In 1995, Sandip Ray adapted Feluda for the small screen, to mark the 30th anniversary of Feluda’s first appearance in print, and started shooting Bakshya Rahasya as a telefilm, with Sabyasachi Chakrabarty as the iconic sleuth. It was the first digital-projected release of a Feluda film, in Nandan II.

Sandip went on to make a series of films, like Ambar Sen Antardhan Rahasya and Jahangirer Swarna Mudra, for television. Some of these films are a part of Satyajit Ray’s Short Film Festival, to be held at Nandan II on May 2 to mark Ray’s 96th birth anniversary.

The ‘short film’ fest is presented by Nandan in association with Angel. The fest opens with Golapi Mukta Rahasya at 11am and closes with Gagan Choudhury Studio at 8.40pm.

Ambar Sen Antardhan Rahasya stars both Soumitra Chatterjee and Sabyasachi, though Sabyasachi gets to play Feluda here! Saswata Chatterjee as Topshe answers the bell and finds an elderly man at the door. That’s Soumitra as Ambar Sen, who asks for “Mr. Pradosh Mitra”.

“Ambar Sen Antardhan Rahasya is really interesting because the two meet for the first time, which is why I have a weakness for this one. We had great fun shooting it. In Jahangirer Swarna Mudra, we had Ranjit Mallick in a very important role. Sheyal Debota Rahasya is also a very interesting film, while Gagan Choudhury Studio is a terrific tale. Sabyasachi, Saswata and Bibhu Bhattacharya (as Lalmohanbabu) made for an interesting trio,” said Sandip.

These television films gave him the confidence to make Bombaiyer Bombete for the big screen, said Sandip. “We could try and test it out on television. It’s great that they are screening these films,” he added. Joto Kando Kathmandute will also be screened on May 2. “The Hindi version had great performances, a great cast. It was a great adventure tale, but the Bangaliana of Feluda got lost in translation. So everything was rectified in the Bengali film,” said Sandip.