Sabyasachi suggested abir's name for feluda a film by kaustav ray, owner at rp techvision

1. EI.GUTTA IES, IHL iiKS IJI. TTH .,-1
MIII
'& r ,'-
r'1.'
'€;t'' 'i
Director Sandip Ray opens up 0n why he chose Satyajit Ray's'BadshahiAngti ';":-,. t*:;' {to reboot the Feluda series, his lead actor, shooting
#_Jeyqliqwglgtqffi srgp."qol
-
Pay says he had to take a few crs
ative liberties while adapting
Badshahi Angti: "This story was pub-
Iished in Sandesh (1966), which baba
,tsed to edit. It is diffrcult to replicate
the era. But I have tried to retain the
look and the feel: The Lucknow of t}te
1960s has changed beyond recognition.
Therefore, we lilmed in older parts of
the city which baba mentioned in the
story We shot extensively for three
. weeks in places like Bara lmarnbara
and other heritage sites. I w'as sw-
'prised to hear people still talking
about how baba had shot Slatranj I{e
:Khilari thQre. Here, I have to mention
an interesting anecdote... While I was
location-hunting in Hazratganj. I
found an old book depot and quite
' liked the place. After a litUe chitchat
with the store manage4 I was
informed that baba, when he was
seven-eight years old, used to visit the
shop to read eomic books. We had rela-
tives there... So, when the man came
to know that I was planning to shoot
*rere, he welcomed me with open
arms. Latex, I canned a few scenes at
the sho11 and wasn-t charged a pennyl
We even shot for a week in Haridwar"
Well aware that Bomkesh Bakshi
stories have been lapped up by both
Bollywood and Tbltwood, Ray is still
sh6ot
t.
.:
I he countdown has begun. In a
I few davs. the lid will be lifted
I otr BadshnhiAwi-morher
instalment of Sandip Rayis Feluda
series. But this time,around, it's Abt
Chatterjee, who willbe seen intherole
of the eponymous detective and
SouravDas as his cousin, Tbpshd.
Badshahi Aneti is one of the early
adventwes of Feluda
- set much
before talmohan Ganguly becarne an
ally to the sleuth. But that is not why
Ray chqse this story for film adapta-
tion. He says,"'We all lorow Benu
(Sabsachi Chataabarty) has done a
wonderftrl job as Feluda. But then he
was not getting any younger One da
while we were shooting Royal BerUal
Rohosn in 2011, I e4nessed my con-
cern. And it was Benu who suggested'
Abir's name. Butatthat time Abirwas
too young to play Feluda. Therefore, {'
had.to ranap up a few mort fllms with
Benu in quick succession. And now
that Abir has matured e4ough to slip
into Feluda's shoes, I thought, why
not? Also, as I wai planning to reboot
the series, I could only think of
Badshahi Aneti; it was the first Feluda
novel writtenbybaba andl love it. The
storycaptures thetime when Feluda is
beginning to shine as a detective. He
still doesn't have a visiting card and
his gquation with Ttrpshe is just a
brotherly bonding. Tbpshe is young
and looks up to Feluda but there's a
lot of leg-pulling too. Both being
keen observers,' the} complenient
eachother."
Content with the way the fllm has
shaped uO Ray adds, 'Abir suits the
character well and has that spark
- a
rare combination of intelligence,
courage and sense of humour
-whirh separates Feluda from the rest. I
know.people are used to seeing him as
Bomkesh Bakshi, xtdBoml*sh Phire
E/o is also releasing on the same day
in Lucknow and more
iri no mood to cat€r to the national
audience. "Oh, I am a Bomkesh fan.
But then, there's a familial bond with
Feluda (smiles). If you remembeq I
once made Klssa Katmand.u Ka for
Doordarshan, way back ilI 1986, with
Sashi Kapoor in the lead. Thoueh it
was appreciated in Delhi and Mumbai,
people rejected it in Bengal. The audi-
ence could not accept Shashi's stout
figure against the athtetic Feluda. I arn
not going to ' repeat the mistake.
Howeve4, I am open to ideas. If any
other filmmaker
- like 'Dibakar
Balerjee, who larows his subject and
the lalguage, is making Detectiue
Byomkesh Bakhi
- car, do justice to
Feluda then probably I won't mind.
Despite Sherlock Holmes's various
metamorphosed avatars that we get to
see on TV these'days, Jeremy Brett was
Holmes incarnated and remains my
a]l-time favourite. One has to remem-
be4 Feluda still doesn't carry a mobile
phone. He is a true-blue Bengali at
heart. Personally I don't want to dilute
his'Bangaliana' by fying something
different," concludes Ray
Bodslnshi Angti, produced by Shra
Venkalpsh Films, rel,eases on
December 19.
t-
A sketch by Sr
Badshahi A
actors replicd
important

2. I
tm[rniled in il murdgr mystsrrf
The cast of Anjan
Dutt's Boml<esh
Phire Elo reveal
fieir on-screen
characters to CT
a lumq,gaLgy r},gul€-sjoqpjcM
he super-sleuth of
Bengal, Bomkesh Bak-
shi, is back in action,
arid this time he is busy solving
the mystery surrounding the
murder of the affluent Beni
Prosad. Everyone in the palatial
family mansion is a suspect,
as the detective employs his
unique ways to sniff out the
murderer'. in Anjan Dutt's
Bomkesh Phire Elp. CT caught
up with the actors of the film,
who told us about their experi-
ences working in the film and
the characters they portray
Here's what they had to say..
,,-,11'r',.:r.l':,r ...1,,'-:',.. ThiSiS
myftird Bomkesh film asAit,fiough l'll
not be helping Byomkesh solve tE mur
der. Abir is superb in fiis film, which, I
hink is Anjanda's best Bomkesh till date.
Moreove[ Benisanghar, he novel which
was adapted for tis film, is my hvourite
Bomkesh mystery
. ': . . .
' For he first time, I
am playing an out-an-out dafl( cfiaracter
Ihe audience will be surprised to see
me! lplay Beni Prosad's alcoholic son-
in-law wfio is aho inb races and wom-
en! His mannerism and body language
arc sure b arouse suspicion. I feel fiis is
Anjan Dutt's best Bomkesh film till date.
'.i.'-1--.--i--'r," ..r..*
' ,. r.,J--t-|i
'' -.'l:t'lr
?' .i;' !.1'- n... '--1{,rf
I t:t.,t,.,,,.. -l
:
play Gayitri, Beni
daughter. Given her
alcoholic, womanizing
husband, the only bit
of solace in life comes
from her daughtel
played by Ena Saha.
i*ilxlffffi"i" IProsad just ahead ot
his death and so, she
is also a prime suspect
in the murder mystery.
That apart, it was a
pleasure to work with
Anian Dutt, who is a
super-cool director.
rSatyajit Ray in
iAngti; (above)
icate the scene
; r,'ril.'i:'.r . : I playAjoy,theeldestson of the house and atheatre
enthusiast. But my fathe4 Beni Prosad, is always up in arms against my
love for.theatre and one day, he gets murdered. Since we were always
crossing swords, I end up being one of the prime suspects. Anjanda has
done a commendable job, and l.feel this will be much better than the past
two Bomkesh films.
''
' : lt was a sheer delight to work
wih Anlan Dutt, my youfi icon Second-
ry, fm a great tan of Bomkesh. I play a
dishnt relative of Beni Prosad who is
.mudt better ofi tran he ofter family
members. lltas aslcd not b shave
firougtnut the film and my daracter's
body larguage also arouses suspicion.
'., , 'i. :i., This is my first Bomkesh
film. I play Medini, a girl from Bihar
who works as a cook in Aioyda's
house. She, too, becomes a suspect
when.the head of the house in which
she works gets murdered. From body
language to dialect, I had to change
everything t0 essay this character.
ffiff,
&!*:ii {.:i':.'-:-: i-il-1.iir.:::, tt's my tnirO
Bomkesh film and I can only wish three
cheers for it! I hope the people who had
loved me as Bomkesh will appreciate this
film too. ln this film Bomkesh doesn:t take
Ajit's help in solVing the case. So, the
whole responsibility is on his shoulders!
,i* -rr
BomkeshPhireEln, prodrced by W I