Ray’s illustration of the story Potolbabu Filmstar and (below) a Professor Shanku cover

It is prime time for Ray plays and not in Calcutta alone. Theatre groups across the country seem eager to tap into Ray’s oeuvre of detective, sci-fi and other short stories. The public response is always high since entire generations have grown up on accounts of the supersleuth Feluda, science genius Professor Shanku and the unforgettable characters of Ray’s stories for the young.

While directors in Calcutta unconsciously strive to achieve something akin to the Ray films (which is one steep standard to touch given the numerous outdoor locales and special effects), productions outside Calcutta are more willing to innovate.

As a Bangalore group prepares to launch the Professor Shanku stories, nine-year old Chennai group Theatre Nisha is looking for a chance to come to Calcutta with a Ray quartet in English. Retell, comprising Bhuto, The Pterodactyl’s Egg, Potolbabu Filmstar and Bipin Chowdhury’s Lapse of Memory has had 15 packed houses in Chennai and Bangalore and good reviews even though there were just three actors doing all the roles and minimal sets.

“We haven’t had to change anything because the stories were perfect, we sure want to do more of Ray after winning some appreciation from Sandip Ray and Ray’s home town,” said director V. Balakrishnan, an NSD alumnus.

Sandip Ray, however, is apprehensive about this dramatic surge in interest in Ray. Not all theatrewallas ask his permission and he dreads having to answer for bad renditions.

In 2008 he withheld permission to the Feluda sequel Feluda Ferot! written by Srijit Mukherji because he wasn’t sure it would work in Calcutta.

Staged successfully at Rangashankara by Pandora’s Act, Bangalore (which has since shifted base to Calcutta) this sequel catches up with a 60-plus Feluda and a jail-returned Maganlal Meghraj who throws one last challenge in the style of the Holmes villain Moriarty. Barun Chanda and Parambrata acted in it as Feluda and Topshe.

There maybe a hundred different takes on the Holmes classics, but there is doubt whether Calcutta can accept such experiments with Feluda, which it considers its own.

There are many Ray plays doing the rounds like Hirak Rajar Deshe and Goopy Baghar Kando and Sandip hasn’t seen them all but the three plays recently showcased at the Ray Society festival at the Star had been selected by him.

“These three are plays I enjoyed. I don’t mind allowing changes essential to production and those that don’t go against the grain of the work,” said Ray. Small changes were worked into the Feluda whodunit Apasara Theatre-er Mamla produced by Charbak at Star.

“To make the play a just tribute to Haatibagan theatre, scriptwriter Arindam (Ganguly) has introduced women characters not there in the original,” said actress Kheyali Dastidar.

Ramaprasad Banik, whose group Theatre Passion presented Anukul, had the task of expanding the one-and-a-half-page story to a full-length play. This allowed Banik to include “messages to promote scientific progress”, “dispel misconceptions” and introduce a new character Upen.

In Bankubabur Bandhu which Swapnasandhani has been doing since 2006, the alien Ang, the spectacle of a spaceship coming down on stage and the socio-political insights Ujwal Chakraborty weaves into his script, makes the play meaningful to all age groups, said director Kaushik Sen. Sandip Ray hopes to organise a bigger festival in 2011.