of them are conventional villains. They all have their own unique selling points, and that’s what makes them so entertaining. I would like to share something with you that I have never mentioned to anyone. Not even to Babu-da. I have been thinking about this for a while. Tell me, what if I request Babu-da to cast me as Maganlal Meghraj if he ever does Joto Kando Kathmandute for the big screen? Or for that matter Golapi Mukta Rahasya. Initially I was a tad apprehensive. I felt this would be doing injustice to the audience. Having played Feluda, how can I now play the villain? But then everything is possible in cinema. Take Ambar Sen Antordhan Rahasya. While I played Feluda in it, Soumitra Chatterjee played Ambar Sen. The audience thoroughly enjoyed the film. If Soumitra can play Ambar Sen, there is no reason why I can’t play Maganlal Meghraj. I would love to say, ‘Ei mukta-ta toh amar chai, Felu-babu, se apni jai bolen na keno.’ (I must have this pearl, Felu-babu, whatever you may say.) (Laughs.)
Maganlal is by far my favourite villain, and it would not be a bad idea to end my association with the franchise by requesting Babu-da to allow me to be Maganlal Meghraj!
Not only have you played Feluda on the big screen, you have also done Feluda for radio and also for the stage. Tell me about the radio and stage experiences?
I have thoroughly enjoyed doing Feluda for the stage. My son plays Topshe in Apsara Theatrer Mamla, and I play Feluda. Knowing that it is one story that can’t be made for the big screen, Babu-da had given us rights to stage it, and we have been doing it for seven years now. We did make a few changes to the original story, but nothing that would have an impact on the way Feluda is perceived.
In fact, I must confess I am starting to feel I can’t do Feluda on stage for too long either. Age is showing on my face, and I don’t want Feluda to look old. I love the character far too much, and will never do something that will not go down well with Feluda’s fans the world over.
As for radio, all we have is the voice. We have to reach out to the audience by using the voice and it was a very different kind of challenge compared to television or the big screen. It was a great experience to do the stories for Sunday Suspense on Radio Mirchi. We went strictly by the original storyline, and I had two extremely talented people with me to do the other characters. While Mir, who is one of the most versatile of artists, did most of the characters, Deep voiced for Topshe. Our editor, Richard, did a wonderful job with all the sound effects and people still enjoy listening to these episodes.
Now Abir Chatterjee has replaced you as Feluda. What’s your take on him?
I think he is a very good choice for Feluda. He has the looks and the physique. However, the one thing that Abir lacks is dialogue delivery. He has that good-boy image. His father and mother have been part of the stage in Bengal for a long time, and Abir would have done well to spend a little time doing theatre before entering films. He did not do theatre at all and that’s where he could have brushed up his dialogue delivery and learnt a trick or two from his father. Stage is like net practice before a big match. You can say the same thing in multiple ways and that’s where the stage experience helps. Abir will surely learn with time, and dialogue delivery aside, I think he is by far the perfect choice to play Feluda in the next few years.
And what about opening Feluda up to multiple interpretations? Do you agree with Babu-da not giving up his control over the franchise?
Yes, I do. However, I also feel that at some point, you will have to open Feluda up to others. Babu-da won’t live for ever and the question is, what after him? Will his son Souradip continue doing Feluda? Even if he does, there are only thirty-five stories and not all of them can be done for the big screen. There will sure come a time when all of the stories will have been exhausted. What will happen then? Will Feluda never be made again? Will children born some fifty years into the future not want to see Feluda being made in their time? Maybe for the time being Babu-da will not want to open up Feluda to others, but at some point it will have to be done.
For the moment though, I think Babu-da is right to protect the brand. Take Byomkesh, for example. Dibakar Banerjee’s Detective Byomkesh Bakshy! is the best example of what can happen if a brand is suddenly made open to interpretation. It is entirely Dibakar’s interpretation, and has nothing to do with Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay’s Byomkesh Bakshi. I am not saying it is bad. Not at all. In fact, I am staying away from making a moral judgement. All I am saying is that, while a film-maker is every bit entitled to his interpretation, I don’t think the audience would want to see Feluda in a very different avatar from the way he is represented in the book. He is a very emotional thing for us in Bengal, and opening Feluda up might have an adverse impact on his fans. He is the only sleuth who has been able to reach out to children, and a child between ten and twelve would hate to see Feluda do something that he is not expected to do.
Why did you stop doing Feluda? Is it only because of age or is there any other reason to it?
Age and my paunch. As I said earlier, I love Feluda too much and would hate to see him being criticized. I was uncomfortable with a paunchy Feluda and said to Babu-da during Royal Bengal Rahasya that I thought it was time to retire. Babu-da, in fact, suggested that we could still do one or two more stories, but I said to him that at this age I wouldn’t be able to do all that I need to reduce the paunch. Arduous physical exercise is beyond me, and it was best I gave way to someone younger and enterprising. I am absolutely convinced I had taken the right call. But maybe, as I said earlier, I might still get a chance to play Maganlal Meghraj one last time!
‘Soumitra Chatterjee Will Forever Be the Original Feluda’
Boria Majumdar in Conversation with Abir Chatterjee
He is the new Feluda. Following on after Soumitra Chatterjee and Sabyasachi Chakrabarty, Abir Chatterjee stepped up to play Bengal’s favourite detective in Badshahi Angti, which released on 19 December 2014. Director Sandip Ray says that Abir – who comes from a family of actors, and has played Byomkesh Bakshi in his very second film, after a debut in Cross Connection – was the obvious choice to play Feluda. Abir did well in Badshahi Angti and is now set to play the iconic sleuth for the next few years, and he will be keenly watched (and judged) by Bengalis everywhere. Here’s the new Feluda on the challenges involved in playing the character, the experience so far and more.
I would think playing Feluda is the most challenging role of your career and also the most coveted. Your thoughts?
Absolutely. There is no doubt that every Bengali actor dreams of playing Feluda. I think Feluda will rank among the most loved Bengalis of all time, and to play the man on screen is a privilege and an honour. But to tell you the truth, the possibility of me playing Feluda was in the pipeline for a long time. Benu-da (Sabyasachi Chakrabarty), when asked who should be the next Feluda after him, suggested my name. Thereafter, I had many meetings with Babu-da, and each time I thought I was getting closer. But each time, the discussion did not move beyond a few meetings. After a while, I managed to get the thought of playing Feluda out of my mind. I was playing Byomkesh in the interim, and had put my heart and soul into playing the character.
Feluda came back to my life suddenly. I had gone to Priya cinema in south Kolkata for a premiere, and just as I was coming down the stairs, Buni-di, Sandip Ray’s wife, spotted me and said, ‘Ami toh anek din dhorei Babu ke bolchhi tumi Feluda korte parbe.’ (I have been telling Babu for a long time that you are the right person to play Feluda.) I was taken aback to start with, but also delighted. Then Babu-da called me again and asked if I was ready for the opportunity. I remember saying to myself there was only one reason for me to refuse: if I was raving mad. I was added to the cast of Babu-da’s Ekhane Bhuter Bhoy, a collection of short stories released in 2013, and from the very start of the assignment, I was trying to take on the mannerisms of the iconic Prodosh C. Mitter. At the sets of Ekhane Bhuter Bhoy, I remember telling Buni-di that I should be wearing a kurta-pajama, like Feluda would wear at home. My efforts had not escaped Babu-da’s attention, who every now and then would just say ‘hmm’ as if to suggest he had not missed it. Finally, it was towards the middle of 2013 that Babu-da called me and said that he had decided to cast me as Feluda.
However, it was not until the end of the first shot in Lucknow that I really believed I was Feluda. Only when Babu-da said ‘Okay’ did I say to myself: It is finally happening!
Tell me about it…
Sourav (Das) who played Topshe and I had reached Lucknow a few days before the rest of the cast had assembled there. The first four days of the shoot involved just the two of us. Sourav and a few of the other unit members had taken the train while I had flown into Lucknow from Kolkata. Soon after I had landed, I met Babu-da at the Open Air Restaurant, where we later shot the lunch scene in the film. Lunch on arrival consisted of delectable tunday kabab, which meant my Lucknow initiation could not have been better. Sourav too had come by then, and after an initial round of discussion and planning, we decided to have a look around the city. I saw the Bhulbhulaiya with the help of a local guide. This had the effect of easing the tension a little and by evening we had settled down in our rooms, waiting for the shoot to start the next morning. If it was tunday kabab for lunch, it was grilled fish with vegetables for dinner, and I was in bed by 10.30 p.m. The next thing I remember was waking up sharp at 3.45 a.m. Generally, it takes me a few minutes to get into action mode. This day was different. I still had three hours and fifteen minutes to our call time scheduled for 7 a.m. I could easily have slept for two more hours, but knew it would be a futile effort. The script was on the table next to the bed, and I went through all of it in the course of the next hour. I was just flipping through it rather than reading each word, and it did not take much time. When I saw the first light of dawn, I told myself that, in two hours, I was to play Feluda. I could soon hear the sound of the morning azan and by 6.30 a.m. had showered and was down for breakfast in the restaurant. My mind was racing, and only some food in the system could help me calm down. All of us had a big breakfast, and I also clicked a selfie to send home to show folks how I looked as Feluda on the very first day. The reaction to the selfie was strange. No one said good or bad or anything. All I got back from home was: When is the shooting due to start? Clearly, they were as nervous and tense as I was.
The first scene was the one in a tonga on the narrow road between the Bada and Chhota Imambara. Topshe and I are thrown a chit with ‘khub hunshiyar’ (beware) written on it. It was an elaborate sequence. The two of us had to be on the tonga to which a richshaw had been attached permanently to faci
litate the shoot. It had been welded to the tonga so that our head of videography, Shirsha Ray, and Babu-da could sit on the richshaw behind to film the scene. All of this had taken a little under an hour to prepare. Also, the scene was being shot in a very congested part of Lucknow, and that meant a number of retakes were likely. Three or four times, cars came in the way and instead of moving past, the drivers would just slow down and start watching the shoot. This meant we had to cut and redo the take. Finally, when the shot was complete, Babu-da wanted Shirsha-da to check it and give us a thumbs-up. When he did, Babu-da too decided to take a quick look and when he finally said ‘Okay’, I looked at Sourav with an expression on my face that I won’t be able to replicate for you, and pressed his hand saying, ‘Now you are Topshe and I am Feluda. It is finally happening.’
Feluda @ 50 Page 13
