Feluda: A genre, an escape
and a philosophy
With romance being the staple for films and books, other genres are dying out though Satyajit Ray gave us a hero who embodies everything that the society calls eccentric. In Feluda the famed detective, we not only find childlike innocence but a character who shuns the prosaic and lives the unorthodox- not with raucous flashiness but with steady and ideal masculinity. Towheed Feroze writes on Feluda the detective and, Feluda the other side of Ray.
Prodosh Mitter or Feluda may appear unfamiliar to the young today (and that includes almost all twenty somethings) but those who grew up without the marauding of satellite channels and the deluge of rubbish that comes to us via the local channels, will remember the name with fond memories. At least there was a time when children and teenagers picked up the book to pass their leisurely hours. And, picking up a book almost inevitably meant a book by Satyajit Ray. Ray is mostly known as a filmmaker but if the word all-rounder is used as an epithet to refer to him, then, it would not be wrong. Indeed, he is as much a writer as he is a filmmaker. Indeed, many tend to focus on the writer rather than the filmmaker though one without the other is like looking at half of Satyajit Ray.
Anyway, while people – perhaps a little superficially-refer to him as the master presenter of an evolving society with its nuances and as a writer capable of weaving fantasy and suspense, they often fail to see the significant contribution of Ray in giving us a Bangla thriller genre both in writing and in films. Yes, Feluda comes up once again from the rusty chests of time and, the unfortunate thing is that almost all the discussions on Feluda are confined within a few observations that play around with sparkling adjectives. But, what is actually unique about Feluda? Is it just a detective series and do the films just provide some time-pass? Or is there some deeper meaning in the books and the films?
Of course, from a very casual assessment, Feluda stories have kept a dying genre alive and, come to think of it, today, in 2007, we do not have any detective fiction writers in Bangla. At least, not here in Bangladesh! And, making detective films is out of the question because over the ages our mindset has been systematically changed with mushy romance and, yes, more romance.
But, was there ever a large demand for detective films in the market? Maybe only among the detective fiction readers because when asked about making more films on Feluda, Ray once remarked with a dry smile that for that he needed money and very few people were willing to invest on a detective film. Yet, Ray did manage to produce two full-length films, Sonar Kella and Joy Baba Felunath. Soumitra played the role of Feluda and though the movies received acclaim they are hardly mentioned as mainstream Ray movies. However, Ray often quoted these films in his discussions and this goes to show where his actual love lay.
A deeper, more patient look at Feluda reveals a side of Ray himself – an alternative personality that is unconventional and different from the common man in pursuit of horribly common dreams. And, in fact, Feluda is not a man society would love to take in. He is polite but is a recluse, he is educated but uses his learning in an unorthodox way, he is a Bengali but often his mind works like an Englishman and though he is not a misogynist, his attraction towards women is minimal. Here, in this respect, Ray has borrowed, maybe subconsciously, from Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes. In truth, Ray in his detective novels and films have repeatedly shown us characters, which live in society but are not addicted to the common social habits. And, there in lies Feluda’s eccentricity. Or should we say the other side of Ray?
In none of Feluda’s adventures or films do we see the presence of the opposite sex and, maybe, that is why these films always tend to have very selective fans. Obviously, one does not have to be a loner and a woman hater but these movies relate to the other side of us, which often dreams of a non-traditional life. Ray himself was married, yet there was nothing wrong in his efforts to satisfy his other being by imagining something out of the normal. Feluda was that other side. The side, which does not care for the capitalist mantras, the side, which refuses to bow down to a profit-oriented life bereft of cerebral indulgence.
All of this sounds rather bizarre, doesn’t it? But there is a very simple way to explain all that – Ray, and his character Feluda are actually children living in a world not yet vitiated with putrid reality. Hence, the other characters of Feluda are often old retired zamindars living in secluded palatial houses surrounded by books and music. Again, the characters
Topshe, Feluda’s cousin and assistant and Lalmohon Babu, the naïve thriller writer are actually grownup children living with ideals where adventure, fun, food and acquiring of knowledge are main aspirations.
Thankfully, Sandwip Ray, son of Satyajit managed to keep this other side alive with his TV adaptations of almost all of Feludas adventures. The film, Baksha Rahashya is out in the market and in true Satyajit style sustains the unique philosophy that has come to embody Feluda, his adventures and his surroundings. Then, there is the ubiquitous leftist leitmotif that no one can shrug off and despite the world’s disillusionment with leftist politics, Ray, till the end, held on to his beliefs. And, Feluda has not been an exception. High thinking and moderate living have been the staple and the smoking of Charminar cigarettes, modest living conditions, the absence of a car and very little allusion to material matters speak clearly of Felu Mitters social orientation. And, Ray has managed to present the leftist hero with oomph.
Despite Feluda’s simple lifestyle, he is not anybody. His presence, intellect and even a proclivity towards physical well being often puts him on the plateau of a capitalist hero. There aren’t any gadgets or flashycars and women dying to take their clothes off but Feluda’s charm lies in his composed masculinity and that is where we hit spot on with the leftist hero.
From Sonar Kella to Baksho Rohashya and from Soumitra to Shabyashachi, the adventures and the characters have never come out of a set pattern and, in this territory the insipid banalities of actual life are missing. This is detective fiction with an idealised political doctrine. Be that as it may, Feluda is not on the main canvas now as young people have flashy things to keep them entertained and in this age, people seem to want fast entertainment and not the cerebral type. Razzmatazz may be the order of the day, but for many, who can manage to disentangle themselves from a clichéd existence the adventures of this detective is a world where no angst can walk into. Ray wrote the tales and made the films to provide us with a passage of thrill and his son is carrying on that task. Sadly, most tend to miss this getaway and lose themselves in modern day rot.
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