Soumitra da, bhalo thakben

Soumitrada was a ‘Gaach’. He was not extravagant. Subtlety was his forte. His humour was subtle. His art was subtle. His poetry was subtle. He loved to hear. He did not interrupt anyone in the middle.

A cricket enthusiast, he thought geniuses like Bradman live forever in the minds of people. He was Bradman of the Bengali film fraternity.

He liked technical perfection in films, but not at the cost of vitality and life force. He was well-read. Mahabharata was his constant companion. His understated sophistication was worth a thing for emulation.

He loved Bengal, its heritage, and its ambiance. He loved Coffee House culture. His ordinariness made him understand the struggles of the common man.

About Soumitrada, Marie Seaton writes, “His chief asset was the natural sensitivity of his appearance.” Soumitrada was like Apu. "I was somewhat like Apu as one who does not belong to the metropolis, in the beginning, coming from a distant semi-village background, with a rural tinge in his character. And then this big city sort of engulfs him and opens so many windows of the bigger world, and that kind of evolution was part of many, many of our generation."

Soumitrada was Feluda, a proud private investigator. Feluda is Sherlock Holmes of Bengal. Feluda is well known, yet a mystery. The essence of this character is in the unfolding of the mystery. The place where the story unfolds is very important for the story. The period is woven into the story to make it credible.

Feluda is a combination of mental and physical agility. Feluda is assisted by his cousin Topshe. Topshe has blind admiration for his Feluda. Their cheerful companion is Jatayu, a crime thriller writer.

Feluda stories are not gruesome. Blood doesn’t ooze out now and then to create panic but is delightful enough for the eyeballs to explode.

Feluda is tall (six ft, Soumitrada is five ft eleven and a half inches) reserved, upright, honest to the core, well-read, and interested in all things. He is much more than a private investigator. Yet he is not a superhero. He has many shortcomings of a common man. He is sarcastic. Sometimes he is too harsh to Jatayu. His companions are common people.

One of Feluda’s advisors is Sidhu Jethu. Sidhu Jethu has a photographic memory and extensive knowledge of a variety of subjects.

Feluda is Satyajit Ray’s mouthpiece. He said through his stories what he could not have said otherwise. Satyajit Ray was careful to point out middle-class hypocrisy and behaviour. His Feluda maintained equal distance from the ossified bhadrolok and the rampaging chotolok. One of Ray’s favourite chotolok is Maganlal Meghraj with ‘sunken eyes, set under thick, bushy eyebrows, a blunt nose, thick lips, and a pointed chin’. Maganlal thinks he can buy everything with money.

Bengalis love to travel, and it is very well captured in Feluda stories. Sonar Kella made Jaisamer a major tourist attraction. Benaras is the favourite of Ray. Some of Feluda’s favourite spots of action are Darjeeling (Feludar Goendagiri), Lucknow (Badshahi Angti), Sikkim (Gangtokey Gondogol), Rajasthan (Sonar Kella), Shimla (Baksho Rahasya), Aurangabad (Kailashe Kelenkari), Varanasi (Joy Baba Felunath’), Mumbai (Bombaiyer Bombete), Kathmandu (Joto Kando Kathmandute).

Feluda’s mantra: “It is foolish to accept or reject anything without sufficient evidence. If you don’t keep an open mind, you’re a fool.”

Feluda’s approach is scientific. He believed in identifying patterns. Aberrations in patterns helped him in identifying the culprit. His science consisted of art. He is well organized in his everyday living.

Soumitra Chatterjee is not another Holmes. He is Feluda of 21, Rajani Sen Road, Kolkata. He doesn’t smoke a cigar. He smokes Charminar. He knows that he is smart, but he is not consumed by his smartness. For Soumitrada, “Felu is not a James Bond, he is not a Byomkesh, he is not a man with muscle. It is about his brains.”

I have known Soumitrada for more than four decades. My interactions with him were always at the family level. He had been to our home at Jaipur a couple of times. Soumitrada’s humanity has always overwhelmed us. We have never come back without eating ‘luchi-alur dom’ from their place. My wife was always their daughter, and I Sougat and Mitil’s Jamaibabu.