A fitting tribute

Satyajit Ray and his inimitable creation Feluda series have always been mandatory in every Bengali household. What Ray had initiated as books has sooner or later made into films, which has touched the hearts of Bengalis.

Their love for Feluda and Prodosh Chandra Mitra has been passed on for generations. The quintessential background score still reminds us of the days of Sonar Kella and Joy Baba Felunath. Celebrating the legacy of 50 years, Sandip Ray brought back Sabyasachi Chakraborty as Feluda and Saheb Bhattacharya as Topse in Double Feluda.

Double Feluda narrates two stories on either half of the interval based on Satyajit Ray’s classics Samaddarer Chabi (The Key of Samaddar) and Golokdham Rahashya (The mystery in Golokdham).

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The first story is based on Samaddarer Chabi’ (The key of Sammadder) where a 82-year-old man, a passionate collector of exquisite musical instruments passes away uttering his last words related to ‘Chabi’ or key, leaves his nephew Manimohan Samaddar (Bratya Basu) in haze as to what exactly he meant by those words. Speculating his uncle’s words as a hint for money, he seeks help from Prodosh Chandra Mitra (Sabyasachi Chakraborty) and his cousin Topse (Saheb Bhattacharya) to unravel the mystery of key.

The second story based on Golokdham Rahashya deals with a Nihar Dutta (Dhritiman Chatterjee), a scientist who lost his eyes in an explosion at his laboratory comes in touch with Feluda to help him to get back his most prized research papers that gets stolen by his assistant Ronojit (Gourab Chakraborty).

The plot takes a new twist when a tenant of the house Mr Dastur (Biswajit Chakraborty) gets murdered and Feluda and Topshe find themselves looking for clues in the old, palatial house.

Told in two-fold narrative, the plot is clearly divided with Sabyasachi Chakraborty and Saheb Bhattacharya playing the only link between the two parts.

With no superfluous exaggeration, and unnecessary complications, the plot is simple and well-knitted. Ray has done a real good job, keeping the plot in mind. He succeeds in engaging the audience to the intriguing narrative. However, the screenplay is a bit slow.

Nonetheless, Sabyasachi Chakraborty as Feluda does an incredible job in justifying the role. His razor-sharp intellect, smart performance and spontaneous actions will make everyone love the film but unlike Sabyasachi, Saheb Bhattacharya as Topse on the other hand fails to meet with the expectation of the audience. He has very little to offer except a few dialogues. Dhritiman Chatterjee as the blind vengeful scientist gets into the skin of the character and adapts the nitty-gritty of the role.

The movie ends with a few anecdotes from the actors of Sonar kella, Joy Baba Felunath and Kailashe Kelenkari who were once a part of this magical journey.

The film rightly pays tribute to the icon of Bengali cinema Satyajit Ray and makes it a worthy watch.

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