Difficult question this. Let’s tackle it later. As of now the task at hand is Sandip Ray’s interpretation of one of the earlier Feluda stories, Kailsahey Kelenkari, a pertinent take on the temple vandalism nexus which was plaguing the country at that time.

A plane crash starts a chain of events, that takes Feluda, Topshe (a miraculously baby-faced 26-year-old Parambrata Chatterjee) and Lalmohanbabu (an endearing Bibhu Bhattacharya), to the ancient ruins of the exquisite Ellora Caves in Maharashtra. There is a gang of smugglers at loose and no one, including a shady businessman (Deepankar De) and a suspicious looking stranger (Biplab Chatterjee), is above suspicion. It’s upto Feluda and his faithful crony Topshe, to don various identities and stop the rampant vandalism of precious art treasures of the country. If only the bungling Lalmohanbabu, doesn’t blow their cover already.

Evidently, adapting the story to modern settings was director Sandip Ray’s most difficult task. He confesses to having spent months on the script, to ensure that the convictions of the character are not lost on us. But one wonders if he really needed to take that trouble.

Are we really that closed to the idea of a Feluda film set in its original time? Hippies, trunk calls and tapped phones—are they really so far removed from our reality that they cant even be sold to us in the garbs of a period film?

One must admit that Sandip does manage to almost makes us believe in the modern-day Feluda. The film starts with an impressive plane crash sequence. So, you cannot really be blamed for elevated expectations. In a few moments after the title though, the movie tries very hard to get the identity of a low-budget film. And that’s the undoing of the film. It will be foolhardy to expect the same kind of visual drama that Ray conjured up in Sonar Kella and even Joi Baba Felunath, but does Sandip’s frames really have to be so visually insipid?

Now coming back to the catch 22 question. Come to think of it, it’s actually equally foolhardy to compare the two Feludas. Soumitra Chatterjee, made for the ideal Feluda because he exuded Bangaliana that made Prodosh Mitter an icon for us. Sabyasachi Chakraborty is a man who is yet to emerge out of the icon’s shadow. Sandip Ray, however, manages to do interesting things to Ray’s evergreen signature Feluda tune. A flute interlude here and a little bit of drums there, jazzes it up considerably.