Baksho Rahashya (novel)

For the 1996 film, see Baksho Rahashya (film).

Baksho Rahasya (Incident on the Kalka Mail)

Baksho Rahasya book cover.
Author	Satyajit Ray
Cover artist	Satyajit Ray
Language	Bengali
Genre	Detective fiction
Publisher	Ananda Publishers
Publication date	1972
Publication place	India
Media type	Print
Preceded by	Sonar Kella
Followed by	Kailashey Kelenkari

Bakso Rahashya (English title : Incident on the Kalka Mail) is a Bengali novel by Satyajit Ray featuring the private detective Feluda. This novel was first serialized in Desh magazine in 1972 and then released in book form in 1973, by Ananda publishers.

Plot summary

Feluda is approached by an established businessman, Mr. Dinanath Lahiri, claiming to have mistakenly swapped his suitcase in a train with one belonging to one of his co-passengers and asks Feluda to return it. This apparently simple problem takes Feluda, Topshe and Lalmohan babu to Shimla and into a realm of deceit and mystery involving a long-forgotten diamond and an old priceless manuscript titled A Bengalee in Lamaland, written by Shambhu Charan Bose. The other major characters in the story are Dinanath Lahiri, a rich kindhearted businessman, his nephew, Prabeer Lahiri, a struggling actor obsessed with his own voice and Mr. Lahiri's co-passengers on the train: Mr. Naresh Pakrashi, Mr. Brijmohan Kedia and Mr. G. C. Dhameeja, who is also of some importance.

The story is enriched with Feluda's extreme detection capability and another breathtaking adventure. On the way, Feluda and the gang face many challenges, but at the end Feluda gets much desired success, and the villain is trapped. Like many other Feluda stories, Jatayu brings the exquisite comic relief in the story and the story becomes enjoyable to everyone.

Adaptations

Bakso Rahashya was turned into a radio play starring Soumitra Chatterjee as Feluda and broadcast on Indian radio while Ray was still alive, with his supervision and with background music of his composition. Later the play was released in cassettes by HMV.

In 1996 on the 30th anniversary of first Feluda, appearance Sandip Ray (son of Satyajit Ray) have made a feature film of the same name with a new set of actors led by Sabyasachi Chakrabarty as Feluda. It got a huge success and later the DVD was released by RE Video and a remastered version was released by Big Music.