Those unfamiliar with Satyajit Ray as a writer may be informed about the marvellous mystery novels he authored for children with Feluda as the central character. Ray made the first celluloid version of his first Feluda novel Sonar Kella many years ago. Soumitra Chatterjee portrayed Feluda in the film. Years later, when Ray's son Sandip decided to make a television series, Soumitra refused to play the role because he had become much older and would not fit as the much younger Feluda. So, the suave, sophisticated Sabyasachi Chakraborty, a gifted actor, stepped into Feluda's shoes. He began with Baksho Badal for television in 1995 and has played the detective in ten stories for television and three films for the big screen, all of them directed by Sandip Ray. Bombaiyer Bombete and Kailashe Kelenkari were the earlier big screen versions of two Feluda mysteries. Both films were big hits at the box office. Every single Feluda mystery is also a hard sell with child readers in West Bengal that adults equally enjoy. Feluda defines a distinct character institutionalized in the history of detective novels for children in Bengali literature. He has a phenomenal memory, is a walking encyclopaedia and loves to travel. He is also arrogant and acknowledges that he is indeed, the best for any detective mystery. The police are mostly in awe of him but they have a good rapport. He is physically fit and is an expert in all kinds of action needed to fight his arch enemies. Every Feluda story is also a travelogue that invites the reader to journey across the country and beyond from Jaisalmer in Rajasthan to Mumbai in Maharashtra, to Benares in Uttar Pradesh, the Ellora caves outside Aurangabad, Kathmandu in Nepal and Hong Kong. The other unique feature of a Feluda novel is that it does not have a single female character so romance is ruled out completely.

The film opens with a prologue. A young man walks down a thin cluster of trees with an old golden retriever. As the dog stops some way behind him, an unknown man slashes the dog's throat. When the dog's caretaker finds the dog dead, he looks around, sees a figure in flight, chases him, till the killer turns around and the man finds himself facing the nozzle of a gun. The thundering sound of a gunshot fills the screen. The credits begin to roll against the backdrop of the Tintoretto painting of Jesus Christ, unfolding slowly to reveal itself in all its glory. This is a remarkable opening that sets the mood for a film filled with thrills, turns and twists at every turn, with a brief sojourn into Hong Kong, revealing both its picturesque beauty as well as its ugly underbelly with skilled hit-men, smuggler's boats, overcrowded markets, open-air shopping malls, juxtaposed against a beautiful cityscape kissing the sea. The narrative twist in the tale begins with the opening when the killing of the dog intrigues Feluda. From then on, it is one long tale of adventure with, admittedly, a few warts and loopholes in the script. Sandip Ray remains fiercely faithful to the literary original. He uses the Feluda signature theme composed by his father. The music on the soundtrack is in keeping with the context at a given time and place. Hindustani classical music, focussed on the thumri, forms the music backdrop for the Niyogi mansion. "Now I know why you named your dog Thumri," Feluda comments with a smile.

Ray takes potshots at fake writers of art history. The light interactions of dialogue between and among Feluda, Jatayu and Topshe throw up moments of pleasant relief in what otherwise could have been a dark film. This gains strength when the team goes to Hong Kong and their Bengali host enters the scenario. Thankfully, Jatayu is not reduced to clowning bait for Feluda and Topshe the way he was in Kailashe Kelenkari. Feluda does not need a joker-like character to contrast his own sharp wit and wisdom. Sandip has handpicked his acting cast so well that even brief cameos such as the one played by Debesh Roychoudhury and the actor who plays Bhudev Singh, blend seamlessly into the script. Barun Raha and Shashanko Palit's cinematography is good, it's pace picking up with the pace of the story. The location shots at Jhargram for the Baikunthapur episodes are beautiful. The semi-dark shots in the boat where Feluda is held prisoner by Somani's local henchmen showing the three captives partly in the dark underscore the vulnerability of the 'invincible' Feluda. The fight scenes are composed, choreographed and picturised very well, contrary to what one sees in an average Bengali film. The deaths captured through reaction shots and sound metaphors hold the suspense without having to indulge in bloody visuals. Subrata Ray's editing dips effectively into quick jump cuts to heighten the suspense in the chilling scenes while he takes it easy in the interior shots of the Niyogi mansion and in the Hong Kong apartment. The long, long drives that dot the film to indicate movement, such as close-ups of the moving wheel of a car, could have done with some cruel clipping except the chilling chase in Hong Kong. One need not actually show the road in what could be termed a 'road' movie.

The sound design is extremely effective. From the sound of dry leaves being crushed under the feet of the hunter and the hunted in the prologue, heightening the drama and marking time with the chirping of birds and the cawing of crows in the backdrop, doors being opened softly in the Baikunthapur mansion, to gunshots marking the two murders, without gruesome intrusions by the camera, are brilliant. Sabyasachi Chakraborty as Feluda sustains the continuity of the image taking off from Kailashe Kelenkari. His way of differentiating between an original and its two fakes appear simplistic yet credible, even funny. His tongue-in-cheek repartee to Jatayu's faux pax are sophisticated and witty. His tiny 'team' lends him ample support. Paran Bandopadhyay as the fun-loving, jovial Purnendu and Biswajit Chakraborty as the many-hued villain Somani stand out with their natural performances. Shilajit as the fake Rudrashekhar is wooden while Tota Roychoudhury as the natural and legal heir to the painting is too sweet and syrupy to jell with his macho persona, visuals, image and character.

What about the warts and the loopholes? The original Tintoretto painting does not at all look like the 'priceless' Rennaissance painting Bhudev Singh insists it is. How does one explain the logic behind Rajshekhar, the sole heir to the painting, disguising himself as a journalist to gain access to his own home? Why does he carry the original painting to Hong Kong instead of leaving it behind with his uncle to collect it later? Why does he follow Feluda to Hong Kong when no rapport has been established between the two? Would a man like the fake Rudrashekhar read articles on Rennaissance paintings in magazines like India Today? The script does not mention murders lurking in his negative past. So, how does he get away so easily with two, including the one of the dog's caretaker who, we presume was also killed? Where did his dead body disappear to and why is the family so casual about an old retinue's sudden disappearance?

This is the best of all three full-fledged features Sandip Ray has made on Feluda's adventures. It is aesthetically pleasing and wonderfully entertaining. With so much to plug the film, who needs to look at warts and loopholes?