Feluda is an Indian-Bengali detective media franchise created by Indian-Bengali film director and writer Satyajit Ray, featuring the character, Feluda. The titular character is a private investigator starring in a series of Bengali novels and short stories. The detective resides at 21 Rajani Sen Road, Ballygunge, Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Feluda first made his appearance in a Bengali children's magazine called Sandesh (সন্দেশ) in 1965, under the editorialship of Satyajit and Subhas Mukhopadhyay. His first adventure was Feludar Goendagiri (ফেলুদার গোয়েন্দাগিরি).
Feluda is often accompanied by his cousin who unofficially is also his assistant Tapesh Ranjan Mitter (affectionately called Topshe by Feluda), who serves as the narrator of the stories. From the sixth story, Sonar Kella (The Golden Fortress), the duo is joined by a popular thriller writer Jatayu (Lalmohon Ganguli).
Feluda has had been filmed at times, with the character been played by Soumitra Chatterjee, Sabyasachi Chakrabarty, Shashi Kapoor, Abir Chatterjee, Parambrata Chatterjee, Ahmed Rubel and Tota Roy Chowdhury. Satyajit Ray directed two Feluda movies — Sonar Kella (সোনার কেল্লা) (1974) and Joi Baba Felunath (জয় বাবা ফেলুনাথ) (1978). Sandip Ray made a new Feluda film series (continuation of the original series) on Feluda's adventures which started from Baksho Rahashya (1996). In this series, he made ten TV films and six theatrical films in Bengali on the character. Sandip Ray also made a stand-alone Feluda film Badshahi Angti (2014) which was intended to be the first film of a reboot series, but the series was canceled and Sandip Ray came back to the previous film series.
Stories
In the Feluda series there are 35 published and four unpublished stories. The list is chronologically arranged.
Color key
indicates "story". indicates "novel". indicates unfinished writings.
Films
Film Series Timeline
The first two film of the series was directed by Satyajit Ray in the 70's and later films by his son Sandip Ray from the 90's till now. In the first two films Sonar Kella (1974) and Joi Baba Felunath (1978), Feluda was played by Soumitra Chatterjee. Sabyasachi Chakrabarty was playing the character from Baksho Rahashya (1996) to Double Feluda (2016).
Hindi movie based on Feluda
In September 2016, Sandip Ray sold the rights to Sonar Kella to Pradeep Sarkar. Pradeep is to remake Sonar Kella, directed by Satyajit Ray, in Hindi. Nothing has been announced about the casting.
Scripting of the Hindi adaptation of this cult detective story is currently in progress. Over the years, many in Bollywood have expressed their desire to make Feluda in general and Sonar Kella in particular. Director Shoojit Sircar was in the news for hoping to adapt Sonar Kella in Hindi. However, Sarkar finally walked away with the prized rights.
"Yes, it's true that I have bought the rights of 'Sonar Kella'. It will be inspired from 'Sonar Kella'. I have the Hindi rights to only this film and not the Feluda series. I am trying to make something very different. Once this script is ready, I will discuss it with Sandip Ray," Sarkar said.
Incidentally, no other director apart from the maestro himself and his son have ever directed a Feluda film in Bengali. Only Bibhas Chakraborty has made two Feluda telefilms. However, Sandip has been open to the idea of a good director adapting Feluda in Hindi. "I have given the rights of Baba's short story to Dibakar Banerjee. I have always maintained that if the director is competent, I am open to giving the Feluda rights in Hindi," he said.
According to Ray, the original names of the characters, including Feluda, Topshe, Jatayu, Mukul and Mandar Bose, will be changed in the Sarkar film. "I wanted to give the Hindi remake rights to a Bengali director. The advantage is that a Bengali director will have read the original book and watched the film. Things became very easy-going when Pradeep Sarkar met me to discuss this adaptation. It was a very warm and friendly meeting," Ray said, keeping the charges for remake rights a secret.
By 2017, Ray expected Sarkar to show him the screenplay. "As of now, we have had no discussions regarding the casting," Ray said. Will he want to collaborate with Sarkar once the Hindi film goes on the floor? "No, it will be his baby," Ray said.