Part Four
Brand Feluda: The Way Forward
Boria Majumdar
At the time that I write this piece, friends who are part of the Bengali film industry tell me that Bengali films, even those with the biggest stars, are not doing the best at the box office. The industry is going through a lean patch. Collections have been poor (except for some of the films released during the festive Durga Puja season) and there tends to be a sharp drop in audience numbers after the first weekend. They say that there is a general sense of alarm within the industry. But there is one guaranteed exception: Feluda films. This is a dramatic turnaround from the mid-1990s when Sandip Ray was struggling to find a producer for a Feluda film. Badshahi Angti, Ray’s last offering, actually picked up at the box office after a week of its release on 19 December 2014. With Christmas and New Year round the corner, many Feluda fans watched the movie as a family. Repeat viewing is still a norm for a Feluda film, and that makes the franchise one of the most sought-after in the Bengali film industry.
In West Bengal’s highly charged political climate, where student politics threatens to throw the establishment into a tizzy every now and then, this eminently non-political of Bengalis (almost un-Bengali in that respect!) still holds enough attraction for filmgoers. A recent Feluda retrospective organized by Radio Mirchi at Priya cinema in south Kolkata is a case in point. Seven Feluda films were screened over a seven-day period, every show packed to capacity. There was a near stampede on the last day to see Joi Baba Felunath, and many who reached late could not be accommodated. As a result, the organizers were forced to organize a special screening at 8 a.m. a couple of days later to allow them another chance to watch the classic on the big screen. Close to 30 per cent of the audience who made it to Priya cinema during this whole week were students from either Jadavpur or Presidency University. This is interesting because these are two of the most politically charged universities in the country, once known for their fiery protests and agitations. That students of these institutions should flock to a Feluda retrospective is somewhat contradictory. Our master sleuth has never taken a political stand, although he began his professional career in the highly politicized Bengal of the 1960s. We don’t know what Feluda’s political leanings are and which party he votes for. Nor do we know if he was ever involved in politics in his days as a student. Yet he continues to find takers among all sections of Bengali society. In Lalmohan-babu’s words, ‘Apnake toh cultivate korte hochchhe moshai.’ (Need to cultivate you, sir.)
What is it about Feluda that keeps him from becoming dated? The answer just might be in the kind of ‘Bengaliness’ he embodies, one which is more rooted than even the political culture of Bengal.
Feluda was Ray’s popular rendition of the renaissance man: intelligent, well read, intuitive, argumentative, but not verbose. He gets things done but is never unpleasant or rude. He means business but monetary gain is not the focus – a very Bengali trait. Above all, he is honest and socially committed. This is why he tells Maganlal in Joi Baba Felunath, ‘Ami ghush ni na Maganlal-ji.’ (I don’t take bribes, Maganlal-ji.) But unlike Apu – Ray’s other immortal creation and one who is partly in the same mould – Feluda is not fragile or unworldly. Apu is at odds with the world he lives in, a world not suited to a man of his sensitivity and ideals, a bit like Ray in real life, who was known to never have actualized his own commercial worth. Sandip Ray mentions this aspect of his father’s character too: ‘Baba started writing Feluda stories for Sandesh without knowing that Feluda would become really big. Later, when the publishers gave him his first cheque, he was pleasantly surprised. He didn’t know he could make money by writing and that too by writing stories meant primarily for children. We later heard how Feluda had become popular among the grown-ups too. Everyone between the ages of eight and eighty had started reading the Feluda stories. In fact, Sunil Ganguly would first read Feluda before moving on to other stories, when they started coming out in Desh.’
Feluda, it must be stated, is clearly different from Apu in his world view. He is more a man of his times with a steely resolve. May be Satyajit Ray deliberately wanted to make him more worldly-wise seeing the commercial success of the novels. Every bit needing the money to make his films, Ray, at one point, had written to Marie Seton expressing concern about his declining bank balance. Writing in the aftermath of the failure of Parash Pathar at the box office, Ray had mentioned to Seton that if he could not continue making films, he would have to return to advertising. Feluda marked some sort of a progression for Ray. He is that perfect combination of renaissance values and modern-day combativeness. Feluda is every bit Bengali while simultaneously reversing a Bengali legacy that one has come to associate with the failures of post-Independence Bengal. Feluda, from his birth in the 1960s, is seemingly unaffected by the raging unemployment, lack of industry and overall spiralling stakes of brand Bengal. He is the superman next door. That feel-good Bengaliness continues to be at the core of brand Feluda. These are not mere stories about solving mysteries, but also about enjoying the afternoon tea and chanachur, about going to new places and learning new things about them, about adventure that is not only thrilling but also motivating. He brings a sense of liberation from the everyday grind in troubled times.
As Feluda turns fifty, and as we celebrate the man and his exploits, the question is: what next? How long can he continue not using a smartphone, not having a laptop? How long can he solve mysteries without using Whatsapp, Facebook or Twitter? Can a child who is born twenty years later identify with someone who is a bit of a relic? What will they make of a character who visits Sidhu Jyatha rather than do a Google search? Yes, that is part of the charm, but for how long? For those of us who grew up in that other world, Feluda is a kind of throwback to a purer past, a time when our faculties had not been dimmed by technological progress.
Sandip Ray has plans to make five more Feluda stories in the next five years. It may be that we see Nayan Rahasya, Chhinnamastar Abhishap, Londone Feluda, Gangtoke Gondogol and Robertsoner Ruby filmed in the next few years. Maybe we will get a Double Feluda in 2016 to mark the fiftieth anniversary. And maybe Ray will try and cater to the NRI sections of Feluda’s fans in Londone Feluda, a constituency he is very conscious of trying to keep happy. ‘I keep getting requests from Feluda fans from across the world that I need to make Feluda travel more. Londone Feluda is the obvious choice. England has opened up a lot for Bengalis, and it would not be a bad idea for Prodosh Mitter to go to England in the next few years. Only, I need a good Jatayu before I do this,’ he says.
Feluda comics are a hit among the next generation of fans, and perhaps Ray might want to consider an animation series to cater to his NRI constituency, at least until Prodosh Mitter is ready to leave Indian shores. A Feluda app to connect fans worldwide? Now that’s an idea too. Without making changes to the stories themselves or the characters (both of which Ray is loath to do), there must be ways to market the brand better. Given Feluda’s thirst for knowledge and his inquisitiveness, it is unlikely that he would not want to know more about newer modes of communication. To hear him say, ‘Byaparta ar shudhui magajastro diye hobe na re, Topshe, ebare mone hochchhe amakeo kichhu notun jinisher sahajya nite hobe’ (The case cannot be solved with the half of brain power only, Topshe, I think this time half from some newer devices may be needed) wouldn’t surprise the ardent Feluda fan. Although as dramatic a change as the Benedict Cumberbatch–Sherlock Holmes one just won’t work with his audience either. It is a delicate balance: to evolve the brand while keeping it rooted in the original.
And that begs the question: what after Sandip Ray? Is one film a year good enough to keep Feluda relevant? What about when Feluda celebrates his centenary half a century later?
For the moment, though, it is celebration time. We mark the presence of one of our own in the global pantheon of sleuths. We look back at the man who emerged quietly on the scene with Feludar Goendagiri in 1965, and sometime in the 1970s became a constant in the lives of children
growing up in Bengal. In a very personal way, and for all that Feluda has done to me and for me, this book is an attempt to add to the brand in the months and years to come.
The Feluda Case Files
Stories, Novels and Films
Story/Novel
S.No Name Story/Novel First published
1 Feludar Goendagiri Story Sandesh, December 1965–February 1966
2 Badshahi Angti Novel Sandesh, May 1966–May 1967
3 Kailash Choudhuryr Pathor Story Sharadiya Sandesh, 1967
4 Sheyal Debota Rahasya Story Sandesh, summer issue, May–June 1970
5 Gangtoke Gondogol Novel Sharadiya Desh, 1970
6 Sonar Kella Novel Sharadiya Desh, 1971
7 Baksha Rahasya Novel Sharadiya Desh, 1972
8 Samaddarer Chabi Story Sharadiya Sandesh, 1973
9 Kailashe Kelenkari Novel Sharadiya Desh, 1973
10 Royal Bengal Rahasya Novel Sharadiya Desh, 1974
11 Joi Baba Felunath Novel Sharadiya Desh, 1975
12 Ghurghutiyar Ghatona Story Sharadiya Sandesh, 1975
13 Bombaiyer Bombete Novel Sharadiya Desh, 1976
14 Gosainpur Sargaram Novel Sharadiya Sandesh, 1976
15 Gorosthane Sabdhan Novel Sharadiya Desh, 1977
16 Chhinnamastar Abhishap Novel Sharadiya Desh, 1978
17 Hatyapuri Novel Sharadiya Desh, 1979
18 Golokdham Rahasya Story Sandesh, May–August 1980
19 Joto Kando Kathmandute Novel Sharadiya Desh, 1980
20 Napoleoner Chithi Story Sharadiya Sandesh, 1981
21 Tintorettor Jishu Novel Sharadiya Desh, 1982
22 Ambar Sen Antordhan Rahasya Story Anandamela, May–June 983
23 Jahangirer Swarnamudra Story Sharadiya Sandesh, 1983
24 Ebar Kando Kedarnathe Story Sharadiya Desh, 1984
25 Bosepukure Khunkharapi Story Sharadiya Sandesh, 1985
26 Darjeeling Jomjamat Story Sharadiya Desh, 1986
27 Bhuswarga Bhoyonkar Story Sharadiya Desh, 1987
28 Apsara Theatrer Mamla Story Sharadiya Sandesh, 1987
29 Shakuntalar Kanthahaar Story Sharadiya Desh, 1988
30 Golapi Mukta Rahasya Story Sharadiya Sandesh, 1989
31 Londone Feluda Story Sharadiya Desh, 1989
32 Dr Munshir Diary Story Sharadiya Sandesh, 1990
33 Nayan Rahasya Novel Sharadiya Desh, 1990
34 Robertsoner Ruby Novel Sharadiya Desh, 1992
35 Indrajal Rahasya Story Sandesh, December 1995– February 1996
Films
S. No Name of Film and Year Director Cast
1 Sonar Kella (1974) Satyajit Ray Soumitra Chatterjee, Siddhartha Chatterjee, Santosh Dutta, Kamu Mukherjee
2 Joi Baba Felunath (1979) Satyajit Ray Soumitra Chatterjee, Siddhartha Chatterjee, Santosh Dutta, Utpal Dutta
3 Baksha Rahasya (2001) Sandip Ray Sabyasachi Chakrabarty, Saswata Chatterjee, Rabi Ghosh
4 Bombaiyer Bombete (2003) Sandip Ray Sabyasachi Chakrabarty, Parambrata Chatterjee, Bibhu Bhattacharya
5 Kailashe Kelenkari (2007) Sandip Ray Sabyasachi Chakrabarty, Parambrata Chatterjee, Bibhu Bhattacharya
6 Tintorettor Jishu (2008) Sandip Ray Sabyasachi Chakrabarty, Parambrata Chatterjee, Bibhu Bhattacharya
7 Gorosthane Sabdhan (2010) Sandip Ray Sabyasachi Chakrabarty, Saheb Bhattacharya, Bibhu Bhattacharya
8 Royal Bengal Rahasya (2011) Sandip Ray Sabyasachi Chakrabarty, Saheb Bhattacharya, Bibhu Bhattacharya
9 Badshahi Angti (2014) Sandip Ray Abir Chatterjee, Sourav Das
Feluda on Television
•Satyajit Ray Presents, Kissa Kathmandu Ka (Hindi), starring Shashi Kapoor as Feluda, Doordarshan 1
•Feluda 30 (Baksha Rahasya, Gosainpur Sargaram, Sheyal Debota Rahasya, Bosepukure Khunkharapi, Joto Kando Kathmandute for DD Bangla, later repeated in Tara Music)
•Satyajiter Goppo (Jahangirer Swarnamudra, Ghurghutiyar Ghatona, Golapi Mukta Rahasya, Ambar Sen Antordhan Rahasya for DD Bangla)
•Satyajiter Priyo Golpo (Dr Munshir Diary for ETV Bangla)
Notes
Felu Mittir: Between Bhadrolok and Chhotolok
1Topshe was Basu, but Ray then changed his name to Mitra. I’m told Feluda explains it like this: Tapesh started out writing the stories as fiction and therefore said that they are maternal cousins, but they are in fact fraternal cousins.
Modus Operandi: Two or Three Things I Know About Feluda
1cf. Haroon-da, the central protagonist in Ray’s story ‘Phatikchand’, perfectly embodies the non-familial figure of an elder brother. It seems rather natural that, given the humanist stance that he maintained all along, Ray would not restrict himself to the familial category only while portraying the idea of brotherhood. And, it needs to be noted that the other two famous characters in Bengali literature carrying the suffix ‘da’ attached to their nickname (a la Feluda) – namely, Ghanada and Tenida – are duly respected and obeyed (like an elder brother is) in the stories by people who do not share any familial relation with them.
2There is a bit of confusion, though. In the fifth story of the series, Gangtoke Gondogol, Feluda is again mentioned to be a service holder. However, it appears to be one of the few irregularities in the Feluda series. After this, Feluda appears as a professional private eye, and is further established as such in the two Satyajit Ray Feluda movies – Sonar Kella and Joi Baba Felunath. In the latter, Feluda, in his trademark polite yet curt manner, tells the on-duty police inspector that, without any permanent service at hand, a private investigator has to find cases to sustain him.
3The servants are rather fortunate to have at least a presence in the enormously closed world of Feluda. They even have cameos in the narrative that hardly allows any person, other than whomever Feluda engages with, to exist. In the strictly homo-social space (except only a few, like Ambar Sen Antordhan Rahasya) that these stories inhabit, the (male) servants continue to replace the female characters likely to be there in a household. They fit in perfectly with the old, feudal ambience of the (male) clients Feluda would visit. And, lest one forgets, there is a servant in Feluda’s residence also: Srinath.
4Compare: ‘The sentence of death is absolute. It maintains that one is guilty of one’s crime and therefore is subject to death, which can be said to be absolute because, as Heidegger notes, death in itself contains no other possibility, it is that radical impossibility that is das Nichts. The sentence is a decision that reduces the person to an object of presence. The person is identified with his crime and is reduced to it, whereas a Derridean democratic subjectivity would suggest that the person is larger than his crime.’ (Calcagno, Antonio, Badiou and Derrida: Politics, Events and Their Time, Continuum, 2007).
5Golokdham Rahasya is a rare exception where the sleuth, even after locating the killer, decided not to reveal his name. He just made the killer realize that he had cracked the case. Topshe, the cousin narrator, is the only other person who knows the secret.
6A few years on, Feluda stories have ceased to keep dates in sync with earlier stories. For example, in Shakuntalar Kanthahaar, Feluda told police inspector Mr Pandey that he had known Mr Lalmohan Ganguly for the last five to six years. Shakuntalar Kanthahaar was written in 1988, while the story that had them introduced, Sonar Kella, was written in 1971. However, dates apart, Feluda stories continue to have references contemporaneous with its time of publication, e.g., the rumour of Skylab falling from the sky or enormous power cuts. As for the treatment of time in Feluda stories, Sayandeb Chowdhury has something interesting to offer: ‘The trio (Feluda, Topshe and Jatayu) must remain unaged, frozen in a set of notions, because ageing would destroy the narrative regime that Ray would want to construct. For example, ossified in perpetual adolescence, Topshe would be denied access to things and sights beyond what the desire of the author entails him to and would keep reproducing the child in the adolescent. In a similar vein, both Feluda and Jatayu would continue to function as ageless agencies, standing sentient to the right climatic conditions that c
an reproduce an adolescent gaze not as a factor of age but of vantage. Unageing is hence “unproblematic” in the Feluda canon, because Ray could successfully decouple ageing from its biological imperatives and turn it into a scopic leitmotif, a way of seeing’ (Chowdhury, Sayandeb, ‘Ageless Hero, Sexless Man: A Possible Prehistory and Three Hypotheses on Satyajit Ray’s Feluda’, South Asian Review, Vol. 36, No. 1, 2015).
7Robinson, Andrew, Satyajit Ray: The Inner Eye – The Biography of a Master Film-Maker, I.B. Tauris & Co. Ltd, 2004.
8Banerjee, Sumanta, ‘The Urban Scene’, In the Wake of Naxalbari, Kolkata: Sahitya Sansad, 2009, p. 56.
9Robinson, Andrew, Satyajit Ray: The Inner Eye – The Biography of a Master Film-Maker; pp. 203–04.
10Ibid., p. 204.
11Ibid.
12Ibid.
13Keltner, S.K., ‘Whodunit? Reading Kristeva with the Help of Detective Fiction’, Kristeva’s Fiction (ed. Beningno Trigo), State University of New York, 2013, pp. 37–38.
14Desh, Vol. 18, No. 4, 1987, p. 37. (tr. by the author).
15Crime in India: 1967, National Crime Records Bureau, p. 5.
16Ibid., Appendices, p. 60.
17Ibid., p. 8.
18Ibid.
19Ibid.
20Sherlock Holmes, whom Feluda mentions as his guru, did not really make fun of Scotland Yard inspector Lestrade either. Back home, there is the Bengali sleuth duo Jayanta–Manik (written by Hemendra Kumar Roy) who keep making fun of the portly police inspector Sundar-babu. However, Ray did not go that way. Instead, he opted for a kind of self-deprecating humour, targeted at the popular writers of crime stories. The third one of the famous troika, Lalmohan Ganguly, had to take the barb.
Feluda @ 50 Page 15
