Exclusive! Anirban Chakrabarti on Feluda series: For me, Jatayu is somewhat a natural progression from Eken Babu

Srijit Mukherji’s webseries Feludar Goyendagiri will be dropped on Hoichoi on June 17 with Tota Roychowdhury as Feluda, Anirban Chakrabarti as Lalmohan Ganguly, aka Jatayu and Kalpan Mitra as Topshe. The first season is based on Satyajit Ray’s Darjeeling Jawmjawmat. Anirban, whose first feature film on the detective character Eken Babu, The Eken, is currently streaming on Hoichoi. In an exclusive chat with OTTPlay, the actor talked about his journey as Eken Babu to Jatayu.

Eken Babu webseries started in 2018 and has five seasons so far. The series was Anirban’s first big-banner outing. “When the promotional posters and flexes were erected all over Kolkata, a number of my friends and relatives pointed out that the character resembles Jatayu. I felt that too but did not care about it much. In fact, people also started writing about the similarity after the first season was dropped. Later, when Srijit offered me the character, I realised the impact of Eken Babu’s appearance. Meanwhile, Eken Babu garnered huge appreciation – way over what we expected while shooting the first season. Hence, it is almost like a natural progression for me from being Eken Babu to Jatayu,” the actor said.

Also read: Exclusive! Anirban Chakrabarti on The Eken: Now that film is out on OTT, it feels like it has come full circle  

Talking about playing the iconic Ray character, Jatayu, vis-a-vis Anirban said, “Eken Babu is a tested venture. We successfully established the character to the audience. I did not get that many chances to portray Jatayu. We will see how the character pans out in the series.”

Anirban first worked as Jatayu in Srijit’s Addatimes series Feluda Ferot. While we see him portraying Lalmohan Ganguly successfully in Chhinnamastar Abhishap, the second production, Jato Kando Kathmandute has not been out yet. Talking about working with Srijit, Anirban said, “It was a fantastic experience working with Srijit. I have worked in Robindronath Ekhane Kawkhono Khete Aashenni (Rekka, a webseries in Hoichoi) and Kakababur Protyaborton also. We have developed a friendship. We have mutual respect. I understand what he wants and I appreciate his humour. From him, I get artistic liberty. He has a reputation in the industry but I never had any problem while shooting with him.”