Feluda – Ray’s Creation

Feluda – Ray’s Detective

Satyajit Ray (1921 – 1992), the world renowned film director, was also a screen writer, author, lyricist, magazine editor, illustrator, calligrapher and composer. He is considered one of  the biggest influences on children’s and young adults’ literature in Bengali.

He created many memorable characters in his stories uniquely embellished by their sketches drawn by him. One of his iconic creations is the detective, Pradosh Chandro Mittir or Felu Mittir , a balanced combination of brawn and brains, hailing from a middle class Bengali family and his Watsonian cousin, Tapesh Ranjan Mittir or Topshe. The third of the Three Musketeers is the most endearing persona of Laal Mohun Ganguly , the detective story writer with the pen name Jatayu , the mythical bird from the epic Ramayana. The threesome had many thrilling adventures and escapades together while Jatayu provided the comic relief in the tense and dramatic storytelling by Ray.

Feluda, where da is the short form of dada, the respectful address for an elder brother, is still a household name and will remain so forever. He became the role model for sleuths subsequently created by other Bengali writers. Feluda is a voracious reader and a knowledge gatherer. He maintains his physique by yoga. This perfect balance of a thinking man with physical agility was a wake up call to Bengali youths and to make them aware that sharpness of mind required physical as well as mental exercises.

Later when Ray translated these stories on the silver screen the actors who immortalized these three characters seemed as though they had come alive out of his sketches.

The signature background score (composed by Ray), of these films are as immortal as his characters

The cover photos of the video are of Ray himself and of the doyen of Bengali films, Soumitra Chatterjee, who was Ray’s muse (and later portrayed the character) when he visualised and drew Feluda’s profile.

Like James Bond, Feluda has been played by many actors. But the first two full fledged Feluda novels made into films by Ray himself had Soumitra Chatterjee essaying the role of the eponymous detective.

Footnote: This post is the first part of a twin post followed by

Feluda’s First Case

(All pics from Pinterest, Wikipedia and Google and video from YouTube)