Negotiating mobility and media: the contemporary digital afterlives of Feluda

ABSTRACT

This paper investigates the contemporary afterlife of Satyajit Ray’s protagonist sleuth, Prodosh C. Mitter (Feluda) and the new media space he now inhabits. This paper sets off from the debate in this journal around Feluda’s cultural and socio-economic status, his origins, his intentions, his relation to labour, work and leisure, discourses emerging in the wake of Feluda’s fiftieth anniversary. I take the very event and its commemorative objects as the site to think through Feluda’s legacy. I work through Sandip Ray’s Double Feluda, the Feluda film released to mark the occasion, the new Feluda addatimes web series and the innumerable graphic novels, online text applications and audiobooks circulating in their wake. The contemporary I show also produces an undercurrent of nostalgia: a retro-fetish for older media forms in which Feluda is ensconced. The rest of the paper as it pans out takes mobility and migration as spectral but operative functions in Feluda’s universe. Feluda now inhabits a trans-medial universe and different urban regimes, both of which introduce intense affects of speed and travel – moving towards an action-hero status that is radically different from his earlier intellectual and rational demeanour. I thereby trace Feluda’s reinvention from a Nehruvian socialist imaginary into the corporatized action hero: his suave image connected now to a global neo-liberal aesthetic. This global, rootless cosmopolitanism triggers in its stead a constant search for identity, an exhumation of Feluda’s undead Bangal pasts.

KEYWORDS:

• Feluda
• new media
• affect
• new urbanism
• migration

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. Charney and Schwartz, “Introduction.”

2. Michel, The Order of Things.

3. Benjamin, “The Flaneur,” 416–456.

4. Majumdar, “Feluda on Feluda,” 233–244.

5. Sandesh is a Bengali children’s magazine that was initiated by Satyajit Ray’s grandfather Upendrakishore Roy Chaudhuri, a Bengali novelist in his own right. Established in 1913, Sandesh changed hands few times, before being solely in the hands of the Ray family. Satyajit Ray while being on its editorial board also doubled up as a writer for this magazine, introducing not only Feluda to the world in his monthly episodic releases, but also his other famous protagonist, the erratic but genius Professor Shonku. Sandesh in Bengali refers to both sweets and information. For an introduction to Sandesh read Robinson, Satyajit Ray, 22–23, 28–29.

6. Bhaumik, “Reviewing Feluda on Feluda,” 245–256.

7. Ibid., 250.

8. Ibid.

9. For more on the fiftieth anniversary of Feluda read Boria, Feluda at 50.

10. Shaviro, “Post Cinematic Affect,”130–132.

11. For more on trans-media story-telling read Jenkins, “Searching for the Origami Unicorn,” 98–131.

12. Bhaumik, op cit, 247–248.

13. While audiobooks are a rare phenomenon in South Asian auditory cultures, restricted mostly to religious and children’s text, the film as an audio format has a longer precedence within the same cultural sphere. The audiobook is preceded by the history of the cassette and that not only circulated film songs but also often the audio-track of entire films. Cassettes would often be circulated with small booklets that along with providing details about the film, its lyrics, would often also print sections of the script, particularly dialogue driven melodramatic scenes. These audio-booklets and cassettes would anchor the consumer to the film far beyond the realm of songs – the film’s main bait so to speak. In the era of celluloid, these vastly travelling objects gave its consumers, a sense of intimate ownership and consumption, one where the film could be consumed outside the architectural strictures of the film hall, and therefore consumed at will. In the digital era, consuming video content has rapidly shifted out of the film hall, being consumed on every screen possible. Nevertheless, audio extractions proliferate in the age of networked consumption precisely because of the audio object’s data lightness, and hence they are transmitted and stored to a quantifiably greater degree. Moreover, one has to keep in mind that mobile data consumption is vastly unevern and restricted to a few, determined by technological access and economic means. Most video–audio content transfers occur in the offline mode: transferred through flash drives, Bluetooth or through curated packs of content that one can avail in ‘downloader’ shops. Rashmi, ‘On that small mobile phone shop in your street corner’. For more on the longer history of aural cultures surrounding the film industry, especially the Hindi Film Industry, read Duggal, “The Community Of Listeners.”

14. Koepnick, “Reading on the Move,” 233–234.

15. Ibid.

16. Chion, Phantom Audiovision, 123 – 135.

17. Gitelman, Paper Knowledge, 12–128.

18. Cassetti, “The Persistence of Cinema in a Post-Cinematic Age,” 207.

19. Sandip, “Double Feluda.”

20. This snippet is then carried over from the trailer to the tribute montage that follows the main film.

21. Baron, “The Archive Affect.”

22. Scroll, “Controversy breaks out over new web series.”

23. In this, I argue that borne into the user-generated content universe of social media, the producers or directors of mega-franchisees like Star Wars or the Marvel Cinematic Universe, constantly emphasize that before they came into the domain of production they were avid consumers, thus highlighting the consumer as a future producer logic, eliminating the distinction of consumers and producers as separate entities. Feluda too has entered a similar phase where recent creators constant promote their avowed investment in the franchisee, first as a consumer then as a producer. For more on the Consumer as Producer argument, read Henry Jenkins. ‘Quentin Tarantino’s Star Wars? Grassroots Meets the Media Industry Creativity’ in op cit, pp. 131–169.

24. Koolhaas, cited in Sundaram, op cit, p. 1.

25. Jean Baudrillard, cited in Sundaram, op cit, p. 3.

26. In 1996, Sandip Ray directed five telefilms on account of the sleuth’s thirtieth anniversary. The telefilms were showcased on DD Bangla and later shown in the Nandan Complex.

27. Nicol, “Sherlock Holmes 2.0,” 125.

28. Ibid. pp. 130.

29. Named after the Italian Art historian Giovanni Morelli, the ‘Morellian Method’ involves the detection of artistic authorship (vis-à-vis forged copies) of ancient paintings. Theorized by Carlo Ginzburg’ and his work on ‘cluesʼ as an evidentiary paradigm, where he drew genealogy through the methods of Morelli, Sherlock Holmes, and Sigmund Freud. In each, Ginzburg argued, the trace of the original or the individual lay in imperceptible but tell-tale signs that functioned as ‘clues’. For Ginzburg, clues augured in a ‘new epistemic paradigm emerging at the end of the nineteenth century and connected explicitly to the new anxieties about social control and criminality.ʼ Ginzburg, ‘Clues’.

30. A central administrative district within the larger Dhaka metropolis, Shahbag though dating well before and into the Mughal era, the area gained prominence in 1905 when East Bengal became a separate province under British Rule. Consequently, important buildings like the Supreme Court were constructed around the central axis of Fuller Road, and in the Post-Independence era, Shahbag grew to accommodate international hotels, universities and hospitals. Referring to Shahbag and Lutyens’ Delhi in India, Sundaram argues that soon into Post-Coloniality, these cities began to re-model themselves in the modernist framework, where keeping the administrative core at the centre, these ‘technocratic grid that would deflect migration flows to the periphery, and protect an urban core that assured sovereignty for postcolonial power. It was the model of the city as an urban machine, with neighborhoods as cellular units, linked by a technocratic hierarchy of functions and power’. Sundaram. op cit. For more on Dhaka’s urban history read – Sharif Uddin, Dhaka.‬

31. The traffic jam sequence was shot in and around Bijoy Sarani, the nerve centre of the city. Though relatively new, the road is a prime example of the failure of the modernist imagination of gridded cities, and controlled fluxes – leading way to a chaotic, pirate everyday.

32. Purse. “Affective Trajectories,” 155.

33. Early in Badshahi Angti, Feluda and Topshe find themselves in the inner city of Lucknow where they receive threats on their rickshaw. Feluda however is unable to solve the whodunit question, the culprit lost in the bewildering maze of people and objects in the bazaar streets.

34. Shaviro, “1.2: Post Continuity: An Introduction,” 51.

35. Ibid.

36. Ibid.

37. Here, one could notice the difference between the earlier sluggish, stuttering camel and its machinic brethren – the horse.

38. Recently, the word ‘accelerationism’ has exited its mere association with speed. Accelerationism as a new brand of left thought seeks to destroy capitalism from within, intensify capitalist processes until systemic collapses become imminent. Here, however, I use ‘accelerationism’ as a broader association of intensification of affects. For more on Accelerationism read, Mackay, #Accelerate: The Accelerationist Reader.

39. Hansen, “Curious Americanism” in Cinema and Experience, 47–48.

40. Nicol, op cit. p. 132.

41. Ibid.

42. Ibid.

43. The second adaptation in the addatimes franchisee, Ghurghutiya’r Ghotona follows a similar obsession with data and encryption. While Ray’s original short story involved passwords to a chamber, money and murder, the concerns are however upgraded to nuclear research, international crime networks, Greek and British cryptic systems and recently data hacking and computation.

44. Bhadralok-, literally means ‘gentleman’, ‘well-mannered person’ in Bengali. Refers to the new class of ‘gentlefolk’ who came into prominence through the British colonial times and thereafter.

45. Ibid., 250.

46. In the early months of 2013, protests began in Shahbag, following demands for capital punishment for Abdul QuaderMollah, who had been sentenced to life imprisonment. Given the scale of atrocities involved, protestors demanded death as justice. Over more a hundred thousand people had gathered and observed three minutes of silence – Feluda gloats, while eliding what or how the congregation came to being. Ratan Kumar Roy, ‘PerformativeShahbag: debating culture and politics of youth in Bangladesh’ in Culture and Politics in South Asia: Performative Communication, eds. DevNathPathak, SasankaPerera. (New York and London: Routledge, 2017).

47. Ibid., 251.

48. Chaudhuri, “In trivial pursuit of Feluda.”

49. In her work on the international non-diasporic circuits of Indian film distribution, Dina Iordanova argues that anecdotes and personal testimonies remain the most powerful ‘database’ to tap into, especially most things move through quasi-illegal spaces, or in exist the everyday that cannot be archived so easily. Such a methodological reliance I argue is relevant for South Asia as a whole, where distributive and consumption practices are not often recorded, even though they move within socially acceptable paradigms. For more on the importance of anecdotes in film research methodology read Iordanova, “Indian Cinema’s Global Reach,” 113–140.

50. Formulated by anthropologist MichealTaussig, the ‘public secret’ defines a powerful form of social knowledge that is generally known but is acknowledged as a secret in public forums and discussions. Taussig, Public Secrecy and the Labor of the Negative.

51. For more on this one can refer to Kaviraj, “The Two Histories of Literary Culture in Bengal,” 504–540.

52. Bruno, “Site Seeing the Cine City,” 15–20.

53. Mukherjee, “At Jaisalmer’s Sonar Kella.”

54. Dasgupta, “Bangladesh TV’s first-ever Feluda series.”

55. Showtime Desk, “Feluda series on Bioscope.”

56. In conversation with Saurav Biswas, former creative head of Bioscope.

57. In conversation with Biswas and Arfun Ahmed Shawon.

58. Written by Kazi Anwar Hossain, the MasudRana series is an extremely popular cheaply circulating pulp set of novels operating within the thriller-action genre. While no critical literature exists on Rana’s figure, I argue Sanjay Srivastav’s formulations around VedPrakash Sharma’s thriller detective genre can come in handful. Srivastava, “Thrilling Affects,” 567–585.

59. In conversation with Ankita Ghosh, but corroborated with all other respondents.

60. In conversation with Seuty Sabar, Anthropology, Professor of Anthropoology at BRAC University, Dhaka. She recollects that growing up in Bailey Road, conversation about Feluda and Ray were limited to the precincts of the iconic bookstore – Shagor Publishers, then run by MR Akhter Mukul, noted author and radio broadcaster of the late twentieth century.

61. In conversation with Sabur, Biswas and Mahtab Rashid.

62. Established in 1948, Navroz Kitabisthan has had an important role to play in Bangladesh’s quest for independence in 1971, producing literature of various folds for a younger audience. The publishing house was named thus on Kavi Nazrul Islam’s suggestion. Staff Report, Mohammed Nasir Ali, thereport24.com, January 10 2015, Weblink – http://bangla.thereport24.com/article/80113/index.html.

63. While such a thing was testified by all respondents, and most having had read them on Navroz Kitabisthan reprints themselves, further scavenging through the internet revealed a similar phenomenon. On the popular Bengali book selling website Rokomari.com, one encountered that the same Feluda plus Feluda compilation of Golapi Mukta Rashoaao (The Mystery of the Pink Pearl) andLondona Feluda (Feluda in London) was being sold at the BDT (Bangladeshi Taka) of 180 by Ananda Publishers and BDT 75 for Navroz Kitabitan, plus an added BDT of 30 for shipping charges. The same Feluda for Feluda is being sold at Amazon.in at INR 100 (BDT 130) approx.

64. Mahtab Rashid, avid Feluda fan is a designer, and designed Feluda fan merchandize for the university centric Screen Printing and Embroidery startup Grumpfish. To follow the images follow the link – https://www.facebook.com/pg/ieatfish/photos/?tab=album&album_id=505556466447024.

65. The creative head also revealed that the response to the series had at best been lukewarm; TRPs were on the medium bracket, and opinion bordered on the encouraging if not the positive. The text was heavily critiqued for caricaturing characters based in Dhaka – and adding dollops of a stereotypical old Dhaka accent, a heavily gesticulated mode of speaking on the wane in the city’s everyday. In conversation with Saurav Biswas.

66. While many fan fictions exist and are few are even being published in the Kolkata Book Fair, Nandi’s series gained popularity precisely because of the novella entangles two threads of popular Bengali domains of speculation – Netaji and Feluda. Another Feluda fan fiction to do the rounds on social media is Prabirendra’s work, where he takes Feluda to Delhi in his piece. Prabirendra. ‘Fer Feluda, – Rajdhanite Tulkalam’, Share Bottrish Bhaja, June 27 2017.

Weblink – https://prabirendra.blog/2017/06/27/.

67. In conversation with Niloy Nandi.

68. Affectionately baptized as Netaji, Subhas Chandra Bose was an Indian nationalist whose career involved a more militaristic outlook towards freedom struggle than the populist non-violent movements led by Gandhi. During the Second World War, he sought to free India with the help of Imperial Japan and Nazi Germany leaving a fractured legacy behind. Netaji’s death remains debated – last known to have boarded a Japanese fighter plane on 18 August 1945.

69. The xenophobia that Bengalis express towards the mercantile community of the Marwaris, Kaushik Bhaumik argues is only but a small part of the Feluda universe. The texts infact reveal how the underside of Bengali history often involves an unsaid dialogue between the two, not necessarily as some trans-cultural liberal dialogue, but as a hands-in-glove ploy to smuggle precious goods from bhadralok households and onto the international art market. Bhaumik, “Reviewing Feluda on Feluda,” 246.

70. Ray, “Chapter 1,” 3.

71. A colloquial term referring to East Bengali Hindu refugees in India and Ghoti, people with West Bengal ancestry. The Ghoti-Bengal rift occupies a significant portion of cultural conflict within the larger ethnic bracket of Bengalis, with each laying superior claims to history and culture. For more on the GhotiBangal rift refer to Shamshad, “The Refugees and Migrants of West Bengal.”

72. Maati in Bengali refers to both soil and homeland within the broader cultural discourse.

73. Bhaumik, op cit, 248–253.

74. Manas, “Growing Up Refugee,” 119–137.

75. DipeshChakraborty, Remembered Villages-Representation of Hindu-Bengali Memories in the Aftermath of the Partition, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 31, Issue No. 32, (10 Aug, 1996).

76. Shamshad “Bengaliness, Hindu nationalism and Bangladeshi migrants in West Bengal,” 1–4.