Miracurall, Professor Trilokeshwar Shonku's invention, could cure every ailment except the common cold. Satyajit Ray’s Shonku might not be the answer for COVID-19, but he can certainly, work for boredom. And to fight this powerful enemy that has rendered everyone to a state of ennui, is The Final Adventures of Professor Shonku.
The fourth volume of the book published by Puffin was released on Satyajit Ray’s 99th birth anniversary. “We could be sure that he would have approved of this internet launch,’’ said Dhirtiman Chatterji, the actor who plays him in the film. This book, which has nine adventures, is available on Kindle from May 2.
One of Ray’s most favourite creations, Shonku—who came before Feluda, Ray’s detective—could have taught Harry Potter, a thing or do. Even in the Muggles world, Trilokeshwar Shonku, who was created in 1965, is 'pill for nightmare'. It ensured that the person who took it, went to sleep and had nightmares. He also Remembrane—something Dumbledore would have approved of—to make people remember what they had forgotten. He also had the 'Invisibility drug' that could make the person invisible for five hours.
“Ray was informed by the social reality around him,’’ said Chatterji, at the video launch. “We know if Ray was around today, he would have sent remote corner of the world searching for the source of the virus.’’
Shonku lived in his house in Giridih, but travelled across the world. From Brazil to China—to Tibet—and even Mexico, the stories of Shonku are fascinating, incredibly imaginative and wonderful. They also reflect Ray’s mind and the scope of his imagination. “I discovered him when I was ten,’’ says Indrani Mazumdar, the translator of the book. In her house filled with books, Mazumdar discovered Sandesh, the magazine started by his grandfather and then revived by Ray. “I discovered Ray’s writing and his illustrations first. Only later I became aware that he was a filmmaker.”
Mazumdar has spent years, translating her childhood companion into English for other kids now. “The Bengali he writes in 'Feluda' is different,’’ she says. “It is more informal. In the case of Shonku, it is more formal.’’ There are words that made her scramble to find old scriptures. “Or foreign words,’’ she says. The journeys to exotic lands that Shonku takes—and which Ray brought alive—was what the filmmaker observed in his own travels across the world.
A filmmaker, an illustrator and a writer, Ray’s works continue to enthral audiences, years later. In an effort to honour Ray, Penguin India has chosen to bring out his unpublished works this year. A discovery year of sorts, his son Sandip Ray, in his forced spring cleaning because of lockdown, has found a box with a 1,000 negatives believed to be stills of his movies. Ray, according to reports, said some of them belonged to Aparjito, Apu trilogy, as well as Charulata, still keeping people glued, on his 99th birth anniversary.