Tolly celebs visit Satyajit Ray’s house on his 102nd birth anniv

Kolkata: Just like any cinephile, May 2 holds a special place in Parambrata Chatterjee’s life. As a toddler, he used to pen letters to Satyajit Ray on his birthday. “Every year, I used to write ‘Bhalo theko Ray dadu’ on this day.

Later, I remembered I had gone to Nandan to watch a film with my mother and saw him sitting in the front row. I remember I asked him directly, ‘Is your name Ray dadu’? It was my two-minute of fame with the genius,” said Parambrata.

The world celebrated the 102nd birth anniversary of Ray on Tuesday with gusto.

Almost like a ritual, Parambrata has been visiting Ray’s residence on Bishop Lefroy Road, Kolkata, where the legend lived for more than two decades.

On Tuesday, too, he paid his tribute to the master filmmaker. This time, he was accompanied by director Arindam Sil, who is all set to bring Feluda on the OTT platform.

His new web series, ‘Shabash Feluda’ is based on Ray’s story ‘Gangtokey Gondogol’.

Parambrata, who earlier played Topshe in Sandip Ray’s ‘Bombaiyer Bombete’ and ‘Kailashey Kelankari’, has now slipped into the shoes of Feluda. “For me, the relationship with an institution like Satyajit Ray, has come to a full circle. I played Topshe and now I’m Feluda. In fact, Topshe always wanted to be like Felu Mitter,” he said.

Meanwhile, Sil was both scared and excited when he was offered to direct ‘Shabash Feluda’. “I knew I was walking a thin line. When we do any work on Ray, it needs a lot of thinking. For almost two years, we have been working on the series to make sure we don’t do injustice to the maestro,” said the director.

Sil’s ‘Shabash Feluda’ is a modern take on the popular Bengali sleuth.

“We have maintained the basic essence of Feluda. We have placed Feluda in today’s world. He will use a mobile phone, but Feluda won’t seek Google’s help. He relies on his intelligence. We have given the biggest tribute to Feluda and Ray,” said the maker.