O Deus Elefante

I read some Feluda stories in my childhood. Since then I haven't ventured towards the book of the ace sleuth written by Ray that have endeared him to millions across the globe. I have seen several films of the detective though, two directed by Satyajit Ray himself, and quite a few directed by his son Sandip Ray. Among the multiplicity of themes that Ray explored in his films and in his writings, one often finds a thematic recurrence interspersed among his works. The core theme in JOYBABA FELUNATH - about a thriving business involving smuggling of heritage art objects from India to the West was also seen in his book KAILASHE KELENKARI, which has been made into a film by Sandip Ray. The penchant of Ray to showcase rare skills such as jugglery (Phatikchand) is again seen in this film in the spine-chilling act of a skilled marksman aiming at humans - it was filmed on 'Jatayu.' JOYBABA .. is an engaging, suspenseful film from the master filmmaker. The film has the Hindu holy city of Benaras as the backdrop. Apart from a fine performance by Soumitro Chatterjee in the role of Feluda, the film was elevated several notches by the terrific performance of Utpal Dutta as Maganlal Meghraj - rarely has Utpal Dutta looked so menacing as a villain, his act in Bollywood films playing the evil man was mostly comical. The pivotal child character in the film, endearing called Captain Spark, brought out the child that used to reside in Ray who was enchanted by magic, mysterious occurrences & other aspects of the supernatural, besides his love of adventure. Rating; 4 out of 5

Feluda is a Bengali Sherlock Holmes, created by Satyajit Ray himself in 1965, in hugely successful children's books, which had multiple film adaptations, two of them directed by Satyajit Ray himself, Sonar Kella (The Golden Fortress) from 1974 and a sequel, this Joi Baba Felunath (The Elephant God) from 1979, both starring Soumitra Chatterjee, accompanied by his young cousin Tapesh, played by Siddartha Chatterjee and the comic character of the series, the crime novelist Jatayu, played by Santosh Dutta (who was actually a criminal lawyer).

Feluda is an institution of Bengali culture and Indian children's literature.

Sandip Ray, Satyajit's son, kept the series successful, making dozens of films for cinema and television. The character also originated an animated film in 2010, several radio series, since the 80s, comics, internet series, music and documentaries.

In this film, Satyajit Ray shows a more playful side, both in terms of script and set of characters, far from the realistic drama that made him famous in the West, but which is nonetheless exemplary and had a tremendous influence. A true icon of Indian culture, particularly of the Bengali community.

Great characters and a tight story made this a satisfying detective story from Satyajit Ray, one featuring a detective of his own making, Feluda. It starts with a known art smuggler showing up at the home of an old college acquaintance, asking if he can buy a valuable idol of Ganesh from Nepal. Well, he asks, but it's in a threatening way, saying that usually he just takes what he wants. He's turned down, but a few days later the idol is stolen. Good thing Feluda (good old Soumitra Chatterjee) is visiting for a festival, accompanied by his assistant Topshe and a writer, Jatayu, who is a friend. He's commissioned by the elderly man of the house who is the owner of the Ganesh, and from there methodically works to unravel the mystery.

There is of course the obvious suspect, the unscrupulous man with both a motive and means for carrying out the crime (Utpal Dutt). He's an almost James Bond like villain, offering the detective a bribe while lounging on his bed, then breaking out a set of knives for an intimidating exhibition of a crusty old minion's skill, all while having hidden guns trained on them. He's also got a connection to a guy passing himself off as a holy man, one that Feluda wonders about from the beginning, remarking "Crooks tend to make a great show of piety."

There is also clearly the possibility that it was some kind of inside job, and it's an interesting set of people living under this roof. The elderly man is in the habit of reading detective fiction and taking a little opium before nighty night. His grandson loves comic books and a character named Captain Spark, and also loves playing on the roof and shooting his toy gun at visitors. There's the poor son of the man's employee who has lived with them for 20 years, and an idol maker who spends his time painting rather buxom statues in preparation for a festival. Meanwhile, back at the hotel Feluda is staying at, he and his companions share a room with a extremely buff body builder, and there's also a humorously picky lodger often showing up to complain about something.

I loved the construction of the story, the old school emphasis on brain power to noodle things out, and the indignation Ray shows to anyone who would pillage their own country's sacred artifacts. That latter bit was rather timely, seeing as how this past week the Met in New York came under greater scrutiny for its practice of buying what it knew to be looted artifacts for decades, including when this film was made. Anyway, great stuff, and some nice spiritual music as well, composed by Ray himself.

With very little frills, the story is more than wonderful. The characters of Feluda, Topesh and Jatayu have been vividly portrayed and Utpal Dutt played his role just too well. The alternate humorous and serious scenes kept up the goodness of the story.

A point worth noting is the intelligent way of revealing the mystery at the end of the story which did not appear throughout the film. There was no main mystery and the watchers knew from the very first scene that Maganlal Meghraj (Utpal Dutt) was the villain. Yet there were shots which were kept unexplained. However, the watchers made no attempt to put they grey matter into work as they, most naturally, assumed those scenes to be insignificant --- a bit of smoke that Meghraj noticed behind the curtains, the hiding of a diamond in Jatayu's story, the Lucknow Station on the radio and a lot more.

The brilliant climax was unexpected and still stands out of the other ordinary films.

Feluda, The Bengali Sherlock Holmes comes alive on screen again in this highly entertaining film. Based on the book and characters written by Ray himself he did a great job in creating a good follow up to the highly successful and intriguing 'Sonar Kella – The Golden fort '. Just like in the previous movie this one also contains a bunch of colorful characters played by the Crème de la crème of Bengali cinema most notably Mr. Utpal Dutta who plays a shady businessman involved in smuggling antiquities. This one is about a theft of a very valuable antique gold statue. So in comes Feluda accompanied by his faithful Topshe and the very hilarious Jatayu (Santosh Dutta at his comic best) and he is asked to investigate the theft by the owner and if possible retrieve the invaluable statue. The entire movie is set in the holy city of Varanasi and we get to witness a lot of the religious ceremonies associated with Hinduism and how the crime has intertwined itself with it. A lot of suspense and some very funny segments(especially the one with Jatayu and the knife thrower) make this movie totally worth the watch. It may not be a Sonar Kella but it definitely is in a class of its own. I recommend this film very highly. You will not be disappointed.