''Sonar Kella'', also ''Shonar Kella'', is a 1971 mystery novel written by Bengali writer and filmmaker

Satyajit Ray Satyajit Ray (; 2 May 1921 – 23 April 1992) was an Indian film director, screenwriter, author, lyricist, magazine editor, illustrator, calligraphy, calligrapher, and composer. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest and most influ ...

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

Soumitra Chatterjee Soumitra Chatterjee (also spelt as Chattopadhyay; ; 19 January 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 histor ...

, Santosh Dutta, Siddartha Chatterjee and Kushal Chakraborty. The movie was released in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

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

Feluda Feluda is a fictional detective, private investigator created by Indian director and writer Satyajit Ray. Feluda resides at 21 Rajani Sen Road, Ballygunge, Calcutta, West Bengal, India. Feluda first made his appearance in a Bengali childre ...

and was followed by ''Joi Baba Felunath'', in English ''The Elephant God''.

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 A fortification (also called a fort, fortress, fastness, or stronghold) is a military construction designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from ...

camels A camel (from and () from Ancient Semitic: ''gāmāl'') is an even-toed ungulate in the genus ''Camelus'' that bears distinctive fatty deposits known as "humps" on its back. Camels have long been domesticated and, as livestock, they provide ...

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 (; Literal translation, lit. 'Land of Kings') is a States and union territories of India, state in northwestern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the List of states and union territories of ...

, 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 Kidnapping or abduction is the unlawful abduction and confinement of a person against their will, and is a crime in many jurisdictions. Kidnapping may be accomplished by use of force or fear, or a victim may be enticed into confinement by frau ...

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

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 In geography and geology, a cliff or rock face is an area of Rock (geology), rock which has a general angle defined by the vertical, or nearly vertical. Cliffs are formed by the processes of weathering and erosion, with the effect of gravity. ...

to his presumed

death Death is the end of life; the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain a living organism. Death eventually and inevitably occurs in all organisms. The remains of a former organism normally begin to decompose sh ...

at the Nahargarh Fort in

Jaipur Jaipur (; , ) is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and the List of cities and towns in Rajasthan, largest city of the north-western States and union territories of India, Indian state of Rajasthan. , the city had ...

. Burman impersonates as Dr. Hajra and Bose impersonates as a globe-trotter. Dr. Hajra actually survives the fall and begins to pursue them. Feluda along with Topshe arrives in

Jodhpur Jodhpur () is the second-largest city of the north-western Indian state of Rajasthan, after its capital Jaipur. As of 2023, the city has a population of 1.83 million. It serves as the administrative headquarters of the Jodhpur district and ...

Circuit House and meets Burman, assuming him to be Dr. Hajra. Feluda begins to suspect Bose based on his

clothes Clothing (also known as clothes, garments, dress, apparel, or attire) is any item worn on a human human body, body. Typically, clothing is made of fabrics or textiles, but over time it has included garments made from animal skin and other thin s ...

and his accent. Feluda even suspects "Dr. Hajra's" conduct as he appears lackadaisical in his approach. Mukul keeps saying he is followed by a "bad man". After visiting a few fortresses, Burman successfully hypnotizes Mukul, who reveals that the Golden Fortress is in

Jaisalmer Jaisalmer , nicknamed ''The Golden city'', is a city in the north-western Indian state of Rajasthan, located west of the state capital Jaipur, in the heart of the Thar Desert. It serves as the administrative headquarters of Jaisalmer district ...

. Dr. Hajra reaches to the same conclusion by learning about the history of the Fort of

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 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 resides within th ...

is made of yellow limestone, giving it a golden glow. Burman leaves for Jaisalmer with Mukul immediately instructing Bose to follow suit after misguiding Feluda and others. Bose lies to Feluda by saying that Burman/Dr. Hajra has already left with Mukul for Barmer, in order to lead him 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. While on their way to railway station, Bose strands the trio (Feluda, Topshe, and Jatayu) on the highway by pucturing the tyre of their car. Undaunted, Feluda and his team takes a camel caravan to the nearest train station Ramdevra, from which he boards on the next train to Jaisalmer. At night, in the train, Bose attacks and attempts to stab Feluda to death, who anticipates the attack and nearly captures him. After a scuffle, Bose escapes to another compartment of the train. However, moments later, Bose falls out of the train after seeing the real Dr. Hajra in the other compartment and assuming him to be a

ghost In folklore, a ghost is the soul or Spirit (supernatural entity), spirit of a dead Human, person or non-human animal that is believed by some people to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely, from a ...

. The trio arrive in Jaisalmer along with Dr. Hajra. They rush to the fort where they find Burman searching for the treasure where Mukul recalls his home of previous life. 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, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...

. This is where the movie ends.

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 Topshe * Santosh Dutta as Jatayu * Kushal Chakraborty as Mukul Dhar * Kamu Mukherjee as Mandar Bose * Harindranath Chattopadhyay as Sidhu Jyatha * Haradhan Banerjee 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 other Mukul * Ashok Mukherjee as the Journalist

Crew

- 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

National Film Awards The National Film Awards are awards for artistic and technical merit given for "Excellence within the Cinema of India, Indian film industry". Established in 1954, it has been administered, along with the International Film Festival of India ...

for Best Screenplay & Best Direction(

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 The National Film Award for Best Cinematography is one of the National Film Awards presented annually by the National Film Development Corporation of India. It is one of several awards presented for feature films and awarded with Rajat Kamal (S ...

(

) *

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 National Film Development Corporation of India. It is one of several awards presented for feature films and awarded with Silver Lotus (Raj ...

(

) *

National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Bengali The National Film Award for Best Bengali Feature Film is one of the National Film Awards presented annually by the National Film Development Corporation of India. It is one of several awards presented for feature films and awarded with Rajat Ka ...

(

)

References

External links

Sonar Kella * * {{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 [ ategory: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 Films featuring a Best Child Artist National Award–winning performance