Parambrata Chattopadhyay on backlash to Shabash Feluda: ‘Audience completely got polarised into two halves’

Parambrata Chattopadhyay took on the role of the iconic fictional character of Feluda, detective Prodosh Chandra Mitter, for the recent ZEE5 web series Shabash Feluda. In a new interview, the actor, who works predominantly in Bengali films, has addressed the backlash that the new adaptation has received since its release. (Also read: Parambrata Chatterjee says the Bengali audience needs to come out of their shells: ‘We have cultural baggage’)

Who is Feluda?

Shabash Feluda, which is directed by Arindam Sil, released on ZEE5 on May 5. The character of Feluda was created by Satyajit Ray, who also went on to direct two films based on the stories, namely Sonar Kella (1974) and Joy Baba Felunath (1978). It starred actor Soumitra Chatterjee as Feluda.

Over the decades, Feluda has been played by Shashi Kapoor, Abir Chatterjee, Tota Roy Chowdhury, Indraneil Sengupta and Ahmed Rubel.

Parambrata’s reaction to backlash

In a new interview for Variety, Parambrata Chattopadhyay opened up about the mixed reaction to the series and said that ‘the audience completely got polarised into two halves’.

He added, “On one hand, there was a lot of appreciation. On the other hand, there was a lot of backlash as well. And we were completely prepared – Feluda is one of those rare icons or heroes that the Bengalis have got ever since independence. They identify a lot of a lot with him, they want to see themselves succeeding through Feluda. The backlash that happened actually made the series very popular in the sense that people started watching it in huge numbers, which was great. A lot of them really said very, very bad things about it. A lot of them said great things about it. But the fact was, there was incredible amount of engagement. And that’s all that we wanted.”

Reaction to Shabash Feluda

Ever since the trailer of the show was released, many reacted unfavourably to the casting and the adaptation. The show received mixed response from the audience as well.

A comment under the trailer on YouTube read, “This is nothing short of sacrilege. They have tried to play with the emotions of people. Freedom doesn’t give you the license to do anything.” Another person wrote, “Please don’t ruin Feluda.”

Parambrata’s tryst with Feluda

Parambrata Chattopdhayay, who shot to fame with Sujoy Ghosh’s Kahaani (2012), where he played a police officer, has himself played one of the fictional sidekicks of Feluda in the earlier films. The actor played Tapesh Ranjan Mitter, known as Topshe, Feluda’s cousin and assistant in three films. Some of his film credits in Bollywood include Pari (2018), Ramprasad Ki Tehrvi (2019), and Bulbbul (2020). He will be next seen in Anushka Sharma’s upcoming film Chakda Xpress.