Kolkata, Dec 22 (PTI) Bengali filmmaker Srijit Mukherji said his OTT series on Satyajit Ray’s fictional detective ‘Feluda’ will be his final work on the character.” As already announced, ‘Bhuswargo Bhoyonkawr’, where the ace sleuth solves a murder mystery in Kashmir, will be my last Feluda,” Mukherjee told PTI on Saturday.
“It has been an incredible journey of five years which started with ‘Chinnomawstar Obhishaap’ in 2019 as the caravan rolled across Kathmandu and Darjeeling before stopping at Kashmir,” he announced in a social media post on December 19.
The director told PTI, “Since I did not have the permission to adapt any fictional work on Feluda for the big screen, I feel the OTT budget will not permit me to shoot on the scale I want, taking viewers along with Feluda across the country to solve inter-state crimes and also faithfully recreate the period look of the 70s-80s in any web series.” At a special screening of ‘Feludar Goyendagiri: Bhuswargo Bhoyonkawr’ at a single screen on Thursday night before its streaming on OTT, Mukherjee told lead actor Tota Roy Choudhury, “As I said, without getting the rights to adapt Feluda works for the big screen, it will not be possible for us from the financial point of view to take up another Feluda work for the OTT platform with the background, locales, and settings to my satisfaction.
“Asked by the cast to reconsider, Srijit jokingly commented, “If you are really interested in me making another Feluda film (for the big screen), kindly urge the residents of 1 Bishop Lefroy Road.” He was referring to Satyajit Ray’s son Sandip Ray, who holds the copyright of Feluda’s works.
Srijit had previously adapted the exploits of the fictional detective in ‘Feludar Goyendagiri’ (2022), ‘Durgo Rawhoshyo (2023), ‘Feluda Pherot’ (Chhinamastar Abhishap in 2020), and ‘Feluda Pherot’ (Jawto Kando Kathmandute in 2023).” As the dust settles and I look back with Tota Roy Choudhury, Anirban Chakrabarti, and Kalpan Mitra, I find an iron-clad bond of trust and camaraderie which have guided us through this journey… And that also includes the 14-year-old Rhiju, who used to, and now never will, light up every schedule with his presence beside me at the monitor, making Feluda my happiest shoots ever,” Mukherjee said.
“We have treated bouquets and brickbats as the same, learned from both, and sought to seek and pray to God in our own way. For Feluda is akin to the concept of God, because everyone thinks their path (read casting, setting, and character interpretation) is true and authentic,” he said on a social media post.
The second season, titled ‘Feludar Goyendagiri: Bhuswargo Bhoyonkawr’, has actors Tota Roy Choudhury, Kalpan Mitra, and Anirban Chakrabarti in the lead roles of Feluda, Topshe, and Jatayu, respectively.
Mukherjee earlier said that in the second season of the series, ‘Feludar Goyendagiri’, released after a gap of two years, he has sought to bring alive the intense drama of Ray’s original work while offering a modern cinematic experience.
“Feluda is not just a detective but a cultural icon for Bengalis, epitomizing Bengaliness, intellectualism, wit, and knowledge. In this season, we have aimed to explore deeper moral dilemmas while delivering an edge-of-the-seat experience,” he told PTI.
He also mentioned, “Kashmir’s serene yet mysterious aura has added an unmatched visual grandeur to the whole narrative.” In this season, Feluda, Topshe, and Jatayu unravel a chilling mystery, where a retired judge’s past decisions come back to wreak havoc, leading to a trail of murder and deception. PTI SUS MNB SBN
This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.