From rxpgnews.com
Feluda, Goopy-Bagha sequels will mark Ray's anniversary
By Sujoy Dhar, IANS,
May 1, 2007 - 4:26:49 PM
Kolkata, May 1 - As the 86th birth anniversary of Satyajit Ray is celebrated Wednesday, perhaps the most befitting tribute will come from his son who is planning sequels of two of the master filmmaker's best-known works.
A stronger cyber world presence of the works of Ray, who was not only a filmmaker but also a writer of repute, is on the cards as well.
But what will perhaps most delight his fans is the return of the detective character Feluda and the musician duo Goopy-Bagha on screen.
Ray's son Sandip had made 'Goopy Bagha Phirey Elo' - in 1991 as the third in the series of films by his father on the do-gooder musical duo with magical powers. Now he will start the fourth sequel, tentatively early next year.
But first the cameras will roll this month in the studios of Kolkata and in the outdoors of Elora in Maharashtra to capture detective Feluda in 'Kailashe Kelenkari' -, one of the whodunit series penned by Ray.
'We are starting the shooting of 'Kailashe Kelenkari', a Feluda series book, from May 11 and will tentatively release the film in December,' Lolita Ray, wife of Sandip Ray, told IANS Tuesday.
'The Goopy Bagha shooting will start only after this Feluda film is complete. It will be produced by distributor Arijit Dutta, whose grandfather Nepal Dutta had produced my father-in-law's 'Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne' -, the first in the series in 1968.'
'Hirak Rajar Deshey', again directed by Satyajit Ray, was the second in the series in 1980.
'But casting is a problem for the new film and we are looking for actors to play Goopy and Bagha, especially Goopy,' said Lolita Ray, who takes an active interest in her father-in-law's works and had assisted him in designing costumes for the films he made in his final years.
Sandip Ray had said: 'I have been looking for faces that will fit the characters immortalised by the late comedian Robi Ghosh - and Tapan Chatterjee -.'
And there's more happening in Ray's 86th year of birth.
Www.worldofray.com, one the largest of the portals on Satyajit Ray, has been updated and given a new name - www.satyajitrayworld.com - to mark the birth anniversary.
The website was launched by the Kolkata-based Society for the Preservation of Satyajit Ray Films, better known as the Satyajit Ray Society, on Aug 26, 2006. The date was chosen to celebrate the 51st year of the release in Kolkata of 'Pather Panchali', Ray's debut film that marked the emergence of an all-time great of world cinema.
'I think the reason for the site's popularity was it was the first time a comprehensive attempt was made to present Ray not only as a filmmaker but as the many-splendoured genius that he was,' said Sandip Ray, member-secretary of the Society.
'Another reason was that we took particular care to see the website did not become grey and dull. So we used attractive designs with a lot of colour, which probably attracted the old and the young alike.'
D.N. Ghosh, president of the Society, said: 'The launch of the website was a step on our part to reach out to a global audience.'
Kathleen O'Connell, who translated some of Ray's stories published under the title 'Bravo! Professor Shonku' writes on the site about the Ray course she gives at the University of Toronto, Canada. The section has direct links to the university website.
The Satyajit Ray Society, in association with the Oscar Academy in Los Angeles, has also been engaged for over a decade in restoring the Ray films.
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