Feluda ki Fail??
“Feluda needs to Change….Its time that the director considers a complete makeover of the character”. These words screamed out of the newspaper, a day after a new movie, the 3rd in the series, based on a novel by Satyajit Ray was released.
Nonsense, I thought, as I finished reading the article. Satyajit Ray’s Feluda stories have literally been a part of our growing years. It was the Puja time, when one used to eagerly wait for the annual offering from a reputed Bengali publication house, simply because it contained a new adventure of Feluda; the private detective who was always a step ahead of even the smartest criminal in the world. Even when the son of the illustrious father had decided to re-start the Feluda movies with “Bombaiyeer Bombete”, it was quite a success.
I was reminded of the earlier Feluda movies that I had seen. I was a young boy, 10 years old then. The movie had been made by the great man himself, Satyajit Ray. The photographs of Sonar Kella is still vivid in my memory, after all these years. I can still recall the horror I felt when the professor was put to death by the bad men. I can still recall how thrilled I had felt on seeing Feluda dressed as a sage and plotting the capture of the criminal in Joy Baba Felunath. Given an opportunity, I would still pay to watch the villainous Utpal Dutta inflict psychological torture on Jatayu by employing a one eyed, old, knife thrower to demonstrate his skills.
Watching the latest Feluda thriller, made me suddenly aware that something has changed from the earlier years. One is unable to derive the thrill as before. Probably the critic who had written the piece in the newspaper about Feluda requiring a make up, is right after all. Yet, when I sit down to think about what is it that has changed from the earlier days, I fail to come up with concrete answers. Is it that the son is not as adept as the father and is not able to do justice to the screenplay? Is it that the actors who play the legendary characters of Jatayu, Topshe and Feluda are no match compared to the charm and the charisma of the former actors? Is it that the stories themselves are old-fashioned and therefore have lost their significance in the fast paced, modern world of today?
Or is it that we have grown too old and have lost a lot of our boyish enthusiasm that made the films a delight in our yester-years? The stress of modern day living has probably killed the simple boy, that used to live inside us. The “boy” living inside me, is no longer attracted by the sight of the towers of Hong Kong and the chowmein eating Chinese residents of Hong-Kong; he has witnessed the growth of sky-scrapers in Kolkata in recent past and neither does chowmein eating Chinese interest him as his rich father can afford to feed him the best Chinese dish available in Calcutta, whenever he wants it. The grown up man that I have become, neither gets excited by the high speed car-chase in Hong Kong, nor marvels at the dexterity with which Feluda loosens the ropes that bind his wrist. I am also amused by the pain taken by the villain in declaring his plans to Feluda. Everyone had inkling as to who was the villain right from the beginning, removing the element of surprise that had helped rivet the viewers’ attention in the previous movies. Finally, I can’t help coming back to the car chase that was supposed to be the grand finale of the film. It is only in India, where over-speeding is illegal but people still manage to get away with it. Such a thing is unthinkable in Hong-Kong, where motoring rules are so strict that even the passenger sitting at the back of the car is supposed to wear a seat-belt! There were no cops to be seen anywhere in the film. Unlike in Bollywood movies, where a car chase of this kind involves lot of thrills in form of dangerous swerves, near collisions, traffic light violations, etc, no such things were on display here. The car chase was also a missed opportunity to show the public a little more of the beautiful bridges over the sea and the wonderful tunnel that Hong Kong is famous for. When the chase does end, one realises that the money at stake was in the form of a paper cheque!! Wouldn’t it have been so easy for the antique dealer to simply call his bank and ask them to cancel the cheque rather than go driving around Hong Kong trying to catch the crook? The car chase, to my opinion, was a missed opportunity and could have been replaced with something better that would have given the public a sight-seeing trip of the Hong-Kong City.
The only thing worth remembering in this film is what can be termed as the negative aspect of the film-the killing of the golden retriever. While a dog lover would feel real pity at the way, the attacker takes advantage of the dog’s friendliness, full marks to Feluda for coming up with the correct answer to the question of why the dog was killed in the first place. That was a real tricky one.
A note of warning for Feluda as well-the beer belly is showing. Its probably time for the director to return back with a fitter, trimmer and a health conscious Feluda. If the good ol’ Amby can be replaced by modern aero-dynamic cars of the modern era, I don’t think Feluda will lose his charm much if he suddenly decides to quit smoking in the interest of maintaining his sharpness and agility!
Nonsense, I thought, as I finished reading the article. Satyajit Ray’s Feluda stories have literally been a part of our growing years. It was the Puja time, when one used to eagerly wait for the annual offering from a reputed Bengali publication house, simply because it contained a new adventure of Feluda; the private detective who was always a step ahead of even the smartest criminal in the world. Even when the son of the illustrious father had decided to re-start the Feluda movies with “Bombaiyeer Bombete”, it was quite a success.
I was reminded of the earlier Feluda movies that I had seen. I was a young boy, 10 years old then. The movie had been made by the great man himself, Satyajit Ray. The photographs of Sonar Kella is still vivid in my memory, after all these years. I can still recall the horror I felt when the professor was put to death by the bad men. I can still recall how thrilled I had felt on seeing Feluda dressed as a sage and plotting the capture of the criminal in Joy Baba Felunath. Given an opportunity, I would still pay to watch the villainous Utpal Dutta inflict psychological torture on Jatayu by employing a one eyed, old, knife thrower to demonstrate his skills.
Watching the latest Feluda thriller, made me suddenly aware that something has changed from the earlier years. One is unable to derive the thrill as before. Probably the critic who had written the piece in the newspaper about Feluda requiring a make up, is right after all. Yet, when I sit down to think about what is it that has changed from the earlier days, I fail to come up with concrete answers. Is it that the son is not as adept as the father and is not able to do justice to the screenplay? Is it that the actors who play the legendary characters of Jatayu, Topshe and Feluda are no match compared to the charm and the charisma of the former actors? Is it that the stories themselves are old-fashioned and therefore have lost their significance in the fast paced, modern world of today?
Or is it that we have grown too old and have lost a lot of our boyish enthusiasm that made the films a delight in our yester-years? The stress of modern day living has probably killed the simple boy, that used to live inside us. The “boy” living inside me, is no longer attracted by the sight of the towers of Hong Kong and the chowmein eating Chinese residents of Hong-Kong; he has witnessed the growth of sky-scrapers in Kolkata in recent past and neither does chowmein eating Chinese interest him as his rich father can afford to feed him the best Chinese dish available in Calcutta, whenever he wants it. The grown up man that I have become, neither gets excited by the high speed car-chase in Hong Kong, nor marvels at the dexterity with which Feluda loosens the ropes that bind his wrist. I am also amused by the pain taken by the villain in declaring his plans to Feluda. Everyone had inkling as to who was the villain right from the beginning, removing the element of surprise that had helped rivet the viewers’ attention in the previous movies. Finally, I can’t help coming back to the car chase that was supposed to be the grand finale of the film. It is only in India, where over-speeding is illegal but people still manage to get away with it. Such a thing is unthinkable in Hong-Kong, where motoring rules are so strict that even the passenger sitting at the back of the car is supposed to wear a seat-belt! There were no cops to be seen anywhere in the film. Unlike in Bollywood movies, where a car chase of this kind involves lot of thrills in form of dangerous swerves, near collisions, traffic light violations, etc, no such things were on display here. The car chase was also a missed opportunity to show the public a little more of the beautiful bridges over the sea and the wonderful tunnel that Hong Kong is famous for. When the chase does end, one realises that the money at stake was in the form of a paper cheque!! Wouldn’t it have been so easy for the antique dealer to simply call his bank and ask them to cancel the cheque rather than go driving around Hong Kong trying to catch the crook? The car chase, to my opinion, was a missed opportunity and could have been replaced with something better that would have given the public a sight-seeing trip of the Hong-Kong City.
The only thing worth remembering in this film is what can be termed as the negative aspect of the film-the killing of the golden retriever. While a dog lover would feel real pity at the way, the attacker takes advantage of the dog’s friendliness, full marks to Feluda for coming up with the correct answer to the question of why the dog was killed in the first place. That was a real tricky one.
A note of warning for Feluda as well-the beer belly is showing. Its probably time for the director to return back with a fitter, trimmer and a health conscious Feluda. If the good ol’ Amby can be replaced by modern aero-dynamic cars of the modern era, I don’t think Feluda will lose his charm much if he suddenly decides to quit smoking in the interest of maintaining his sharpness and agility!
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