Professor Shonku

Professor Shonku
First appearance	Byomjatrir Diary
Last appearance	Swarnaparnee
Created by	Satyajit Ray
Portrayed by	Dhritiman Chatterjee
In-universe information
Full name	Trilokeshwar Shonku
Nickname	Tilu, Shanks
Title	Shonku
Occupation	Physicist Scientific inventor Professor of physics at Scottish Church College (formerly)
Family	Shonku
Relatives	Tripureswar Shonku (father) Batukeshwar Shonku (great-great grandfather (অতি বৃদ্ধ পৌরপিতামহ)
Religion	Hinduism
Nationality	Indian
Residence	Giridih
Pets	Newton (cat, permanent) Macaw (Macaw) Dhimu (Slow Loris) Corvus (Crow) EA (Extraordinary Animal - A new type of undiscovered monkey type animal )
Robots	Bidhusekhar Compu Robu
Language skills	capable of speaking 69 languages
Mother tongue	Bengali
Degree	[B.Sc ; Honorary doctorate from the Swedish Academy of Sciences]

Professor Shonku is a fictional scientist created by Satyajit Ray in a series of Bengali science fiction books published from 1965. He is one of the most important characters in the science fiction of Bengal. His full name is Trilokeshwar Shonku, and by occupation, he is a physicist and an inventor. He is the son of Dr. Tripureshwar Shonku. He was born in the year of 1912 but his year of death is unknown, he most probably died sometime in the 1990s.

Character development of Professor Shonku

Introduction to the character

The real name of Professor Shonku is Trilokeshwar Shonku. He lives in Giridih. He has a male-servant named Pralhad and a cat named Newton. In his story "ব্যোমযাত্রীর ডায়রি" (Byomjatrir Diary) Ray introduced Professor Shonku, the protagonist of his science-fiction stories.

Professor Shonku's father Tripureshwar was a physician. Professor Shonku was born on 16 June . His nickname is Tilu. Professor Shonku passed matriculation examination of the University of Calcutta at the age of 12. At the age of 16, Professor Shonku received his BSc degree with honours in two subjects, Physics and Chemistry. In Satyajit Ray's last finished novel of the series, Swarnaparnee, that was initially published in the Special Puja issue of Anandamela children's magazine in 1992, it was mentioned that at the age of 20, Professor Shonku took his first job as a professor of physics in Calcutta's Scottish Church College.

Professor Shonku is a polyglot who knows 69 languages. His pet cat 'Newton' is 24 years old.

Inspiration

Ray admitted that he had based Prof. Shonku on Professor Challenger, by Arthur Conan Doyle, and a character created by Ray's father Sukumar Ray named Hesoram Hushiar.

Other frequent characters

• Abinash Chandra Majumdar a.k.a Abinash babu – the completely non-scientific neighbor and friend of Prof. Shonku who never understands the magnitude of Shonku's scientific breakthroughs and often finds them amusing, humiliating or insignificant.
• Nakur Chandra Biswas — a man with several supernatural powers which he acquired from a ball lightning incident. He lives in Makardaha.
• Jeremy Saunders - a British biologist residing in London (as mentioned in Swarnapurnee).
• Wilhelm Krol - a German anthropologist with interests in paranormal activities who is quite unmindful (as described in Ekshringo Abhijan).
• John Summerville - a British scientist and geologist, also residing in London.
• Prahllad - Shonku's trusted servant and housekeeper for about 27 years.
• Newton (Cat) - Shonku's long time pet cat. With the help of inventions, he prolonged his cat's age to 24 years.

Inventions of Professor Shonku

He has his own laboratory there in his house in Giridih where he researches loads of new and fantastic inventions.

His extraordinary inventions are:

• MiracurAll – A drug that cures any ailment, the name is a short form of Miracle Cure for All Ailments.
• Annihillin – A pistol capable of annihilating (vanishing or vaporizing) anything that is living, invented because Shonku does not like bloodshed. It does not work on non-living things (according to Shonku'r Congo Abhijan, but works on them according to Shokur Shonir Dawsha).
• Shankoplane – A small hovercraft created using anti-gravity technology, capable of vertical take-off and landing. It uses Turboline as a fuel and has an impeccable mileage.
• Shankovite – The anti-gravity alloy by which Shankoplane was made.
• Shankoplast – Wonderful plastic.
• Shankolone – A variation of Shankoplast.
• Omniscope  – A combination of telescope, microscope and X-ray-scope which looks like and can be worn as spectacles.
• Air-conditioning pill – A capsule to be kept in shirt pocket, that keeps the body temperature normal in extremes of climate.
• Somnolin – A sleeping pill that will work in any condition.
• Evolutin – A drug that makes people evolve 10 thousand years in 5 minutes.
• Compudium or Compu – Short for Computerized Medium, a device to contact departed souls. It's a computer brain with 10 crore delicate circuits in it. Designed by Shonku along with Matsue, Dr John Kenseli, Dr Stephen Merivel, Dr Stavs, Dr Ugatti, Prof. Straton, Prof. Kutna, Prof. Markus Wingfield (as a replacement of S.Merivel) and the workers of Namura Institute of Japan, which accidentally develops AI.
• RememBrain – A device that makes people remember the things they forgot.
• Bidhushekhar – A mechanical man (robot) with AI built with very cheap materials, programmed to answer any question asked to it.
• Linguagraph – A device that translates any earth language to any other. The translation capability is supposed to include animal languages, and works on cats, plants, ants and even viruses too. However, it does not work to translate the speech of aliens.
• Intellectron – A device to measure intelligence.
• Ornithon – A device to educate birds. Professor Shonku was able to "educate" a crow named Corvus using this device.
• Snuff gun – A gun that causes snuffing for thirty-three hours.
• Nightmare pill – Causes sleep and make the taker have terrible nightmares.
• Fish pill – Space food for cats.
• Rocket – A rocket for space adventures.
• Botica indica – A pill made from sap of Banyan tree to ward off need of food and water for 24 hours.
• Special room-freshner – A room freshner made up of 36 different flower essence.
• Invisibility drug – A drug to make living things invisible for at least 10 hours.
• Carbothin Fabric – A fabric which is non-conductor of electricity and saves from electrical shocks.( As seen in the story "Shonku O Aschorjo Putul") Shonku made a jacket out of it which he wears all the time.
• Tiranium phosphate – A very strong and dangerous acid.
• Annihilin acid – The most powerful and dangerous acid invented by Shonku. This acid was used in his Annihilin pistol.
• Carbo-diabolic acid
• Nitro-annihilin Acid
• Phoro-sotanic acid
• Polar Repelion Theory
• Neo-Specetroscope – A device to contact departed souls. Almost similar to Compudium.
• Untitled drug to increase olfactory ability of human beings
• EA (Extraordinary Animal, A small specimen of all evolution forms of human) – Along with German biochemist Humbolt.
• Luminimax – A small ball to give the light of 200-watt power when ignited.
• Oximore powder – Powder to help intake of Oxygen at higher altitudes.
• CameRapid – Instant color photographs after snap.
• An alchemical liquid to transform living things to pure gold – Recreated along with Krol and Saunders following the process of Savedra the alchemist.
• NerVigour – A tonic to the steady nervous system.
• X and anti-X – Drug to change the personality of a human from Dr Jekyl to Mr Hyde. The same drug was invented by Dr Danieli.
• Time machine – Attempted to build.
• Tried to contact Extraterrestrial life
• Shonku – Frankenstein Formula – Along with other scientists, Shonku invented to bring back the dead to life without changing their brains.
• Electric pistol – A pistol to fire 400 volts electricity.
• Cerebrellant – Medicine to improve brain function.
• Marjarin – Medicine for increasing life span of cats.
• Ointment to protect from insect bite especially mosquito and barracuda fly
• Anesthium – Tranquilizer gun, jet spraying semi-liquid paralytic agent.
• MangOrange fruit – A delicious and nutritious variety of hybrid of mango and orange, it earned him a doctorate from Swedish academy of sciences. Bengali name: 'Amla'(Aam + kamla).
• TrishNashok – A thirst quencher pill.
• Tea and coffee pills
• Artificial diamond - Created along with Krol and Siddique following the process of Nefrudet.
• Microsonograph - Machine to hear subsonic sounds and speeches.
• Robu - AI capable robot which gains sentience.

The adventures

Professor Shonku had many adventures, in both real and fantastical places, some with historical leanings and some with great revelations connected to human civilisation.

Excerpts of some interesting adventures follow:

• Professor Shonku o Khoka:

A child who otherwise used to be normal, has "changed" after he fell and hurt his head. Once happy and normal, this child has become melancholy and speaks things which the parents do not follow and term as gibberish. The parents desperately seek help to get their boy back. A doctor finally suggests to see Shonku. Although initially Shonku was reluctant to see this boy as practicing medicines is not his profession — after he sees the boy it soon becomes obvious that this is indeed an extraordinary case worthy of his attention. What appeared as gibberish to his parents were actually meaningful facts which should normally be well beyond his or many other peoples reach, spoken in many different languages which the child had no way to learn. He also demonstrates psychic ability, where the flash of a camera stops working after he declares he does not want to be pictured but the reporter insists. Although the child seems to be omniscient, he appears sad and detached from the material world. The story ends when the child concocts a potion by mixing several very dangerous chemicals and acids, some of which were Shonku's own inventions, and gulps it down before Shonku had a chance to stop him. A short period of unconsciousness follows, after which the child wakes up as his normal old self. He then makes friends with Shonku, states he has no memory of things which happened in the last few days, and even asks for chocolates.

• Professor Shonku o Har:

Professor Shonku meets a fakir who has this ability to re-animate a living thing from its bones. Shonku tries to investigate, and to do so, he records the spell using his recorder, which enrages the fakir and causes him to curse Shonku. Later in his life, Shonku along with an assistant discovers the remains of a dinosaur in a cave. The curse starts to take effect and the dinosaur comes back to life.

• Professor Shonku o Golok Rahasya:

Shonku gets hold of a mysterious sphere which changes its color spontaneously and emanates various sounds. In fact, the sphere is a planet from another solar system and it has brought extraterrestrial life along.

File:Rajarshi shonku2.jpg

Shonku holding Newton (on left) and Abinashbabu and Nakur Chandra Biswas (on right, respectively), Prahlad(on back)

• Swapnadwip:

The Professor is haunted by a repeating dream where he along, with his friends, are stranded on a beautiful exotic island without any inhabitants. His friends also experience the same dream. It is as if the mysterious island is beckoning great scientists of the world to it. The plants seep people's intelligence and attracts their attention using dreams.

• Ek Shringo Abhijan:

Shonku goes to Tibet, to find out about a Unicorn which is reported to be seen there. In the adventure, Shonku discovers a place where everybody's dreams come true... a Utopia.

• Mahakasher doot:

Shonku tries to prove that human civilization has prospered thanks to the help of some alien civilisation that comes to Earth every 5000 years and teaches them something extraordinary. What are they going to reveal this time?

• Nakurbabu o El Dorado:

Nokurbabu has the ability to make others see what he is thinking. He and Shonku are caught in a chain of events that lead them to the deep jungles of South America where El Dorado has always eluded discovery.

• Professor Shonku o UFO:

Several sightings of UFOs makes headlines worldwide. However, this news is outdone by the news of the demolition of some of the greatest monuments of mankind. The Eiffel Tower and the Angkor Wat are destroyed, and the aliens are blamed. Nokurbabu joins Shonku and other scientists who discover that the UFO has its base in the Gobi desert. They find the UFO and go aboard. They are captured immediately, not by the aliens, but by a mad scientist who is the present owner of the UFO and who is in fact the destroyer of the monuments, driven because he was denied his due honour in the scientific community. His next target is the Taj Mahal.

• Swarnaparnee:

This is the story of a young Shonku and the invention of his Miracurall and the time when he visited Germany on the eve of World War II. A fascinating story about how Shonku went on to meet Hermann Göring and finally evaded the Nazis.

List of adventures

Main article: List of Professor Shonku adventures

Professor Shonku books

• Professor Shonku New Script, Calcutta 1965.
• Professor Shonkur Kandokarkhana (Professor Shonku's Deeds). Ananda Publishers, Calcutta 1970.
• Shabash Professor Shonku (Bravo Professor Shonku). Ananda Publishers, Calcutta 1974.
• Mahasankatey Shonku (Shonku in Deep Peril). Ananda Publishers, Calcutta 1977.
• Swayang Professor Shonku (None other than Professor Shonku). Ananda Publishers, Calcutta 1980.
• Shonku Ekai Aksho (Shonku, All in All). Ananda Publishers, Calcutta 1983.
• Punashcha Professor Shonku (Shonku once again). Ananda Publishers, Calcutta 1993.
• Selam Professor Shonku (Hats off, Professor Shonku). Ananda Publishers, Calcutta, 1995.
• Shonku Samagra (Complete Shonku collection) Ananda Publishers, Kolkata January 2002, ISBN 81-7756-232-0

Professor Shonku in other media

Comics

Some of Professor Shonku stories has been made into comics and published by Ananda Publishers.

Radio

In the Sunday Suspense Series of 98.3 Radio Mirchi several Professor Shonku stories has been performed by RJs, like Mir and Deep and Agni and Somak they became very popular.

Film

Main article: Professor Shonku O El Dorado

The film was announced officially in November 2017. It has been titled Professor Shonku O El Dorado, the pre-production of the film has been started in 2018 and released on 20 December 2019. The film is based on the story named Nakurbabu O El Dorado. Actor Dhritiman Chatterjee, who acted in a number of films by Satyajit Ray, portrayed the title role in the film, produced by Shree Venkatesh Films. In the film Nakurbabu is portrayed by Subhasish Mukherjee. The film is directed by the son of Satyajit Ray, Sandip Ray.

See also

• Satyajit Ray
• Bengali science fiction
• Feluda
• Tarini Khuro
• Culture of Bengal
• Culture of West Bengal
• Bengali literature
• History of Bengali literature

External links

• Information on Professor Shonku at SatyajitRay.org
• Professor Shonku by Satyajit Ray at FreeBookHouse.