Watching the detectives

It's Sunday afternoon in Kolkata, but the light is dim, much like dawn. I am sitting at a coffee shop. The shiny scarlet doors and windows of the cafe are wet after a heavy downpour. A group of teenagers are animatedly discussing the latest weekend release in Kolkata theatres, Satyanveshi (The Seeker of Truth), Rituparno Ghosh's last directorial venture based on writer Saradindu Bandyopadhay's popular Bengali crime fiction series revolving around cult detective Byomkesh Bakshi. Shows have been house-full this weekend, with serpentine queues in front of old cinema halls. Goyendas (detectives) are box office magic in this city.

"Too slow, too much background music, but a good plot" is the general consensus on the film back at the cafe. The final judgment is a thumbs down to director Sujoy Ghosh's portrayal of Byomkesh Bakshi (in what is his first role in front of the camera). "Sujoy did not get it right", says a boy in a blue t-shirt who is sitting under a cartoon of a man sporting a wide, cocksure grin, a beige jacket, a gun, and the portrait of a man with a halo tucked under his arm. This figure towers over a bunch of other characters sketched in different poses assembled around his feet. Take a closer look and you will realise the man in the jacket is Feluda, the fictional private investigator beloved to Bengalis around the globe, a creation of award-winning film director and writer Satyajit Ray. The characters are all from Feluda stories, and the portrait under Feluda's arm is that of Jishu or Jesus Christ – an obvious nudge to the story Tintoreter Jishu involving a famous painting of Christ by Italian painter Tintoretto.