It shall return again with season 4; we know it, yet here we are, ink-stained and pleading, for it desperately needs a change that would finally hit the nuts and bolts where it is needed. The show still works because most of us Bengalis are the nostalgia-drunkards, but even the makers must sense it now that the audience hungers for better. We love Feluda; we adore the cast, but our hearts ache for richer settings, a screenplay with teeth, and grit that sticks to our fingertips.
7 episodes long—and just long is what we can say. The rest we have is chewing the cud—by the end almost felt like the beheaded buffalo that vultures have their eyes set on to prey. Safe to say that Feluda has become the official version of CID—”Kuch toh gadbad hai, Daya.” “Iska matlab samjhe, Daya?” “Ab toh tumhe phaansi hi hogi.” In the seven episodes, you find a very similar pattern, with Topshe and Lalmohan Babu asking him (Feluda) the very predictable, immediate question—Feluda answers them, and carries the riddle further for the audience. Department-store mannequins exhibit more interiority than Topshe and Lalmohan Babu had in this entire season.
A major grievance is the poor quality of CGI, specifically in the depiction of the Royal Bengal Tiger and snakes—both of which exude the menace of screensaver clip art. Nothing, they just leave the mystery gasping for oxygen. There is humour that cringes your soul out—a far cry from Ray’s vision. Ray’s Jatayu sparkled with an innocence that was both whimsical and witty. The contemporary version is downgraded to a slapstick punching bag, stripped of the sophistication we once saw, which eventually made the character a literary treasure. What remains is a graceless farce.
The riddle is there just for the sake of it. It gets boring, with the wishy-washy stretch. Once you reach the 7th episode, and get your hands on the unveiling of how Tarit babu was killed, the only thing you shall crave for is Tari.
