Satyajit Ray’s Feluda Detective Stories

I had of course heard about Satyajit Ray’s movies and his international following but when I came across the books written by him, I was surprised and picked it up out of curiosity. I was surprised to see that it was a short story book and on top of that detective stories. I have now read all of them and I am glad that I came across this series. Feluda is a private detective. The stories are written from a viewpoint of his cousin who lives with him.

All the stories are actually very simple in their formulation and characterization. That was not the age of organized crime or terrorism. So Feluda mostly deals with issues related to theft within some family or organization and sometimes with murder. Most of the time he is with his cousin and another writer friend and all of them travel together to solve the cases that keep on coming to Feluda in all the stories.

Typically, each story starts with Feluda receiving a visitor with a case for him or Feluda receiving a letter or Feluda travelling to some holiday destination and then coming upon some case at that place. The story moves with Feluda and sometimes his cousin or friend making investigation and slowly finding more clues. Feluda can change appearance very easily in the course of investigation. But he normally does not tell all his clues to his friends. The stories normally end with all the characters present at the same place and Feluda unfolding the mystery in front of them. The stories are about using investigative skills and intelligence to solve the case rather than using power.

Even though the stories are detective in nature, it is actually a comfort reading. These stories were written for kids but I have enjoyed them a lot.