Faster Fenay goes English!

Growing up, we have all aspired to be heroes of our times–Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, Famous Five, the Secret Seven, and so on. And for most in Pune, Faster Fenay is first on this list. A part of every young Maharashtrian reader’s life was BR Bhagwat’s Faster Fenay series. It’s time now to introduce Fenay, the catapult-wielding adventurer, to English-speaking youngsters with author-illustrator Tejas Modak’s English adaptation of the series titled Faster Fenay-At Fort Pratapgad. Releasing today, the English version also has illustrations by Tejas.

The Faster Fenay series in Marathi is a compilation of 22 adventure stories of Faster Fenay, popularly called Fafe, a 13-year-old Vidya Bhavan High School student in Pune. The young boy has an eerie flair for getting involved in various adventures, some completely unwanted. Armed with an effortless talent of mimicking people, an intrepid mind, and a skill to attack with his catapult, Fafe has quite an illustrious track record of putting crooks behind bars.

Recently launched at the Jaipur Literature Festival and the Kala Ghoda books festival, Faster Fenay -At Fort Pratapgad is adapted from one of the parts of the Marathi series. The English version is about Fafe and his classmates who go for a picnic at Fort Pratapgad. There, the young adventurer is entrusted with finding his best friend, Subhash, who goes missing after a colossal earthquake. On inspecting the situation further, he stumbles upon a gang of kidnappers on the loose. What follows is an action-packed adventure that keeps the readers hooked.

“The language he uses to describe the character’s minute details is fascinating and enchanting. Whoever has read the book in Marathi will tell you that. Hence, it was a huge challenge to retain the flavour of the original,” says the talented artist, an alumnus of Abhinav Kala Mahavidyalaya. Having spent a year on the book, Tejas says, “I wanted to do justice to my work. Bhagwat

Tejas, who already has two books (Private Eye Anonymous: The Art Gallery Case and Animal Palette) to his credit, found the experience of translating the book challenging.” Bhagwat is a legend, and translating his works takes time. I didn’t want to disappoint his fans by doing a haphazard job. My publishers were very supportive and didn’t pressure me.”

Currently, Tejas is the founder and partner at Euphoric Acid Designs, along with graphic and visual designer Viraj Avchat and photographer Harshad Cincholkar. “We are a visual rock band of sorts. Though we are a team, we also have our projects going,” says Tejas, who has also worked as a content designer at Pheobus Media, where he was assigned to translate the book.

“When Penguin Books contacted Phoebus Media, Rahul Bakshi, the company director, asked me to adapt the Marathi book into English. I guess it was because I already had two books to my credit. I enjoy writing because it gives wings to my imagination, and I can truly be myself when I write,” says Tejas, who is also working on several comic-book concepts.