Feluda

Feluda
Created by Satyajit Ray (1921-92)

PRADOSH CHANDRA MITTER, more commonly known as FELUDA is a thirty-something private eye created by the well known Indian filmmaker Satyajit Ray. The character made his debut in 1965 in the popular Bengali children’s magazine Sandesh that Ray edited, beloved by both children and adults, appearing regularly in novellas and short stories until the author's death in the 1990s.  Usually, a Feluda story would appear in the special Puja (an Indian festival) edition of that magazine, or Desh a magazine published by the printing house for Ray’s novels and story collections.  Ray also wrote other stories for children.

Feluda is a private detective living at 27, Rajani Sen Road, a middle class suburb in Southern Calcutta.  Playing Watson to Feluda's Sherlock Holmes was his younger teenage cousin, Topshe, and the two were usually accompanied on their cases by their older friend, pulp writer Lalmohan Ganguli, who offered some comic relief, as well as occasional logistical support.  A nice post-modern touch was provided by references to Ganguli’s own detective creation, Prakhar Rudra, whose name phonetically resembled Feluda’s Bengali name.  Ganguli used his nom-de-plume ‘Jatayu’ (a mythical bird in the Indian epic, Ramayana) for his literary output.  His works would be very popular with the young children in Feluda’s stories, much to the latter’s disdain, which would sometimes find a release through cutting comments on various geographical or historical inaccuracies in Ganguli’s stories.  Rudra’s adventures would even shared the same alliterative titles in Bengali (eg. ‘Shaharay Shihoron’, or ‘Shivers In The Sahara’) as Feluda’s early stories.

Although the influenced of Doyle's Holmes is obvious, the stories were aimed at children, and therefore went easy on the sex (in fact, there were hardly any female characters other than aunts and grandmothers) and violence (usually the threat of his raised Colt revolver would disarm villains).

Nevertheless, Ray had a real knack for savvy and innovative plotting, which may explain why Feluda was adored, and his depictions of an ever-changing India offer an intriguing and heartfelt commentary on that country and virtually defined almost two generations of Bengalis.  The stories were written in easy to understand ‘spoken’ Bengali (as opposed to the more elaborate version of the ‘good’ Bengali literature), and crammed with knowledge, much of it courtesy Feluda himself and his paternal uncle Sidhu who had a habit of storing newspaper cuttings in scrapbooks. There is much speculation that Feluda’s character was modeled on Ray himself, as he shares Ray’s love for trivia, tall physique and even a tendency for smoking heavily (Feluda smokes the Charminar brand).  Ray, am accomplished graphic artist, designed the book jackets and provided the illustrations inside.

Feluda’s only principal villain would be the rich and crooked businessman Maganlal Meghraj, who has appeared in ‘Joy Baba Felunath’ and ‘Joto Kando Kathmandu’.

Other than being one of the most well-known Indian literary creations, the books are bloody good, and not to be missed. And for those whose Bengali isn't quite up to snuff, many of Feluda's books have also been translated into English and published by Penguin Books. As well, there have been features films (including two directed by Ray, as well as a couple directed by his son, Sandip Ray, himself a noted director), TV adaptations, radio shows and even a comic strip.  Ray’s directed feature Sonar Kella (1974), the first screen appearance of Feluda, is arguably the most popular Bengali children’s movie ever. 

SHORT STORIES

NOVELLAS

COLLECTIONS

FILMS
The role of Feluda was originally played, in two Bengali films directed (as well as edited, scripted and scored) by Satyajit Ray himself, by Soumitra Chatterjee, who had starred in many of Ray’s other movies. Sabyasachi Chakraborty took over from Baksha Rahasya’(1996) onwards. Jatayu was played originally by Santosh Dutta, and Ray even drew the character in his stories based on Dutta.  Later, in Baksha Rahasya, Rabi Ghosh took over the role. Finally by Bibhu Bhattacharya after the death of Santosh Dutta.

TELEVISION

There have also been several hour long episodes made for Indian TV (part of the Hindi-language series ‘Satyajit Ray Presents’ directed by his son Sandip) featuring the adventures of Feluda. In these Shashi Kapoor played Feluda with Mohan Agashe as Jatayu.

RADIO
Other than the BBC versions below, Ananda Publishers have also released an audio version of Baksho Rahasya ("The Suitcase Mystery"), the cover of which is pictured.. It stars the original cast from the first two films in the main roles, along with many other well-known actors from Bengali cinema.  According to the credits, Satyajit Ray directed the radio play, but no other details are provided (including the year of broadcast). From the cast details, it is estimated to be from the early 1980s.

COMIC STRIPS
Evidently the individual strips appeared in The Telegraph (Kolkata)., but they've also been collected in graphic novels which you can preview and buy here. Among the story arcs that have run so far are:

Respectfully submitted by Tipu Purkayastha, with additional legwork by Kevin Burton Smith.

About the illustration: Pictured at the top of the page are Feluda and his young cousin Topshe, as they appeared in their 1965 debut appearance, "Feludar Goendagiri." The original illustrations -- by Ray himself -- are what we all remember, and our image of Feluda will always be that.

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