Sonar Kella

Sonar Kella (Bengali: সোনার কেল্লা), also Shonar Kella, is a 1971 mystery novel written by Bengali writer and filmmaker Satyajit Ray.[1][2] In 1974, Ray directed a film adaption of the book, also named Sonar Kella, starring Soumitra Chatterjee, Santosh Dutta, Siddartha Chatterjee and Kushal Chakraborty.[2][3] The movie was released in the United States as The Golden Fortress. It is the first film adaptation of Ray's famous sleuth Feluda and was followed by Joi Baba Felunath.

Sonar Kella
DVD cover art
Directed bySatyajit Ray
Written bySatyajit Ray
Produced byGovernment of West Bengal
StarringSoumitra Chatterjee,
Santosh Dutta,
Siddartha Chatterjee,
Kushal Chakraborty
Music byFeluda Theme by Satyajit Ray
Release date
27 December 1974
CountryIndia
LanguageBengali
BudgetRs 7 lakhs
Box officeRs 13 lakhs

Sonar Kella (The Golden Fortress)
First edition
AuthorSatyajit Ray
Cover artistSatyajit Ray
CountryIndia
LanguageBengali
GenreDetective fiction
PublisherAnanda Publishers
Publication date
1971
Media typePrint
Preceded byGangtokey Gondogol 
Followed byBaksho Rahashya 

Plot

The film begins with a school-boy Mukul Dhar (Kushal Chakraborty), who is said to be able to remember events of his previous life, and soon receives media attention. Dr. Hemanga Hajra (Sailen Mukherjee), a parapsychologist, offers his help, believing it might help him in his own research. Mukul always remains sombre and paints peacocks, forts, camels and battlescenes at midnight; he mentions that he lived in the Golden Fortress (Sonar Kella) and that their house had many gems. Dr. Hajra decides to take Mukul on a trip to Rajasthan, famous for forts, historical importance and desert landscape. Two seasoned fraudsters, Amiyanath Burman and Mandar Bose, plan to kidnap Mukul to capture the treasure. Their first attempt at the kidnapping fails when they pick up another boy, also named Mukul (Santanu Bagchi), from the same neighborhood. Alarmed by this, Mukul's father engages Pradosh Chandra Mitter a.k.a. Feluda (Soumitra Chatterjee), a private investigator, to protect his son. Feluda leaves for Rajasthan along with his cousin Tapesh a.k.a Topshe (Siddartha Chatterjee), following Dr. Hajra. On their way, they meet and befriend Lalmohan Ganguly, a.k.a. Jatayu (Santosh Dutta), a popular thriller writer.

Meanwhile, Burman and Bose kidnap Mukul and push Dr. Hajra off a cliff to his presumed death at the Nahargarh Fort in Jaipur. Burman impersonates as Dr. Hajra and Bose impersonates as a globe-trotter. Dr. Hajra actually survived the fall and begins to pursue them. Feluda arrives in Jodhpur Circuit House and meets Burman, assuming him to be Dr. Hajra. Feluda begins to suspect Bose based on his clothes and his accent. Feluda even suspects "Dr. Hajra's" conduct as he appears lackadaisical in his research. Mukul keeps saying he is followed by a "bad man". Burman successfully hypnotizes Mukul, who says that the Golden Fortress is in Jaisalmer. Dr. Hajra reaches to the same conclusion by learning about the history of the Fort of Jaisalmer from a police inspector. Feluda learns that the Jaisalmer Fort is made of yellow limestone, giving it a golden glow. Bose lies to Feluda by saying that Burman/Dr. Hajra has already left with Mukul for Barmer, in order to lure Feluda on the wrong track. Feluda suspects foul play but cannot be sure. By chance, his eye falls upon the card of Dr Hajra; an idea flashes in his mind and he rushes to check the register of the circuit house and finds that it is signed as 'Hazra' not 'Hajra'. He is now sure about the man impersonating as Dr Hajra, and leaves for Jaisalmer by car. Bose strands Feluda, Topshe, and Jatayu on the highway. Feluda takes a camel caravan to the nearest train station, from which he takes the next train to Jaisalmer. At night, in the train, Bose attacks and attempts to stab Feluda to death, who anticipated the attack and nearly defeats him; eventually, Bose falls out of the train and most probably dies after seeing the real Dr. Hajra in a separate compartment of the same train and assuming him to be a ghost. The trio arrive in Jaisalmer along with Dr. Hajra. They rush to the fort, where they find Burman searching for the treasure where Mukul recalled his home of previous life was. Feluda confronts and captures Burman, telling him that there never was any treasure. They find that Mukul is cured of his obsession of previous life, and they return to Kolkata.

Characters

Cast

Crew
  • Satyajit Ray - Director, Screenplay, Music Score (composer)
  • Soumendu Roy - Cinematography
  • Dulal Dutta - Editor
  • Mangesh Deshai - Sound Mixing Engineer (Re recording)
  • J.D Irani - Dubbing Sound Recordist
  • Anil Talukdar - Guide Track Sound recordist
  • Ashoke Bose - Production Designer
  • Debayan Roy - Production Basic

Awards

See also

References
  1. Pinaki Roy (1 January 2008). The Manichean Investigators: A Postcolonial and Cultural Rereading of the Sherlock Holmes and Byomkesh Bakshi Stories. Sarup & Sons. pp. 111–. ISBN 978-81-7625-849-4. Retrieved 19 October 2012.
  2. Andrew Robinson (17 March 1992). Satyajit Ray: The Inner Eye. University of California Press. pp. 359–. ISBN 978-0-520-06946-6. Retrieved 19 October 2012.
  3. Chatterjee, Soumitra. "Fun, camels and greed control: Soumitra Chatterjee recalls the shoot of Satyajit Ray's 'Sonar Kella'". Scroll.in. Retrieved 23 November 2021.
  4. The Golden Fortress (1974) - IMDb, retrieved 23 September 2019
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