Feluda and Topshe will soon be on television asking for votes — not for any party or candidate but the country’s future.

The election commission has enlisted actors Sabyasachi Chakraborty and Saheb Bhattacharya to play Satyajit Ray’s crime-busting cousins in a 30-second ad film that will go on air ahead of National Voters’ Day on January 25.

A city-based ad agency selected by the commission shot with the actors in the bylanes of College Street between 9am and 2pm on Thursday, with several Coffee House adda sessions and coffee breaks in between.

The election commission has been brainstorming for ways to boost voter turnout after noticing “dismal” vote count in urban constituencies across the country. The turnout can be effectively increased, feels the commission, if voters aged between 18 and 35 can be made “more aware” of the importance of their vote.

“That is why, after percussionist Bickram Ghosh, cricketer Mahendra Singh Dhoni and former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, we thought of using Feluda and Topshe as our ambassadors. We sought Sandip Ray’s permission before we embarked on the project. He readily agreed,” said Dibyendu Sarkar, the joint chief electoral officer of Bengal.

“The detective and his sidekick will encourage youth to enrol themselves in the voters’ list, get their voter IDs and, most importantly, to come out and cast their votes during elections,” he added.

In the ad, a boy and a girl in their late teens wonder how they can get themselves registered on the electoral rolls while chatting. From an adjacent bookstore, Feluda asks them: “Tomra Net surf koro na? (Don’t you surf the Net?)”

As the two youngsters recover from the surprise of seeing Feluda in person, Topshe emerges, to tell them: “www.ceowestbengal.nic.in ey jaao, shob jantey parbey (go to www.ceowestbengal.nic.in, you will get to know everything).”

Feluda and Topse then tell the teenagers what else they need to do to cast their votes.