| Feluda | |
|---|---|
| Feluda character | |
 Topshe and Feluda inFeludar Goendagiri | |
| First appearance | Feludar Goendagiri(1965) |
| Last appearance | Robertsoner Ruby (1991) |
| Created by | Satyajit Ray |
| Portrayed by | |
| Voiced by | |
| Motion capture | |
| In-universe information | |
| Full name | Pradosh Chandra Mitter |
| Alias | Felu Mittir |
| Occupation | Private Investigator |
| Family | Jaykrishna Mitra (Father) |
| Relatives | Tapesh Ranjan Mitra (Topshe) (Cousin) |
| Religion | Hinduism |
| Home | 21, Rajani Sen Road, Kolkata-700029 |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Height | Almost 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) [5 ft 11.5 in (1.82 m)] |
| Friend | Lalmohan Ganguly |
Feluda is afictional detective,private investigator created by Indian director and writerSatyajit Ray. Feluda resides at 21 Rajani Sen Road,[1]Ballygunge,Calcutta,West Bengal, India. Feluda first made his appearance in aBengali children's magazine calledSandesh in 1965, under the editorialship ofRay andSubhas Mukhopadhyay. His first adventure wasFeludar Goendagiri.[2] Feluda is one of the most impactful Bengali characters of all time.
Feluda is often accompanied by his cousin, who is also his assistant, Tapesh Ranjan Mitter (affectionately called Topshe by Feluda), who serves as thenarrator of the stories. From the sixth story,Sonar Kella (The Golden Fortress), the duo are joined by a popular thriller writerJatayu (Lalmohan Ganguli).
Feluda has had been filmed at times, with the character been played bySoumitra Chatterjee,Sabyasachi Chakrabarty,Ahmed Rubel,Shashi Kapoor,Abir Chatterjee,Parambrata Chatterjee,Tota Roy Chowdhury andIndraneil Sengupta. Satyajit Ray directed two Feluda movies —Sonar Kella (1974) andJoi Baba Felunath (1978).Sandip Ray made anew Feluda film series (continuation of the original series) on Feluda's adventures which started fromBaksho Rahashya (1996). In this series he made ten TV films and six theatrical films inBengali on the character.[citation needed] Sandip Ray also made a stand-alone Feluda filmBadshahi Angti (2014) which was intended to be the first film of a reboot series featuringAbir Chatterjee, but the projects were ultimately shelved andSandip Ray revived his original film series starringSabyasachi Chakrabarty.
Satyajit Ray had deep interests in crime fiction and he read all ofSherlock Holmes fictions in his school days. And when Ray himself started writing on crime fictions, unsurprisingly, the character Sherlock Holmes inspired his writings. Feluda's character resembles Sherlock Holmes and Tapesh/Topshe's character resemblesDr Watson.[3] In the stories of Feluda, he is displayed as a big admirer of Sherlock Holmes which he mentions multiple times. InKailash Choudhury'r Pathar he praises the way Holmes used to draw large conclusions from observations. InLondone Feluda, when Feluda goes toBaker Street, he openly addresses Holmes as the "master" (Bengali:guru) of all private detectives.
Pradosh Chandra Mitter, popularly known by his nickname Feluda, first appeared in the eponymous Bengali short storyFeludar Goyendagiri (Danger inDarjeeling) in 1965. The story, written bySatyajit Ray, was published inSandesh, a children's periodical founded by Ray's grandfather,Upendrakishore Ray Chowdhury and edited by Ray himself. In the Feluda series that followed, he was portrayed as a man of around 27 (born around 1938) with a tall (almost 6'0"), athletic figure. Despite being a strongly built man adept inmartial arts, Feluda relies mostly upon his superb analytical ability and observation skill (jokingly referred to as theMagajastra or brain-weapon) to solve cases instead of using physical strength or weapons. He is very choosy about taking up cases and prefers cases that require cerebral effort. He possesses a .32Colt revolver, but the weapon is used very infrequently and mostly for non-violent purposes. However, contemporary (2000s) movies based on Feluda stories feature scenes of violence uncharacteristic in the literature, where Feluda demonstrates his martial art prowess. A master of disguises, Feluda is known to be an adept sleight-of-hand, and he puts these skills to use to solve multiple cases. Feluda often calls a meeting after solving the mystery, where he cajoles the culprit into admitting their crime.
In his personal life, Feluda is a commonBengali youth who has been brought up by his father's younger brother (Tapesh/Topshe's father) after being orphaned when he was only 9. His father, the late Joykrishna Mitra, used to teachMathematics andSanskrit atDhaka Collegiate School. According to the story 'Royal Bengal Rahasya', The ancestral Home of Feluda was in Sona Dighi Village ofBikrampur Region of Dhaka (NowMunshiganj District). His elder Uncle was a manager of a zamindari Estate inMymensingh and a hunter. After thePartition of 1947, his family moved from Dhaka to Calcutta, living in a rented house inTara Road. Later, they moved in 21, Rajani Sen Road. Feluda had a job in the bank before his detective career. He finds an avid listener in his cousin Tapesh. He often uses his oratory skill at the climactic scenes to cajole the culprit into confessing his crime. He is an early riser and is frequently shown starting his day withexercises andyoga.
Contrary to his otherwise healthy lifestyle, Feluda enjoys smoking cigarettes and chewing betel leaves after lunch. His favourite brand of cigarettes isCharminar. He is a connoisseur of delicious food, popular music, movies, and books. He has a great appreciation forSherlock Holmes and, according to the filmTintorettor Jishu,Bruce Lee. Similar to Sherlock Holmes, he has a voracious reading habit (reflecting that of Ray's own), which add up to his enormous general knowledge. This know-how often comes handy while socialising with people and unravelling mysteries. He always reads up about a place before visiting. He says it comes in handy sometimes. He is shown to be fond ofTintin, and specially his cousin, Topshe, is a fan of Tintin. Some of the Feluda stories and films have many references ofThe Adventures of Tintin. He is also a huge fan of the books byBibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay,Jim Corbett andKenneth Anderson. His favourite book was "Aranyak" written byBibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay. He is also shown to be fond ofnon-fiction books likeAku-Aku,Chariots of the Gods? andThe Numerology of Dr. Matrix.
Feluda has love and respect forLalmohan Ganguly (Jatayu) and his fictional creation Prakhar Rudra is liked by Feluda. He also frequently points out errors and inaccuracies in Jatayu's adventure series, and even helps him write a script for aBollywood film. Feluda is protective and caring about his cousin, yet he always keeps picking mistakes or humor of or from Topshe. Topshe, the narrator, greatly admires his brother and loves to be a part of his adventures. Feluda has never shown interest in any woman, and there are very few female characters in the stories or films (except some minor characters like Topshe's mother).
Feluda's paternal cousin Tapesh Ranjan Mitter, who is fondly referred to asTopshe,[4] is based on Arthur Conan Doyle's conception of Dr.John Watson. In the first couple of stories, his surname wasBose, but later it changed toMitra. Just like the formerarmy surgeon, Topshe is the quintessential accomplice and faithfully records each of Pradosh Mitter's exploits accurately. Topshe is a smart teenager. In the first story of Feluda series (i.e.Feludar Goyendagiri), Topshe was thirteen and a half where Feluda's age was twenty-seven, just the double of Topshe. Though Feluda often teases his young cousin, he is extremely fond and very protective of him. Feluda lives with Topshe's family. Topshe's father, Binay Mitter is the younger brother of Feluda's father, and therefore his uncle, and they all reside at 21, Rajani Sen Road, Kolkata-700029.[1] Although there really is a 'Rajani Sen Road'[1] inKolkata, the house number is missing. Formerly, they all used to live in Tara road, Kolkata. Though not mentioned explicitly, Topshe is good-looking, fair, tall and handsome, as per different illustrations made by Satyajit Ray himself.
Detailed knowledge regarding Topshe's high school education is not available, but he used to go to school during the adventure ofSonar Kella (the sixth book of Feluda series). In the film adaptation ofSonar Kella, Topshe's mother shows her concern regarding his career and study as he spends much time solving cases with Feluda. By the time ofKailashe Kelenkari (the eighth book of the series) he have had his secondary examination ('Madhyamik Pariksha'). Just like Feluda, Topshe also used to read lot of books to enhance his knowledge. Topshe often gets his lessons from Feluda himself. In many cases, Feluda tests his deductive knowledge and he usually passes the test satisfactorily. In the movie Sonar Kella Topshe's father aptly said that Topshe is a lucky boy who got Feluda as his mentor. Topshe is fond of 'Adventures of Tintin' comic series. In the book Kailashe Kelenkari, he is found reading 'Tintin in Tibet'.
Topshe always takes an active part in Feluda's adventure. Though in most cases, he follows Feluda's instructions or indications, there are instances where he himself gets involved into some action/investigation. To mention a few, he and Jatayu (a.k.a. Lalmohan Ganguly) sneaks into a warehouse in 'Patan' (Nepal) to discover vast collection of smuggled narcotics (bookJato Kando Kathmandute); finds out thestabbedbody of a missing man in the woods (bookDarjeeling Jomjomat); replaces the pinkpearl with a fake for safe-keeping (bookGolapi Mukta Rahasya). The last incident impressed Feluda as well. However, all these activities mainly comes in the latter part of the series. He also interrogated the suspects inApsara Theaterer Mamla when Feluda was sick andbedridden. Feluda solved the case just from the report of that interrogation.
In movies and TV films the character of Feluda has been played bySoumitra Chatterjee,Sabyasachi Chakrabarty and recentlyAbir Chatterjee, while Topshe has been played bySiddartha Chatterjee,Saswata Chatterjee,Parambrata Chattopadhyay andSaheb Bhattacharya over the years. In Sandip Ray's 2014 filmBadshahi Angti, actor Sourav Das played the role.
In Srijit Mukkherjee's Webseries, Topshe was played by Kalpan Mitra and Feluda was played by Tota Roy chowdhury. In Arindam Sil's Webseries, Feluda was played by Parambrata Chatterjee and Topshe by Rwitobroto Mukherjee.
Lalmohan Ganguli is a close friend of Pradosh Chandra Mitter, and is described as the author of a series of Bengali crime thrillers written under the pseudonym 'Jatayu'. His crime stories and novels are usually derided as unbelievable, considering that his main character is always the superhero Prakhar Rudra. Though all his novels seem to have become best-sellers, he often tends to make extremely silly mistakes such as spellingigloos as 'ilgoos'. InBaksho Rahasya orIncident on the KalkaMail, he confuseshippos withwalruses — 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 ofhumour', although he sometimes does some brave acts not expected of him. To mention a few, he knocked out goons inBaksho Rahasya,Joto KandoKathmandute,Tintorettor Jishu andEbar KandoKedarnathe, which impressed Feluda as well. He owns a 'Madrasi green'Ambassador car. Jatayu makes his first appearance inSonar Kella joining Feluda and Topshe in the train atAgra, on their way toJodhpur. In the first two films on Feluda, which were directed by Ray himself, the character was played bySantosh Dutta, and after the first one, Ray modified the literary character to some extent, making him look and behave quite like Dutta himself. In the next films directed by Ray's son, Sandip Ray, this character was played byMohan Agashe,Rabi Ghosh,Anup Kumar andBibhu Bhattacharya respectively. Jatayu also has a fantasy of collecting weapons. In various books he carried weapons like 'kukri' (Nepaliknife), andsmoke bomb. Jatayu lives at Garpar in Kolkata, and it may be recalled that Satyajit Ray himself passed his childhood at 100, Garpar.
Sidhu Jetha's formal name is Siddheshwar Bose. He is an aged character who has described himself to be likeSherlock Holmes's brotherMycroft, living in Sardar Sankar Road, Lake Market,Kalighat,Kolkata. He is abibliophile, and has an extensive base of general knowledge, current and historical affairs. He is a close friend of Feluda's father, being former neighbours in their ancestral village inBangladesh. Feluda's jyatha (that is,uncle) is said to have a 'photographic memory', and is a vast source of information which 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. The role was played byHarindranath Chattopadhyay inSonar Kella,Ajit Bandopadhyay inBaksho Rahashya, Dibya Bhattacharya in Golapi Mukto Rahashya,Haradhan Banerjee inKailashe Kelenkari and inGorosthaney Sabdhan and byParan Bandyopadhyay inDouble Feluda. Following recent Feluda films made by Sandip Ray, Satyajit Ray's son, there have been questions over Sidhu Jyatha's continued relevance in the stories considering technologies such as the internet offer a faster, wider and more effective knowledge base than a well-read person.
Haripada Datta is the driver of Lalmohon Ganguli'ssecond-hand green Mark IIAmbasador car. He is a loyal, intelligent and reliable person and is of great help when needed. He played a crucial role inGorosthaney Sabhdhan where he saved the lives of Feluda, Jatayu, and Topshe. He also has a minor role inBoshpukery Khunkharapi, where he takes part in a surveillance mission with the rest of Feluda's gang indisguise playing 29 cardgame.
Meghraj is a villainous character who appears in three Feluda stories, includingJoi Baba Felunath,Joto Kando Kathmandute, andGolapi Mukta Rahasya. He has been compared toProfessor Moriarty of theSherlock Holmes series.Utpal Dutta immortalised this character in one Feluda movieJoi Baba Felunath, which Satyajit Ray directed. After himMohan Agashe played this character twice in telefilms.
Maganlal lives in Benaras. He has a house in Joka, Kolkata also. His son's name is Surajlal Meghraj. He is officially a money-lender but is involved in smuggling artifacts,narcotics (through Indo-Nepal border) and jewellery. His Kolkata house had been raided once but he escaped any charges until Feluda caught him red-handed in smuggling an invaluable Ganesh Murti (an idol of the elephant god) during the case ofJoi Baba Felunath. However, he was not behind bars for a long time. In the nineteenth book,Jato Kando Kathmandute, Feluda said that he was not at all surprised seeing Meghraj out of jail as that was nothing for such an influential person. Once again he was arrested in charge ofmurder and smuggling, yet he averted any long term punishment and we saw him once again in the thirty-first story,Golapi Mukta Rahasya.
Maganlal is a good judge of human character. He luredBikash Singh, secretary ofUmanath Ghoshal, to steal the invaluable 'Ganesh Murti' from the Ghoshal-house. He also has a special interest in humiliatingJatayu. InJoi Baba Felunath he made Jatayu the subject of a knife-throwing play. InJato Kando Kathmandute, he purposefully slips anLSD-lacedsugar cube in Jatayu's tea. In his third appearance, he made Jatayu to sing a Tagore song (which Jatayu said his first time experience of singing a song). Surprisingly, he shows a queer fondness to Jatayu and usually calls him 'Uncle'.
During these three stories, we see many accomplices of Maganlal. Some of them are Machhli-Baba, Bikash Sinha, Arjun theknife thrower, Anantalaal Bantra, Dr. Dibakar and Manohar. Maganlaal has his ownBajra by which he travels in Ganga near Benaras. The door of his house in Benaras is painted with figures of two swordsmen. During the making of the movie,Joi Baba Felunath, this swordsmen were painted by Satyajit Ray himself.
Ghoshal is aMumbai-based popular Hindi film director hailing from Kolkata. His original home in Kolkata is in the neighbourhood of Lalmohonbabu's in northern Kolkata's Garpar. He has directed two films based on Lalmohonbabu's stories. During the shooting of both these films, dangerous events took place, resulting in arrest of a producer in one film (Bombaiyer Bombete) and arrest of an actor in another film (Darjeeling Jamjomat).
Satyajit Ray directedSonar Kella (1974) andJoi Baba Felunath (1979) into movies in Bengali, starring actorSoumitra Chatterjee as Feluda,Santosh Dutta asJatayu andSiddartha Chatterjee asTopshe. This two films created a cult following inBengali cinema later years.
Sandip Ray directed five Feluda theatrical feature-length films, starring actorSabyasachi Chakrabarty as Feluda,Parambrata Chatterjee as Topshe in the first three films (Later he was replaced by Saheb Bhattacharyya) andBibhu Bhattacharya as Jatayu. But the first theatrically released Feluda film directed by Sandip Ray wasBaksho Rahashya (1996) which was the first film of the Feluda TV film series andwas made for television release only.It was released in theaters in December 2001. In this TV filmSabyasachi Chakrabarty was Feluda,Saswata Chatterjee was Topshe andRabi Ghosh was Jatayu.
Then Sandip Ray directedBadshahi Angti which was released in November 2014, in whichAbir Chatterjee is playing Feluda for first time. This was going to be areboot to previous the Feluda film series afterRoyal Bengal Rahashya.[5] However, in 2016 Sandip Ray cancelled the reboot series becauseAbir Chatterjee started a new version of film series based on theByomkesh Bakshi franchise underShree Venkatesh Films andSurinder Films.[6] The other reason was the new Feluda movie Sandip Ray intended to make under a Mumbai-based production houseEros International, but Abir has a strict contract withShree Venkatesh Films andSurinder Films. For the cancellation of the reboot seriesBadshahi Angti is now considered as a stand-alone reboot film.
On 23 December 2022,Hatyapuri was released under the banner of Shadow Films. This was the reboot to the previous Feluda film series. The film was directed bySandip Ray and starredIndraneil Sengupta as Feluda alongside Ayush Das andAbhijit Guha as Topshe and Jatayu respectively.[7][8] Within a year and a half,Nayan Rahasya was released in May 2024, produced bySurinder Films.Indraneil Sengupta, Ayush Das andAbhijit Guha reprise the role of Feluda, Topshe and Jatayu respectively.
In addition to the feature films, 10 Feluda stories have been filmed by Sandip Ray.Sabyasachi Chakrabarty played that role in these Feluda telefilms.Jatayu was played byRabi Ghosh in the first two TV films, after his deathAnup Kumar playedJatayu and finally byBibhu Bhattacharya.In all these Feluda TV films Topshe was played bySaswata Chatterjee.These television films under the names/packages:
(The Episodes were -
Baksho Rahashya,
Gosaipur Sargaram,
Sheyal Devta Rahashya,
Bosepukure Khunkharapi,
Joto Kando Kathmandu)
(The Episodes were -
Jahangirer Swarnamudra,
Ghurghutiyar Ghotona,
Golapi Mukto Rahashya,
Ambar Sen Antardhan Rahashya)
(The Episode was - Dr Munshir Diary)
From 1999 to 2001Bangladesh Television (BTV) aired nine Feluda TV films. The series gained a huge popularity inBangladesh.
Sandip Ray has sold the rights of Feluda stories to Bangladeshi production company Kandy Productions, who are producing a TV series inspired by the original Feluda series. It premiered onChannel i[9][10] as well as digitally onBioscopelive from September, 2017. The series is available in India on the digital platform Addatimes Digital.[11]Dhaka based Kandy Production is producing the series jointly with Top of Mind Creations, another Bangladeshi TV and film production house. This series depicted Feluda as a modern time detective. It has three episodes titled as 'Sheyal Devta Rahashya','Ghurghutiyar Ghotona' and 'Golokdham Rahashya.Parambrata Chatterjee plays Feluda andRiddhi Sen plays Topshe. The series is directed by Parambrata Chatterjee.'.[11]
The first Bangladeshi adaptation of Feluda was released in 2019.Feluda is played by versatile actor,Ahmed Rubel, it also stars legendary actor,Abul Hayat. It is directed by actor-directorTauquir Ahmed.It was titled'Noyon Rohossho-Feluda.It's still available onBioscopelive
ABangladeshi streaming TV series "Feluda" fromBioscopelive streaming platform was directed byParambrata Chatterjee who also played the title character along withRiddhi Sen playing Topshe was released in 2017–2018 in three seasons. This streaming TV series is not a part of the Feluda film canon directed by Satyajit Ray and Sandip Ray. Stories adapted were Sheyal Debota Rahasyo, Ghurghutiyar Ghotona, and Golokdham Rahasya and aired onBioscopelive from September 2017. The series became available in India on digital platformAddatimes.
In 2020 a streaming television series was made, named ‘Feluda Pherot’ based on the iconicBengali detective and there will be two popular stories, ‘Chhinnamastar Abhishap’ and 'Joto Kando Kathmandute'. Bengali actorsTota Roy Chowdhury is playing the main character 'Feluda' and Kalpan Mitra as 'Topesh' seemed to be his young assistant and the iconic characterLalmohan Ganguly, alias 'Jatayu' is playing byAnirban Chakraborty who played the main character in Detective SeriesEken Babu before.
It is available to stream on the web platformaddatimes. The song which has been sung byRupankar Bagchi,Rupam Islam andAnupam Roy was out on 2 May 2020 on Srijit Mukherji's Facebook account and Anupam Roy's YouTube channel. The trailer of the Feluda Pherot Season 1 Chhinnamastar Abhishap is released on 21 November 2020 and the trailer of the Feluda Pherot Season 2 Joto Kando Kathmandute is released on 22 November 2020.The Season 1 released on 26 December 2020.
The second series namedFeludar Goyendagiri is also under production from Hoichoi streaming service with the same cast and crew of Feluda Pherot. Darjeeling Jawmjawmat, the first season released on 17 June 2022. Hoichoi has announced the release date for Feludar Goyendagiri 2: Bhuswargo Bhoyonkawr. The Feluda series will release on December 20, 2023.
The story is centered onFeluda (Parambrata Chattopadhyay) andTopshe (Rwitobroto Mukherjee) who are on a family vacation inGangtok. During their trip, they meet Sasadhar Bose who asks Feluda to investigate the sudden and brutal death of his business partner, Selvankar. As Feluda delves deeper into the case, he suspects foul play and discovers that the key to solving the mystery lies in an ancient artifact called Yamantak, which contains a hidden message.The narrative follows Feluda as he navigates through the complexities of the case, which involves a grieving father, a distant son, and a ruthless killer who will stop at nothing to get their hands on the treasure. The series showcases Feluda in a new light, as he races against time to uncover the true culprit behind the murder and bring justice to the victim.[verification needed][verification needed] Shabash Feluda is released on released on 5 May 2023 on ZEE5.
In 2010 an animated TV film produced by DQE Productions titledFeluda: The Kathmandu Caper was produced and the rights were acquired byDisney Channel (India). The movie premiered on 1 January 2011.[12] DQE Productions also made a 13-episode animation series namedMysteries and Feluda after the animated TV film forDisney XD. The series including the TV film was set into a new universe, where Feluda, Topshe and Jatayu have many gadgets.
Some of the Feluda stories have been made into comic strips by artists and authors. Abhijit Chattopadhyay creates a comic strip based on Feluda stories in every Pujabarshiki Anondomela. The comics are published byAnanda Publishers. English versions of comics have appeared inThe Telegraph.
Penguin Books has released comic book versions of around 6 Feluda mysteries. The art is drawn byTapas Guha and the script is bySubhadra Sen Gupta.[13]
In a collaborative album brought out in 1996 by HMV, Kabir Suman sings a 'Feludar Gaan' (Feluda's song). The song written byKabir Suman was first publicised atSandesh magazine on the special Feluda 30 issue released in December 1995 on the completion of 30 years of Feluda stories. Later in a collaborative album by HMVChoto Boro Miley (1996) the song was composed and performed by three-legend singer-songwriterKabir Suman,Nachiketa Chakraborty andAnjan Dutt.
Later many of Bengali songs have references and symbols of Feluda franchise including "Calcium" byAnjan Dutt from the albumPurono Guitar (1995).
A Bengali documentary filmFeluda: 50 Years of Ray's Detective in 2019 was directed by Sagnik Chatterjee. This is the first biopic of India based on a fictional character. This film was released on 7 June 2019.[14]
Nearly every Feluda story was published annually in thePujabarshiki Sandesh and Desh(the edition ofdesh and sandesh commemorating theDurgapuja published every year). Thereafter the stories were published as hard-back editions byAnanda Publishers.In 2015 Feluda celebrates his 50 th years after appearance. This is printed as 'Feluda 50' in anandamela.[citation needed]
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