বাংলায় পড়ুন
Pradosh C. Mitter, aka Feluda, the ace Bengali detective created by the legendary Satyajit Ray, has a new theme park based on one of his most popular cases in Kolkata. On the 50th year of Satyajit Ray’s popular fictional private investigator character Feluda, this theme park has come up in the north-east fringes of the city.
The park, inaugurated by chairman-cum-managing director of the West Bengal Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation (HIDCO) in New Town area on last week, is dedicated to Sonar Kella (The Golden Fortress), the first and one of the two Feluda films directed by Ray in 1974. The theme park, named Sonar Kella Udyan, is dotted with motifs of Feluda, his nephew-cum-assistant Topshe aka Tapesh Ranjan Mitter and friend-writer Jatayu, aka Lal Mohan Ganguly on camelback trying to chase the kidnappers of Mukul, the boy who was kidnapped in the film based on a detective story by Ray.
In the park, there are cacti which are associated with Jayatu’s famous question to Feluda whether camels eat cacti after segregating thorns. There are date palm trees and wall paintings depicting some scenes from the film. The desert of Rajasthan has also been created impeccably. The whole thing is aimed at recreating the Sonar Kella effect for the theme park visitors, many of whom will fondly recall some of the unforgettable moments of the film.
An NKDA engineer pointed out that locals' consent was necessary since the colour of their buildings needed to be changed for developing the area on the theme. Today’s generation relates more to Chhota Bheem and Harry Potter. The idea behind the theme park is to help them identify with Feluda. In the film by Ray, there was a sequence where the three are able to catch a train after chasing it on camels. Replicas of several articles like Feluda’s green diary, pistol, etc. as one can find in the novel are on display.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the character of Feluda which first appeared in Bengali children’s magazine Sandesh. The Feluda films made by Satyajit Ray had Soumitra Chatterjee playing the detective.
