Kolkata gets Feluda theme park

Is Feluda, auteur Satyajit Ray's iconic sleuth, bobbing about on a camel amid the urban jungle of the eastern metropolis?

Check out a theme park launched here in New Town on Friday dedicated to the detective's adventure immortalised in "Sonar Kella" (The Golden Fortress), the first Feluda movie, adapted from the book, in 1974.

Christened 'Sonar Kella Udyan', the recreation spot is built around sculptures of the alert sleuth atop a camel in hot pursuit, a reminder of the storyline where the ace private investigator chases kidnappers in the desert state of Rajasthan.

Feluda is said to have been modelled on Sherlock Holmes.

He is accompanied by cousin Tapesh Ranjan Mitra or Topshe who is the narrator of the stories and may have been loosely based on the character of Dr John Watson. It is in "Sonar Kella", that Ray introduces Jatayu (Lal Mohon Ganguly), a writer of thriller novels who provides much-loved comic relief.

In the park, Jatayu can be seen perched precariously on the camel, seated behind Feluda. Heaps of sand provide the perfect backdrop.

Revolving around the 27-year-old athletic Pradosh Chandra Mitter, nicknamed Feluda, the novellas showcase the private eye's superb analytical and observational skills to dig out clues that ultimately solve mysteries -- be it murders, theft or kidnapping.

Feluda possesses a .32 Colt revolver but rarely uses it.

This year is Feluda's 50th anniversary.

--IANS

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