For Bengalis, the post-Puja lull is real — the pandals are being taken down, the decorative lights are gone and the daily humdrum of life takes over the festive spirit.
Enter Feluda Pherot: Jawto Kando Kathmandute, Srijit Mukherji’s long-awaited second season of the spy thriller on Addatimes, a modern retelling of one of Satyajit Ray’s most beloved Feluda mysteries, and quite possibly the best antidote to the post-Puja blues.
Set in a post-earthquake, present-day Nepal, Mukherji’s series reimagines Ray’s detective for a tech-savvy world without tampering with the soul of the novel. The mystery kicks off when Feluda (Tota Roy Chowdhury), accompanied by his loyal sidekicks Topshe (Kalpan Mitra) and Jatayu (Anirban Chakrabarti), is approached by Mr Batra (Bharat Kaul), who claims that his doppelganger is committing crimes in his name. Before Feluda can make sense of the case, a whistleblower named Anikendra Shome reaches out to him regarding a drug cartel, only to die under suspicious circumstances. The chase takes the trio all the way to Nepal, face to face with their old nemesis, Maganlal Meghraj (Kharaj Mukherjee).
The story is known to all Feluda fans but it is the execution that makes the journey worthwhile. The first half unfolds at an unhurried pace. Mukerji lets the audience sink into the world of Feluda. It is in the latter episodes that the pace tightens, culminating in a finale that pays off.
Mukherji’s decision to stay faithful to Ray’s text rather than Sandip Ray’s telefilm adaptation is his biggest strength. By setting the narrative in the altered realities of Nepal post the 2015 earthquake, he gives the story a contemporary relevance. And it couldn’t have come at a more relevant time as Gen-Z protests forced a change of regime in the Himalayan nation very recently.
Cinematographer Supriyo Dutta captures Nepal like a supporting character. The camera lingers on fluttering prayer flags, stone idols, and faded thankas, evoking nostalgia. There are plenty of Ray-inspired Easter eggs, like the yellow Charminar cigarette pack. The show’s music, composed by Joy Sarkar, reinterprets Ray’s iconic Feluda theme.
Tota Roy Chowdhury finally comes into his own as Feluda in this season. Gone is any self-consciousness of filling Soumitra Chattopadhyay or Sabyasachi Chakrabarty’s shoes. We see him exercising, meditating, thinking, embodying the sleuth fully.
Anirban Chakrabarti’s Jatayu, meanwhile, continues to be the emotional pulse of the series. He’s not just comic relief. In a standout scene where Jatayu is drugged and begins hallucinating, Anirban treads the fine line, turning what could have been slapstick into something disturbingly real. Kalpan Mitra’s Topshe may not yet possess the effortless boyishness that past actors brought to the role, but he grows into his part as the episodes progress.
And then there’s Maganlal Meghraj. It is no laughing matter to essay a part immortalised by Utpal Dutt. Kharaj Mukherjee doesn’t even attempt to do it. He reinvents Maganlal as a modern-day gangster.
