As a young Bengali girl , I came to know feluda through cinema and books.The books culminated a lot of my pre-teen years and will always be a foundation for my Bengali education. Hence Joy Baba felunath will always be special.
The story starts with the trio arriving in Varanasi for a holiday during the days leading up to Durga pujo. A precious statue is stolen from the Ghosal residence and feluda is called to help. It is soon revealed that Magalal Meghraj, a notorious smuggler is involved in it and thus begins Feluda's quest to nab him.
Ray is widely known for his serious cinema for adults but few beyond Bengal know about is amazing plethora of children's movies. Joy Baba Felunath is one such movie. The style is distinctly different from his "for adult movies" as unlike them the dialogues for this movie and his other children's movies are distinctly Bengali and untranslatable.
The performances are superlative. Soumitra , "the actor of parallel cinema", stands tall as feluda but is obviously overshadowed by Santosh Dutta as Jatayu and Utpal Dutta as Magalal Meghraj. Siddhartha Chatterjee as Tapesh is good as well.
The camera works is great but Ray never lets that take center stage.The scenes especially the one with the blind knife thrower and the climactic shot is one of the best in Indian cinema.
Therefore this is one of Ray's best work , but you may need to know Bengali to enjoy it.
Postscript
I had read the book long before I have seen the movie , yet the movie so engaging, has culminated my imagination.It is now difficult to disgust between the book and the movie.
The story starts with the trio arriving in Varanasi for a holiday during the days leading up to Durga pujo. A precious statue is stolen from the Ghosal residence and feluda is called to help. It is soon revealed that Magalal Meghraj, a notorious smuggler is involved in it and thus begins Feluda's quest to nab him.
Ray is widely known for his serious cinema for adults but few beyond Bengal know about is amazing plethora of children's movies. Joy Baba Felunath is one such movie. The style is distinctly different from his "for adult movies" as unlike them the dialogues for this movie and his other children's movies are distinctly Bengali and untranslatable.
The performances are superlative. Soumitra , "the actor of parallel cinema", stands tall as feluda but is obviously overshadowed by Santosh Dutta as Jatayu and Utpal Dutta as Magalal Meghraj. Siddhartha Chatterjee as Tapesh is good as well.
The camera works is great but Ray never lets that take center stage.The scenes especially the one with the blind knife thrower and the climactic shot is one of the best in Indian cinema.
Therefore this is one of Ray's best work , but you may need to know Bengali to enjoy it.
Postscript
I had read the book long before I have seen the movie , yet the movie so engaging, has culminated my imagination.It is now difficult to disgust between the book and the movie.