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Lalmohan Ganguly

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Created by  Satyajit Ray
Alma mater  Athenium Institution
Creator  Satyajit Ray
Last appearance  Robertsoner Ruby
Residence  Garpar, Kolkata
Car  Green Ambassador
First appearance  Sonar Kella
Lalmohan Ganguly 14 immortal friendships from literature that define its very essence

Portrayed by  Santosh DuttaMohan AgasheAnup KumarRabi GhoshBibhu Bhattacharya
Friend  Pradosh Chandra Mitter(Feluda), Tapesh Ranjan Mitter
Movies  Sonar Kella, Joi Baba Felunath, Bombaiyer Bombete
Played by  Santosh Dutta, Bibhu Bhattacharya, Rabi Ghosh
Similar  Feluda, Shankar Roy Chowdhury, Nilkantha Bagchi, Diego Alvarez, Tarini Khuro

Lalmohan Ganguly, alias Jatayu (Bengali: জটায়ু), (also spelled Jotayu) is a fictional character in the Feluda stories written by Satyajit Ray. He writes crime thrillers, but is quite weak and nervous in real life. He is fairly wealthy due to the immense sales of his books; he writes two books a year. His crime fiction stories have very interesting names, often characterised by alliterations like 'Sahara-ey Shiharan', 'Vancouver-er Vampire', 'Honduras-e Hahakar', 'Atlantic-er Atanka', 'Bidghute Bodmas', 'Arokto Arab' etc. It may be noted that the names of several Feluda stories also exhibit this feature, for example 'Joto Kando Kathmandute', 'Royal Bengal Rahasya', 'Robertson-er Ruby', 'Gosaipur Sargaram','Bombay-er Bombetey' etc. The detective of Jatayu's novel, Prakhar Rudra, is a character with incredible intellect and power. Lalmohan's grandfather gave his name "Sarbogya Gongopadhyay" but Lalmohan does not use that name.

Contents

Lalmohan Ganguly httpsuploadwikimediaorgwikipediaenffeJat

He first meets Feluda in the story Sonar Kella (The Golden Fortress) and from then on he accompanies Feluda and Topshe on all their major adventures. He collects weapons but is often reluctant to use them. Weapons collected by him during different adventures include boomerang, kukri (knife), smoke bomb and even a pestle etc. His whole demeanour is of hilarity and he regularly provides the comic relief in the stories. He has a history with the villain Maganlal Meghraj who had a circus performer throw knives at him in Joi Baba Felunath (The Mystery of the Elephant God) and fed him the drug LSD in Jato Kando Kathmandutey (The Criminals of Kathmandu). The last time Jatayu met Meghraj was at Golapi Mukto Rahashya.

Lalmohan Ganguly Lalmohan Ganguly Jaatayuu Twitter

In the Feluda adventures he is a great source of comic relief. However, his qualities improve with time and with his association with Feluda, gradually makes him more knowledgeable and intelligent. In the movie version (not in the original story) of the first story, Sonar Kella, the criminal Mandar Bose escapes due to the folly of Jatayu. But in the later stories we find Jatayu being of great help to Feluda in his work.

Lalmohan Ganguly LalMohan Ganguly JatayuWriter Twitter

Jatayu is a fan of Baikuntha Mallick, a teacher in Athenium Institution, Kolkata, who is also a poet. Jatayu often recites his poems, which are also a source of comedy due to their peculiarity. Jatayu walks two miles daily to keep fit, refers to encyclopaedia for writing novels. He is a bachelor and owns three houses. He loves travelling.

Lalmohan Ganguly Jatayu39s moments of glory Infinite Dreams

লালমোহন গাঙ্গুলি ওরফে জটায়ু । Lalmohan Ganguly, alias Jatayu । সত্যজিৎ রায়


Characterization

In the first two movies on Feluda , the character of Jatayu was played by eminent actor cum advocate Santosh Dutta, and due to his performance, Satyajit Ray's later stories on Feluda had Jatayu adapting himself to the looks and mannerisms of Santosh Dutta. Bombaiyer Bombete, Kailashey Kelenkari & Tintorettor Jishu saw Jatayu being played by Bibhu Bhattacharya. Rabi Ghosh played the role in the telefilm Baksho Rohoshyo.

Jatayu has had been filmed at different times, with the character been played by Late Santosh Dutta, Late Rabi Ghosh, Late Anup Kumar and Late Bibhu Bhattacharya.

A recently published book (Jatayu Jindabad, by Sunit Sengupta, published by Laalmati, 2009), exclusively on Jatayu, provides a comprehensive and elaborate analysis of this lovable character and almost brings him to life.

References

Lalmohan Ganguly Wikipedia