Curvalor Baksha

I started reading Arjun stories when it used to be only detective stories. But later on the stories became less of detection but more of sci-fi adventures. "Curvalor Baksha" is one of them.
A Ramchandra Ray suddenly hears strange audio signals emanating and disappearing every night into a box left in his house by his friend Curvalo. With this, he also feels that his chronic gout pains are vanishing. But as he realizes that for some part of the night he is acting uncontrollably under the influence of some external force he reports to the police. Though the police is a bit doubtful of the sanity of Ray, but Arjun, who had coincidentally dropped by the police station at the same time, is interested. He accompanies the complainant to his house to examine the box. As he opens the box with the help of a local, once shady, locksmith, it reveals some interesting contents. When it is ascertained that the audio signals are affecting only a few, the investigations indicates a high chance of the instruments in the box to be of alien origin.
Then starts the trail for the truth that is pleasantly mysterious yet somewhat predictable. This is one of the Majumdar's stories that is recommended for all ages. I had read the story earlier but now understand that a bit more detailing could have made the story even  more thrilling. The culmination is a bit abrupt yet unsurprising.

Arjun @ beepbeep dot com

What started as a promising mixture of mystery and sci-fi turned quite a slow paced novel with a disappointing climax. The main theme started with Arjun purchasing a cell for himself. At the same time Major comes to India with a foreign researcher, Lucy who investigates bird calls around the globe. They seek his guidance in the forests of North Bengal. All of a sudden Amal Som contacts Arjun and requests for sending him his brain scan as well that of Habu. Mysterious calls comes at Arjun's cell from unknown locations. He also starts hearing voices. Threats seem to come from some local goons assisted by some foreigner. Arjun also gets communications from Bistusaheb. Thus as all the parties are introduced, suddenly the mystery of the calls are unfolded abruptly an the story plunges coarsely forward. The story had all the material for a thrilling suspense with the backdrop of the North Bengal depicted nicely but somehow it irritates as there is no proper justification to several doubts. The scientific rationale to the fiction is never divulged. Thus it remains an improper detective novel.

Arjun: Kalimponge Sitaharan

Rating: 7.5/10
Arjun, the young sleuth created decades back by Samaresh Majumder premiers on the silver screen as he is mentored in the quest for truth by the nicely attired and insightful Amol Som and accompanied by Major and Bistu Saheb which promises a thrilling entertainment in the summer holidays not only for the school-goers but the final twist reserves an attraction for the elders as well.
Introducing one of the younger sleuths of Bengali detective fiction Prem Prakash Modi promises more in the line of the Byomkesh-Feluda genre with his Arjun: Kalimponge Sitaharan. Adapted from Majumder’s stories Khunkharapi and Sitaharan Rahasya, the main plot has been modified almost entirely that maintains the thrill and keeps the suspense alive for readers of both the stories due to the novel climax.
Arjun, son to a widowed mother, tries hard to get a job after college just like any other ordinary Bengali youth but cherishes the dream of an adventurous career accompanying his idol, the private investigator Amal Som in solving challenging mysteries. Chance comes almost unexpectedly as Som asks his assistance in a case that apparently seems a simple one. All Arjun had to do was to watch over Sita, daughter to the prosperous Mr. Sen in Kalimpong. It was alleged that Sita got herself involved in bad company during her stay in the US and her father was afraid that she might be kidnapped by them. So he requested assistance of Som and thus Arjun was instructed to guard Sita at Sen’s residence under an appropriate guise. But it seemed that another underlying plot was slowly unfolding. Sita’s grandfather, Taashi Palden, a man of varied qualities, happened to be the chief designer of a vault containing immense riches in a Buddhist monastery. Palden possessed the only imprints of the original blueprints and he hid them in some secret place leaving a trail of riddles, that too planted in veiled locations.  Sen, though not aware of the exact location of the documents, was apprehensive that his daughter’s security may be threatened by the dangerous secret and so sought professional help from Som after employing a governess to look after Sita. But when Arjun turned up in place of Som, Sen was not at all pleased. But supported by the wise and revered Bistu Saheb, Arjun tried to gain his confidence by his sleuthing. Support also came from the jovial Major, a long time friend to Som and relative to Bistu Saheb whose voracious appetite and straightforward attitude immediately cheered up the budding investigator.
But evil struck more than once as Sen’s watchdog was poisoned and one of his long time servants was found dead in the premises. Arjun found himself a suspect to the local police enquiry and felt helpless as Som seemed to disappear from the scenes. As dark sides of several characters came to fore Arjun’s own cover was blown up by none other than Sita. The villains repeatedly struck at this vulnerable junction with a murder and kidnapping Sita.
Will Arjun be able to rescue her and keep the blueprints in safe hands? Where was Amal Som? Why Sen seems afraid of the monks? With whom does Sita’s governess rendezvous at night? Why the psychological patient Wang Di always points to his eyes? And what secret does Major boast of?
To know all these and to share the excitement you have to watch the movie and believe me just the beauty of the landscape will enthrall you and the mystery will seem an added flavor!
Though the story has been extensively modified but credits are due to Prem Prakash Modi for his courageous introduction of a sleuth, who unlike Byomkesh-Feluda begins as an apprentice rather than stealing the centre-stage. Introducing all the major characters of an Arjun novel including his signature motorbike (though my personal disappointment was Habu, Amol Som’s deaf and dumb assistant whose screen time was not enough and portraiture also lacked the intelligence that Arjun stories always depicted), Modi has also prepared the audience for a continuation of Arjun’s adventure. His promise of sequels will thus keep hopes high for enthusiasts of Bengali crime fictions. Also, Modi’s keenness on maintaining chronological sequences - evident as Arjun refers to his first adventure with Amalda at the Khutimari Range - satisfies fans like me to whom it feels unnecessary that certain movie versions of renowned detective literatures seems bend on referring to previous scripts that needlessly points to change in the original sequence. Modi’s direction along with Abhijit Sarkar’s screenplay and dialogue also proves once more that films based on literatures are always a pleasure to watch.
The best point about the movie, as I’ve already hinted at is the choice of locations and Rana Dasgupta’s cinematography. The captivating beauty of North Bengal has been elegantly captured and the greeneries aptly echo the freshness of an honest mind – the fundamental item of a detective story. But one thing clearly disappoints, the music and background score that seems a bit demanding on certain occasions.
Coming to the acting we need to categorize on the seniority. Beginning with the veterans, undoubtedly the lion’s share of the compliments is due for Sabyasachi Chakrabarty who blends into the character of Amal Som just splendidly. Amol Som’s acute observation, sharp intellect, innovative tactics and last but not the least his physical agility has been so correctly presented by him that similar to Soumitra Chatterjee’s Feluda and Rajit Kapur’s Byomkesh, Sabyasachi and Amal Som are bound to become synonymous if the series continues. Portraying the expert in the field Amal Som’s need for a young apprentice, especially where action is concerned, has been just correctly projected by Chakrabarty. With his composed performance Sabyasachi thus is just perfect for each and every scene where he appears. Manoj Mitra as Bistu Saheb balances the mood with the right mix of seriousness and humour and the scripts that he shares with Biswajit Chakrabarty (Major) breath relief to the tense plot. In fact Biswajit Chakrabarty presents the much needed comic angle that never compromises on the character’s intellect and presents the simple and frank Major, reminding ever so slightly of Santosh Dutta’s legendary Lalmohanbabu and making the character intensely lovable. Dipankar Dey plays the distressed Mr. Sen with his characteristic eloquence though his expressions of fright are not so natural. Now coming to the significant female characters, Churni Ganguly in her portraiture of Sita’s governess has been marvelous as she moulds her character and the scenes, swapping her role between the intentionally irritating governess to the lady with her own secret mission. But the find of the movie is Raya Chowdhury whose portraiture of Sita could not have been more fitting. The spoilt but shrewd daughter of the wealthy Sen, frustrated by her arrested movements, doubting each and everyone, seemingly unaware of the dangers looming large and always on the lookout of escape, Sita was gradually turning to a bundle of nerves. Raya not only makes the character fiercely exact but solely her accent makes her the Sita as described in the book. Coming to the debutant Om (Arjun) though he may need to work on his expressions a bit more but his features matched that of Arjun quite well. True that he is not as cool as Feluda or as sharp as Byomkesh and undoubtedly less witty than both of them but the script demands that only! Centering more on his mentor’s activities the film is more about the trainee in Arjun as he turns to a more responsible investigator. Bringing the focus on himself on other scenes, Om correctly plays out of the limelight in presence of Som. His suppressed excitement to be part of Amalda’s team and his contrasting reluctance of a more mundane career makes the character more realistic. Another important character had been played by Anindya Banerjee as the officer investigating the murder in Sen’s premises who makes his short appearance crisp yet enjoyable.
Thus the Mukul Sarkar presentation promises a pleasant summer and the film may well be considered as the first of an enjoyable series.

Arjun Samagra Vol I

The volume contains the making of a young detective in Arjun. Samaresh Majumder started these tales mainly for the young readers on the request of Nirendranath Chakravarti.
In Khunkharapi, a collection of two stories, we find the young Arjun on the quest for a job like any other Bengali youth after completing his graduation. His first job lands him under a contractor, Pritam Singh who undertakes a project of herding off group of wild elephants that were causing chaos in the nearby areas of Khutimari Range, North Bengal. Here he gets acquinted with a person called Tinkari who is regarded by the locals as a good-for-nothing lazybone. But, Arjun finds this apparently comic character interesting and somewhat knowledgable and gets him a job as a labour under his supervision. But his movements sometimes makes Arjun apprehensive about his true character. Next the story describes how Arjun carries on his job and while doing so, how he makes a close shave of his life when all of a sudden his team bumps into a pack of elephants. At night also the elephants are seen near their camp but curiously enough after midnight a peculiar sound drives them off. Arjun tries to find the source of the noise and while doing so unknowingly gets himself ready for another danger. The story ends with Arjun finding himself as a pawn in the game between smugglers and the guardians of peace. In the second story, also set in the mountanoues North Bengal, Arjun assists his mentor Amal Som in defending the treasure of a Buddhist Monastery near Kalimpong. Here we are introduced with a new character Bishnu Charan Patranabish aka Bistu Saheb, a respected figure and a long timer at the hills.
In Sitaharan Rahasya, again a collection of two stories related by the plot centering a young teenagae girl Sita, daughter of a long time Bengali resident in States. In the first of the stories, Arjun finds himself acting as a guard to Sita, who against her father's wishes tries to escape to the States to join the punk community from where she had been disunited by her father. Arjun, under the guidance of Amal Som manages to avoid Sita's kidnap as the story ends. In the next chapter, Amal & Arjun are again employed to retrieve Sita in Chandigarh from where she had been kidnapped. Here the presence of Bishnu Charan Patranabish breaths comic relief to the thriller.
The next collection is Lighter. In the two stories that follows, Arjun, now not so much as an amateur as the earlier stories had depicted, is on the trail of two missing lighters manufactured by a foreign company. The lighters, originally designed for the FBI, not only served the purpose of lighting a cigar, but also acted as a very powerful weapon. Reports of two of them being stolen by anti-social elements reach Arjun and he is set in the trail of finding them. Here, again a new charachter in the form of a retd Major, being a relation to Bistu Saheb appears and he accompanies Arjun in the adventures that ensue. These episodes also find Arjun in the States during his pursuit of the lost lighters.
Following this collection is the novel Jutoe Rakter Daag where we find Arjun, on the request of Major accompanies the latter on his visit to England while returning from America. Major's motive was to spend a few days with his friend, Marshal who is researching on pearl culture in an isolated island. But again there is trouble as Major buys a second-hand boot much to the irritation of another gang who is also on its lookout. As Arjun senses trouble, he examines and finds that the boot contains the location of some hidden object. As Major & Arjun teams up for the trail, they find themselves in grave dangers from the gang. Many characters are introduced in this story the chief ones being a female magician, a Mr. Brown, the look-a-like of Major, Marshal, the evil Dr. Hatch and their henhmen. The climax of the story is beneath the ocean where Arjun tries to fight off the villains with an underwater grenade launcher. The story is full of adventure than mystery but the narrative is both gripping and enjoyable at places.
The final novel of the volume is Derdin, where Arjun is requested by Amal Som to act as a bodyguard to a group of ladies on their holiday tour of North Bengal. But here too Arjun is intrigued by some information that the local people of slum areas are taking small loans against minute quantity of gold that they are claiming to be among their ancestral possession. Arjun senses foul play and though he takes the girls on their tour but also tries to pin down the villain, whom he suspects to be the suppllier of the stolen gold. Problem arises when the girls discover the body of a murdered man and a large ape in its vicinity. Also there are characters like the mysterious Mr. Verma who is an acquintance to one of the girls but his movements are quite suspicious, an old lady, one Baldev and Mr. Puri, a hot tempered lodger who apparently doesn't come out of his room. This Arjun story has the best blend of mystery and adventure in this volume.
On the whole, the Arjun stories are a plesant read from the point of view of adventure stories and also the aroma of the mountaneous North Bengal is an added treasure to them. But from mystery stand point the amount of coincedences to assist Arjun in his trail is too large and so I don't feel they can be considered as successful detective novels. Thus in all the narratives we find that it is the adventure that gets the upperhand over detection.
Footnote: While surfing the net, I came across this wonderful site called boimela.in that actually was a Bengali Book Shop with online purchasing facilities. I left this review on their site & it was accepted. Here I attach the link for those of u who r interested https://www.boimela.in/index.php?main_page=product_reviews_info&products_id=15&reviews_id=4.