''Sonar Kella'' ( bn, সোনার কেল্লা), also ''Shonar Kella'', is a 1971 mystery novel written by by Bengali writer and filmmaker

Satyajit Ray Satyajit Ray (; 2 May 1921 – 23 April 1992) was an Indian director, screenwriter, documentary filmmaker, author, essayist, lyricist, magazine editor, illustrator, calligrapher, and music composer. One of the greatest auteurs of ...

. In 1974, Ray directed a film adaption of the book, also named ''Sonar Kella'', starring

Soumitra Chatterjee Soumitra Chatterjee (also spelt as Chattopadhyay; 16 June 193515 November 2020) was an Indian film actor, play-director, playwright, writer, thespian and poet. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most influential actors in the history of I ...

Santosh Dutta Santosh Dutta ( Bengali: সন্তোষ দত্ত; 2 December 1925 – 5 March 1988) was a Bengali actor, best known for playing the character of Jatayu in Satyajit Ray's Feluda movie series ''Sonar Kella'' and '' Joi Baba Felunath''. Ea ...

, Siddartha Chatterjee and

Kushal Chakraborty Kushal Chakraborty ( bn, কুশল চক্রবর্তী) (born 21 July 1968) is a Bengali actor and film director. At the age of six, he played the role of Mukul in Satyajit Ray's film ''Sonar Kella'' for which he won National Film Aw ...

. The movie was released in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

as ''The Golden Fortress''. It is the first film adaptation of Ray's famous sleuth

Feluda Feluda, or Prodosh Chandra Mitra itter'', is a fictional detective, Private investigator created by famous Indian director and writer Satyajit Ray. Feluda resides at 21 Rajani Sen Road, Ballygunge, Calcutta, West Bengal. Feluda first made his ap ...

and was followed by Joi Baba Felunath.

Plot

The film begins with a school-boy Mukul Dhar (

), 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 Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern ...

, 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.

(

), a private investigator, to protect his son. Feluda leaves for Rajasthan along with his cousin Tapesh a.k.a

Topshe Feluda, or Prodosh Chandra Mitra itter'', is a fictional detective, Private investigator created by famous Indian director and writer Satyajit Ray. Feluda resides at 21 Rajani Sen Road, Ballygunge, Calcutta, West Bengal. Feluda first made his ap ...

( Siddartha Chatterjee), following Dr. Hajra. On their way, they meet and befriend Lalmohan Ganguly, a.k.a. Jatayu (

), 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 Nahargarh Fort stands on the edge of the Aravalli Hills, overlooking the city of Jaipur in the Indian state of Rajasthan. Along with Amer Fort and Jaigarh Fort, Nahargarh once formed a strong defence ring for the city. The fort was originally n ...

Jaipur Jaipur (; Hindi: ''Jayapura''), formerly Jeypore, is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Rajasthan. , the city had a population of 3.1 million, making it the tenth most populous city in the country. Jaipur is also known a ...

. 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 Jodhpur (; ) is the second-largest city in the Indian state of Rajasthan and officially the second metropolitan city of the state. It was formerly the seat of the princely state of Jodhpur State. Jodhpur was historically the capital of the ...

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 Jaisalmer , nicknamed "The Golden city", is a city in the Indian state of Rajasthan, located west of the state capital Jaipur. The town stands on a ridge of yellowish sandstone and is crowned by the ancient Jaisalmer Fort. This fort contains a ...

. 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 Jaisalmer Fort is situated in the city of Jaisalmer, in the Indian state of Rajasthan. It is believed to be one of the very few "living forts" in the world (such as Carcassonne, France), as nearly one fourth of the old city's population still ...

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 A ghost is the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that is believed to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to re ...

. 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 Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

Characters

* Pradosh Chandra Mitter a.k.a. Feluda * Tapesh Ranjan Mitter a.k.a. Topshe * Lalmohan Ganguly a.k.a. Jatayu * Sidhu Jyatha * Mukul Dhar * Mandar Bose * Amiyanath Burman * Dr. Hemanga Hajra * Dibbhojuthi Paul * Binay Mitra

Cast

* Siddartha Chatterjee as

as Jatayu *

as Mukul Dhar *

Kamu Mukherjee Kamu Mukherjee (14 June 1931 – 6 December 2003) was a Bengali actor, best known for his role as Mandar Bose in '' Sonar Kella'' and Harun in Sandip Ray's first film '' Phatik Chand''. Career Mukherjee's first film appearance was in the 1959 fi ...

as Mandar Bose *

Harindranath Chattopadhyay Harindranath Chattopadhyay (2 April 1898 – 23 June 1990) was an Indian English poet, dramatist, actor, musician and a member of the 1st Lok Sabha from Vijayawada constituency. He was the younger brother of Sarojini Nai ...

as Sidhu Jyatha *

Haradhan Banerjee Haradhan Bandopadhyay (6 November 1926 – 5 January 2013) was a Bengali Indian male actor of television and films. He made his debut in the 1948 Bengali film ''Devdut'', directed by Atanu Bandopadhyay. He worked with some of the most prominen ...

as Binay Mitra * Shailen Mukherjee as Dr. Hemanga Hajra * Ajoy Banerjee as Amiyanath Burman a.k.a Bhavananda a.k.a The Fake Dr Hemanga Hazra. * Bishnupada Rudrapaul as Dibbhojuthi Paul * Santanu Bagchi as Mukul, another boy * Bimal Chatterjee as the grandfather of the another Mukul * Ashok Mukherjee as the Journalist

Crew

- Director, Screenplay, Music Score (composer) *

Soumendu Roy Soumendu Roy (born 1933) is an Indian cinematographer most known for his work with noted director Satyajit Ray's films, starting with ''Teen Kanya'' (1961), when Subrata Mitra developed an eye-problem, though he has earlier shot Ray's documentar ...

- 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

National Film Awards The National Film Awards is the most prominent film award ceremony in India. Established in 1954, it has been administered, along with the International Film Festival of India and the Indian Panorama, by the Indian government's Directorat ...

for

Best Screenplay Best or The Best may refer to: People * Best (surname), people with the surname Best * Best (footballer, born 1968), retired Portuguese footballer Companies and organizations * Best & Co., an 1879–1971 clothing chain * Best Lock Corporation, ...

Best Direction The MTV Video Music Award for Best Direction is an award given to the artist, the artist's manager, and the director of the music video. From 1984 to 2006, the full name of the award was Best Direction in a Video, and in 2007, it was briefly rename ...

(

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; ...

) * Best Film, Direction and Screenplay, Government of West Bengal, 1974 * Best Feature Film for Children and Young Adults, Tehran, 1975 * National Film Award for Best Cinematography (

) *

National Film Award for Best Child Artist The National Film Award for Best Child Artist is one of the National Film Awards presented annually by the Directorate of Film Festivals, the organisation set up by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India. It is one of several awards ...

(

) *

National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Bengali The National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Bengali is one of the National Film Awards presented annually by the Directorate of Film Festivals, the organisation set up by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India. It is one of severa ...

(

)

References

External links

*
Sonar Kella (SatyajitRay.org)
{{National Film Award Best Feature Film Bengali Films directed by Satyajit Ray Bengali-language Indian films Indian detective films 1974 films 1971 novels Feluda (series) Novels by Satyajit Ray Indian novels adapted into films Films based on Indian novels Novels set in India Films set in India Films set in Rajasthan Indian children's films Rajasthani culture Films whose director won the Best Director National Film Award Films whose cinematographer won the Best Cinematography National Film Award Films shot in Rajasthan Films with screenplays by Satyajit Ray Films whose writer won the Best Original Screenplay National Film Award Best Bengali Feature Film National Film Award winners 1970s Bengali-language films