New Delhi: Legendary filmmaker Satyajit Ray’s much-loved character detective Feluda will soon come alive on BBC.
Bollywood actors Rahul Bose, Anupam Kher, Jackie Shroff, Dalip Tahil and Jaspal Bhatti take their screen skills to the BBC for two special dramatisations of the Feluda detective series to be broadcast in English on BBC World Service radio in 2007.
Rahul Bose will step into the shoes of the fictional Bengali super sleuth to life in the two stories, with Anupam Kher playing his sidekick, the bumbling crime writer Lalmohan Ganguly.
Jackie Shroff plays the fraudster Machchli Baba and Dalip Tahil the arch-villain Meganlal Meghraj in story The Mystery of the Elephant God.
Jaspal Bhatti will feature in the other story, The Golden Fortress, playing the jolly taxi driver who steers his cab with his tummy.
Newcomer Hari Balasubramaniam will play Feluda’s cousin Topshe in both productions and legendary radio presenter Ameen Sayani will make an appearance in both.
The BBC has commissioned a special musical score for the dramatisations from the composer Sanjeev Kohli.
Feluda was created by Satyajit Ray, who wrote 35 Feluda stories. The character has made several on-screen appearances for both for cinema and television, but this is the first time the series has been dramatised for BBC radio.
English writer Ray Grewal turned the stories into radio plays. He says, "People often say the pictures are better on radio - listeners use their imaginations to 'see' the story. Feluda presents a huge challenge as he is so very well known in India. People have very clear ideas about who he is and what he sounds like. But millions of BBC listeners around the world will be unfamiliar with him, and this is our chance to put one of India's best-known fictional characters on the international map. For those who don't know Feluda, he is like the famous UK fictional detective, Sherlock Holmes with a dash of America's Indiana Jones and the Belgian cartoon hero, Tintin. The stories are high on mystery, action and adventure with plenty of bangs and wallops but they are also packed full of wit and humour."
BBC World Service has 42 million listeners in English around the world. It is broadcasting Feluda: The Golden Fortress as part of a special season of programmes called India Rising, which aims to deliver a close-up and personal look at modern India.
Running from Saturday, February 3 to Sunday, February 11, the season celebrates India's rich variety of life and landscapes in a range of innovative and informative programmes ranging from special documentaries and business reports to programmes on religion, culture and sport.
BBC World Service will broadcast: Feluda: The Golden Fortress on Saturday, February 10, and Feluda: The Mystery of the Elephant God on Saturday, August 11.
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