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Lalmohan Ganguly
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Lalmohan Ganguly, alias Jatayu (Bengali: জটায়ু), (also spelled Jotayu) is a character in the Feluda stories written by Satyajit Ray. He writes crime thrillers, but is quite weak and nervous in real life. He is fairly wealthy due to the immense sales of his books; he writes two books a year. His crime fiction stories have very interesting names, often characterised by alliterations like 'Sahara-ey Shiharan', 'Vancouver-er Vampire', 'Honduras-e Hahakar', 'Atlantic-er Atanka', 'Bidghute Bodmas' etc. It may be noted that the names of several Feluda stories also exhibit this feature, for example 'Joto Kando Kathmandute', 'Royal Bengal Rahasya', 'Robertson-er Ruby', 'Gosaipur Sargaram','Bombay-er Bombetey' etc. The detective of Jatayu's novel, Prakhar Rudra, is a character with incredible intellect and power. Lalmohan's grandfather gave his name "Sarbogya Gongopadhyay" but Lalmohan does not use that name.He first meets Feluda in the story Sonar Kella (The Golden Fortress) and from then on he accompanies Feluda and Topshe on all their major adventures. He collects weapons but is often reluctant to use them. Weapons collected by him during different adventures include boomerang, kukri (knife), smoke bomb etc. His whole demeanour is of hilarity and he regularly provides the comic relief in the stories. He has a history with the villain Maganlal Meghraj who had a circus performer throw knives at him in Joi Baba Felunath (The Mystery of the Elephant God) and fed him the drug LSD in Jato Kando Kathmandutey (The Criminals of Kathmandu). The last time Jatayu met Meghraj was at Golapi Mukto Rahashya.
In the Feluda adventures he is a great source of comic relief. However, his qualities improve with time and with his association with Feluda, gradually makes him more knowledgeable and intelligent. In the movie version (not in the original story) of the first story, Sonar Kella, the criminal Mandar Bose escapes due to the folly of Jatayu. But in the later stories we find Jatayu being of great help to Feluda in his work.
Jatayu is a fan of Baikuntha Mallick, a teacher in Athenium Institution, Kolkata, who is also a poet. Jatayu often recites his poems, which are also a source of comedy due to their peculiarity. Jatayu walks two miles daily to keep fit, refers to encyclopaedia for writing novels. He is a bachelor and owns three houses. He loves travelling.
In the first two movies on Feluda , the character of Jatayu was played by eminent actor Santosh Dutta, and due to his performance, Satyajit Ray's later stories on Feluda had Jatayu adapting himself to the looks and mannerisms of Santosh Dutta. Bombaiyer Bombete, Kailashey Kelenkari & Tintorettor Jishu (film)Tintorettor Jishu saw Jatayu being played by Bibhu Bhattacharya. Rabi Ghosh played the role in the telefilm Baksho Rohoshyo.
Jatayu has had been filmed at different times, with the character been played by Late Santosh Dutta, Mohan Agashe, Late Rabi Ghosh, Late Anup Kumar and Late Bibhu Bhattacharya.
A recently published book (Jatayu Jindabad, by Sunit Sengupta, published by Laalmati, 2009), exclusively on Jatayu, provides a comprehensive and elaborate analysis of this lovable character and almost brings him to life.
Played by the actors
Filmography of Lalmohan Ganguly (7 films)
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Royal Bengal Rahasya (2011)
Directed by Sandip Ray
Genres Thriller
Themes Children's films
Actors Sabyasachi Chakrabarty, Bibhu Bhattacharya, Bhaswar Chattopadhyay, Paran Bandopadhyay, Biplab Chatterjee
Rating72%
On an invitation by Mahitosh Singha Ray, Lalmohon Babu robs Feluda and Topshe at a forest near Bhutan and climbs up in the ancestral home of Mahitosh Singha Ray. After few days of their arrival,Mahitosh Singha Ray's assistance, Tarit dies. His deadbody is found in the forest, and police believes he has died due to the tiger's snarl. But later they found a blood-stained sword near his body. Meanwhile, Mahitosh gives Feluda a puzzle to solve. Feluda's amazing intelligence is proved in this part. He solves it most amazingly, and at the end, chalks out that a treasure chest is hidden 55 hands away from a tree which has a hole between it, which looks like an old person's mouth without any teeth; between two Arjuna trees. While Feluda and his companion are on the way to the treasure chest, they finds Tarit's spectacles and later on, his torch, which suggests that Tarit has solved the puzzle much earlier than the others, and was on his way to the treasure chest. At last, Feluda finds the treasure chest, and helds out the conclusion. Mahitosh had broke his hand due to a fall from a tree, which Feluda came to know when he was unable to hold the rifle. All the precious huntings of the tiger were done by his friend, Shashanka. On that night, while Tarit was about to leave, Shashanka too followed him quietly. When there came a Royal Bengal Tiger. Shashanka fired his rifle, which shoot off the tiger's nose after Feluda found a bit of skin. Tarit's sword, as he observed, has begun acting like a magnet, which was created by a flash of lightning. Thus, Tarit wasn't murdered by any villain, but only, the nature was the cause of his death. He, at the end of the story is rewarded with a part of treasure.
Gorosthane Sabdhan (2010)
Directed by Sandip Ray
Themes Children's films
Actors Sabyasachi Chakrabarty, Bibhu Bhattacharya, Tinnu Anand, Dhritiman Chatterjee, Subhasish Mukhopadhyay, Haradhan Bandopadhyay
Rating68%
By accident, more than anything else, the three find themselves beside the grave of Thomas Godwin. The grave was dug up by some miscreants for unknown reasons. The rather colorful history of Mr. Godwin makes Feluda curious to know more about the man.From the diary of Thomas' daughter Charlotte, Feluda finds that a very precious clock went to Thomas' grave with him. To his surprise, Feluda finds that another party knows about this clock and they are trying to get it aided by the letter with them. Thanks to the brilliance of the detective and the help of 'Haripodobabu', the chauffeur of Mr. Ganguli, a new introduction in this book, their plot is foiled.
Tintorettor Jishu (2008)
, 1h40Directed by Sandip Ray
Genres Thriller, Crime
Themes Children's films
Actors Sabyasachi Chakrabarty, Parambrata Chatterjee, Bibhu Bhattacharya, Tota Roy Choudhury, Silajit Majumder, Biswajit Chakraborty
Rating67%
The Niyogi family have a famous painting by the Italian master Tintoretto. However, not everyone is aware of the value of the painting. One of the family members steals it, and international buyers are interested in it. Feluda chases the criminals all the way to Hong Kong. There was a surprise waiting for him there. Eventually, Feluda (with the help of a relative stranger) succeeds in solving the mystery.
Kailashey Kelenkari (2007)
Directed by Sandip Ray
Genres Thriller
Themes Children's films
Actors Sabyasachi Chakrabarty, Parambrata Chatterjee, Bibhu Bhattacharya, Deepankar De, Biplab Chatterjee, Haradhan Bandopadhyay
Rating69%
The story revolves around the blatant smuggling and illegal trading in ancient sculptures across the country. Detective Feluda steps in to solve the crime and nab the culprits. His cousin Topshe, and Lalmohanbabu, the writer of detective novels who goes by the name of Jatayu, assist him in his work. The story revolves around the theft of the head of Yakshi from the Bhuvaneshwar temple. The novel depicts how Feluda uses Topshe and Jatayu as baits in the fifteenth cave and manages to catch the main villain of the piece − Mr Rakshit, alias Chattaraj in a series of scenes filled with action and high dramatics.
Bombaiyer Bombete (2003)
, 1h40Directed by Sandip Ray
Genres Thriller, Crime
Themes Children's films
Actors Sabyasachi Chakrabarty, Parambrata Chatterjee, Bibhu Bhattacharya, Ashish Vidyarthi, Rajatava Dutta, Paran Bandopadhyay
Rating71%
Lalmohan Ganguly, alias Jatayu − a sidekick of Feluda − gets invited to Mumbai (previously Bombay) to watch the shooting of a film based on a novel written by him.His old friend of Garpar road, Pulak Ghoshal (Paran Bandyopadhyay) is the director. Feluda and Topshe accompany him. One day prior to the journey, a mysterious film producer named Sanyal visits jatayu and tells him that he intends to make a film on the same novel (Bombaiyer Bombete) on which Pulok Ghoshal is making a film. Jatayu tells him that the novel is sold, and thus Sanyal leaves. However, Sanyal requests him to handle a packet to one of his allies at Mumbai Airport, to which Jatayu agrees.
The Elephant God (1979)
, 1h52Directed by Satyajit Ray
Origin Inde
Genres Adventure, Crime
Actors Soumitra Chatterjee, Santosh Dutta, Utpal Dutt, Haradhan Bandopadhyay, Siddartha Chatterjee, Biplab Chatterjee
Rating78%
Feluda, his cousin Topshe and the thriller writer Jatayu visit Benaras during the pujas. There they meet a Bengali family. Upon hearing that Feluda is a private investigator, the Ghosal family head entrusts him with the task of finding out the thief of the attempted theft that took place in their house. Meanwhile, the arrival of a saint by the name of 'Machhli Baba' in Benaras quivers the excitement of the local people.
The Golden Fortress (1974)
Directed by Satyajit Ray
Themes Children's films
Actors Soumitra Chatterjee, Santosh Dutta, Siddartha Chatterjee, Kushal Chakraborty, Haradhan Bandopadhyay
Rating82%
The film begins where Mukul Dhar (played by Kushal Chakraborty), a kid who is said to be able to remember events of his previous life, stays up late into the night and draws sketches about peacocks, forts and of battles that he claims to be the battles he had seen, and soon receives the media attention. This finally ended up his father narrating the following incidents to Prodosh Mitter, at his residence about where he met Dr. Hemanga Hajra (Sailen Mukherjee), a parapsychologist, in his book store who in turn enthusiastically offers for help believing it might also help him in his research. After listening to Mukul's descriptions of deserts and peacocks, Dr. Hajra guesses that the place he describes might be in the deserts of Rajasthan. Mukul also mentions that he lived in the Golden Fortress [Sonar Kella] and that their house had lots of gems. Dr. Hajra decides to take Mukul on a trip to Rajasthan hoping this may shed deeper light into such parapsychological phenomenon, as well as help cure the boy.