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A spy from another world

Feluda – 50 Years of Ray’s Detective marks the directorial debut of Sagnik Chatterjee that revolves around a completely fictional character created by none other than Satyajit Ray, a wonderful writer of children’s literature in addition to being the acclaimed filmmaker he was.

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Shoma A Chatterji

Feluda – 50 Years of Ray’s Detective marks the directorial debut of Sagnik Chatterjee that revolves around a completely fictional character created by none other than Satyajit Ray, a wonderful writer of children’s literature in addition to being the acclaimed filmmaker he was. The film bagged the National Award for being the Best Film by a debut director for a Non-Feature Film.

Feluda is a fictional detective, who is different from the legendary literary detectives one has known. And Sagnik, fraught with paucity of funds, worked for four long years to see his film come to fruition. The documentary brings to light the lesser-known designer self and literary genius of Satyajit Ray. In 2017, Feluda, a fictional detective, turned 50. 

About what was the trigger to make this unusual film, Sagnik Chatterjee says, “I wanted GenNext to know the details of their beloved character beside knowing only the film image. Feluda was born in Sandesh, grown up through Desh & books. These very important details are hardly known to the younger generations. Even many adults are not aware of  it.”

This iconic fictional private detective is known for his remarkable flair for observation and brilliant analytical and introspective qualities, along with physical attributes bordering on the fantastic. Right from its inception as a glorious milestone of Bengali literature, it garnered widespread popularity which grew all the more with films made on the character by Satyajit Ray himself, presently by his son Sandip Ray. The adventures of Feluda have also appeared in English, French, Italian, Japanese and so on.

This is the first Indian biopic on a fictional character, the documentary showcased and analysed the unique journey spanning fifty years through interviews, illustrations, rare film and audio clips, excerpts from radio plays, audio books, comic strips, etc. to explore how the character attained ‘cult’ status, and eventually became part of the socio-cultural existence. 

Says Sagnik, “As an only child,  reading books and active participation in sports were the only ways to engage myself. All my elder cousins, parents, other elders were addicted to Feluda stories. Everyone would spend hours discussing the details of Feluda adventures. Feluda introduced me to adventures, new places and opened a whole new world of knowledge. I loved other characters, too, which Ray brought alive with  his mind-blowing sketches and illustrations.”

The film contains some scenes shot in London where NRI Bengalis hooked on Feluda offer their insights into the character. When asked “Why London?” Sagnik says, “I went to London just to establish the relationship between Holmes and Feluda visually. Feluda considers Holmes his guru. Also in London 007 James Bond emerges, who has often been highlighted in many Feluda stories.”

For Sagnik, this film was a long cherished dream he wanted to come true. He waited for seven long years to see it come true. “When it came to an end, the parting was really painful. I spent the best four years of my life making the film learning something new every day. There were many obstacles and challenges which I fought with the help of Feluda’s lessons in grit and determination. The National Award has come like a blessing from above,” he sums up.

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