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Whodunit...!!
Jan 15, 2005 07:00 PM 13320 Views
(Updated Jan 15, 2005 07:02 PM)

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The man is hailed as the best film-maker India has ever produced, genius, brilliant, excellent and incomparable are some of the words used synonymously with his name. He was awarded the lifetime achievement award by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 1992. We all know his greatness as a film-maker but very few of us know that the man was a master story teller as well, one who could conjure gripping tales to fascinate his readers and leave them spellbound. I am talking about none other then the epitome of Bengali bhadralok and the man who came closest to being India?s Renaissance man, Satyajit Ray.


Ray da was at ease as much in the field of literature as in the moving images of the cinema world. In 1969, he revived the Bengali magazine Sandeshwhich was started by his grandfather in 1913, and it was through the annals of this mag, that the world first came to know of a smart, suave, brilliant minded, Charminar smoking sleuth called Pardosh Mitter aka Feluda.


Feluda comes across as a witty, sophisticated, alert and supremely multi-faceted man who doubles as an able detective when his services are called upon either by individuals seeking to solve a case or when the police find something beyond their comprehension. His name also has a meaning hidden in it par means others, dosh means mistakes, crimes and amoral things, while his surname mitter can mean different things right from an eraser ala someone who rubs/wipes off the mistakes of others to a Bengalified version of meter, one who keeps a tab on the mistakes and crimes of the others.


Ray doesn?t hide his love for detective writing and he used to tell his friends what would be the response of the masses if someone wrote detective novels in India. In his foreword to his book, he confesses that he has ?been an avid reader of crime fiction for a very long time.? the response of the first Feluda story startled him ?as he writes, ?I scarcely imagined he would prove so popular that I would be forced to write a Feluda novel every year.?


Ray was an avowed fan of Sherlock Holmes and the Clarkian style of writing. The characterization and setting of his stories draw a lot from the Holmes brand and the inspirational connection can not be overlooked. Feluda comes across as a powerfully built, very agile and able character, and his commitment towards his work and his grasping powers are legendary so to speak. In the Holmesian genre, Ray?s Felu is assisted by his able nephew Topshe a la Dr Watson, who narrates the stories as third party accounts.


The late night sessions of Felu as he engrosses himself into the complexities of the case and his addictive smoking of the Charminar reminds one of Holmes liking for solving the case with a pipe for company. The dialog between Topshe and Feluda as they try to solve the case in a question and answer format is again a direct inspiration from the Sherlock-Watson chemistry. Much like Holmes, Felu would rely on the writing skills of Topshe to help him recall the nitty gritties of the case, as Topshe would scribble things like Watson used to, when on a case. In 1971 Ray added a third central character, Lalmohan Ganguly who writes potboiler thrillers under the pen name of Jatayu.


The stories are translated from Bengali to English by Gopa Majumdar and Chitrita Banerjee and published by Penguin India Books. Gopa won herself a katha for her wonderful translations and bringing popular Bengali works to the millions of non-Bengali masses. The stories written between 1969 and 1922 total up an impressive 34, each one of them a gripping tale of Felu?s detective genius as he helps unravel the complex cases and nabs the baddies.


What makes Felu stories special is the hitherto lack of the mystery genre writing in India. The fact that people can relate to the locales much better then those of downtown London in the Sherlock Holmes work breeds a sense of familiarity. Ray brilliantly blends the locales in his works as he talks about the Calcutta potholes or the frequent power cuts and the overall ineptitude which seem to have become the trademark of contemporary India. What sets his stories apart from the normal mystery is the lack of gore and macabre settings in them, since the stories were meant largely for the kids, Ray makes sure that they don?t make the readers twitch and dream things while they sleep. He also sprinkles in sly commentary here and there for the adult readers who would understand them better then the kids. He talks about the ineptitude of the municipal corporation or the burglar?s use of the power cut to stage his escape.


Felu novels travel from the bylanes of Calcutta to the deserts of Rajasthan to the Cornwall coasts. Ray wonderfully weaves in the landscape of India in his works and comes up with riveting mystery writing. Much like the Holmesian stories, Felu plots also don?t talk about the relatives and friends of Felu, they stick to the central characters and those involved with the crime right from the client to the goons. Also lacking in the plots is the presence of women something which seems surprising as it comes from a man of Ray?s stature who created some iconic female characters through his movies. Felu stories are simple yet effective; the language is easy and doesn?t test the reader one bit. Yet the plots are weaved in an irresistible manner.


Four novellas the golden fortress, the buccaneer of Bombay, trouble in the graveyard, mystery at Golok Lodge have been put together in this omnibus collection which is a delight for the readers, both the laity and the discerning. The plot unravels at a fast and furious pace, keeping the reader at the edge of his/her seat. The stories speak volumes about Ray?s brilliance as a wonderful story teller, he leaves a few loose ends here and there for the reader to apply his wits to and find the answer to. The stories come as a pleasant respite for the mystery lover as they have a distinct Indian touch to it. I am not talking about the specific plots on purpose as it would rob the fun, right?


The discerning would notice a parallel with the popular detective Bomkesh Bakshi played by Rajit Kapoor not long back ago on good old Doordarshan. The typical Bengali setup of the serial and the way the stories are told have a distinct Felu stamp on them. The book is a must read for anyone who enjoys mystery and detective stuff. It may not be as vivid as Sherlock Holmes exploits or the maverick brilliance of Hercule Poirot or a Mrs. Maple, but Feluda holds his own in this esteemed coterie as well.


It is a wonderful traveling companion and definitely a good pass time read for everyone. People into serious reading would not be able to scorn it off like a Shoba De or an Arundhati Roy, this much I can vouch for. One would find it a pleasant change from the boring days at the office and definitely better to read them then sit through the tortures of the K serials dished out by Ekta Kapoor.


P.S. Once you have read them please let me know what was the experience like and how did you relate to it vis-a-vis Sherlock Holmes and the Clarkian brand of mystery story telling?


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