Bela Seshe

Bela Seshe (English: At the end of the day) (Also written as Belaseshe: In The Autumn of my Life) is a Bengali family drama film directed by the duo, Nandita Roy and Shiboprosad Mukherjee, produced by Windows Productions and distributed by Eros International.[2] The film brought back Satyajit Ray's iconic Ghare Baire pair, Soumitra Chatterjee and Swatilekha Sengupta on the big screen after 30 years.[3]

Belaseshe
Film poster of the film depicting 50 days run in the box office
Directed byNandita Roy
Shiboprosad Mukherjee
Produced byWindows Production
StarringSoumitra Chatterjee
Swatilekha Sengupta
Rituparna Sengupta
Aparajita Auddy
Monami Ghosh
Sohini Sengupta
Shankar Chakraborty
Kharaj Mukherjee
Indrani Dutta
Anindya Chatterjee
Sujoy Prasad
Music byAnupam Roy
Anindya Chattopadhyay
CinematographyGopi Bhagat
Edited byMoloy Laha
Production
company
Windows Production House
Distributed byEros International
Piyali Films
Release date
May 1, 2015 (West Bengal)
June 26, 2015 (Rest of India) [1]
Running time
141 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageBengali
BudgetRs. 11 million (approx.)[1]
Box office₹2.3 crore (US$320,000)

Besides Soumitra Chatterjee and Swatilekha Sengupta in lead roles, the film also stars Rituparna Sengupta, Aparajita Auddy, Monami Ghosh, Indrani Dutta, Sohini Sengupta, Kharaj Mukherjee, Anindya Chatterjee, Barun Chanda, Sohag Sen, Sujoy Prasad Chatterjee, and Shankar Chakraborty in pivotal roles. The film was released on 1 May 2015 in West Bengal and on 26 June 2015 in other states of India.

Bela Seshe received the Best Bengali Film Award at the Zee Cine Awards 2016 and also became the Best Film at the International Bengali Film Awards 2016.

Plot

The movie starts with Bishwanath Majumdar (Soumitra Chaterjee) roaming on the streets of Kolkata and its book shops. On the other hand his wife Aarati Majumdar (Swatilekha Sengupta) is seen tending regular Bengali Household works. Biswanath relishes the photos sent by his friend Patrick who independently travels around the world. On his way home in the car, he remembers about an old widow of a writer who came to him for help as she didn’t know about the money, bank accounts, etc., thus leaving her in dark and poverty.

At home, Bishwanath Majumdar talks with his wife and tells her to call all their children, 3 Daughters and a Son, to conjoin and meet for the Durga Pujo as he wanted to have an important discussion with them. His wife thinks that he would be reading his will out and calls her children accordingly.

After the Pujo on the day of Bijoya Dashami, Bishwanath Majumdar declares his decision of divorcing his wife. His whole Family is shocked by the news, and the Son-in-laws try to ooze out the information on Bishwanath Majumdar’s extramarital affairs in every possible way without any success. Even the neighbours try to find out about the situation in the family.

On the day of Lakshmi pujo, Aarati Majumdar’s sister shows up, who is also her lawyer, to discuss about the case. Seeing such disturbances in the family, the eldest sister goes to her Guru to have a solution for the situation and binds a religious string on her father’s hand given by the Guru in a comical way.

After all this Aarati Majumdar goes to her husband and ‘thanks’ him to create such a scene of divorce. She thought that all this was faked to bring all their children together, but when her husband told her that he was actually divorceing her, she was astonished and heartbroken.

In the court, both the prosecutor and defence lawyers try to make their points and the judge at last suggest all of them to go on a tour for a few days. Aarati Majumdar, thus suggests her husband for a trip to their Shantiniketan’s house along with all their children. The son-in-laws, determined to find the reason for the divorce of their in-laws, convince Aarati Majumdar to let them set the house 15 days prior to their arrival. They go to the house to set cameras and mics in the room where the couple will be sleeping at night and connect them to the next house, as only Bishwanath and Aarati Majumdar will stay in their, while their children will live in the next house rented by them.

The old couple goes for a morning walk, and share their feelings, likes-dislike, feelings etc; which they had not shared ever in their life. They discuss many things in the bedroom, overheard by their children. At the last day of their stay, Bishwanath Majumdar lets the cat out of the bag. He says that he wanted to make Aarati Majumdar self-sustaining, unlike the old widow who came to him to ask for financial help. He says that she shouldn’t depend completely on her children and do things on her own so that she can live happily. Meanwhile Bishwanath Majumdar says that he wants to move round the world just like his friend Patrick.

Bishwanath Majumdar remains in Shantiniketan, while everyone else moves back to Kolkata. After 4 months, he returns to Kolkata. Aarati Majumdar is shown to be going to banks and keeping records of everything, also tailoring at a household level. Her husband comes to her and asks about how is she, to which is angry as he came back. Bishwanath confesses that he can't live without her. He thought that she would be the one who couldn’t sustain without him, but he found it the other way round. Both share an emotional moment and at last Aarati Majumdar says, “I will pray to God everyday to take you before me, as I can live without you, but you can't live without me.”

The end credits scene show them celebrating their 50th Marriage Anniversary.

Cast

Production

Casting

Director duo, Nandita Roy and Shiboprasad Mukherjee confirmed this film to be a family drama based on the characters of Soumitra Chatterjee and Swatilekha Sengupta, who would play husband and wife respectively. Swatilekha Sengupta made a comeback on cinema with this film. Swatilekha Sengupta's daughter Sohini Sengupta would appear in a guest appearance.[5]

Release

The film was released on 1 May 2015 in West Bengal. Eros International had also released the film in Mumbai, Delhi, Noida, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Gurgaon, Pune and Bangalore on 26 July 2015 and the film also had an off-shore release in UK, US and Singapore.[1]

Critical reception

Shomini Sen of IBNLive reviewed "Director duo Nandita Roy, Shiboprasad Mukherjee deliver a poignant story of togetherness and the need to work hard on one's marriage in Bengali film ‘Bela Seshe’. Featuring veteran Bengali actors Soumitra Chatterjee and Swatilekha Sengupta in lead roles, the film perhaps churns out the best lessons on marriage in modern times."[6] Arnab Banerjee of Hindustan Times reviewed "Storytellers – be it in novels or on celluloid- have often dwelled upon the demands of the institution of marriage or the mere strict commitment and adherence to the seven vows of marriage. Rarely have films explored the intricacies of a marital relationship, that too, in a marriage where more than trust, understanding or love, it is inter-dependence that defines the conjugal bond. Bela Seshe is a Shiboprosad Mukherjee and Nandita Roy scripted and directed story of relationships that explores the niceties of an old couple and their married life, of their life-long companionship, of promises and expectations, and of course love."[7] Sankhayan Ghosh of The Indian Express reviewed "Though the two (Soumitra Chatterjee and Swatilekha Sengupta) have put in consummate performances, the film has made a mark primarily due to its unusual story."[8][9]

Achievements
  • Released on 1st May 2015, it was the Longest running Bengali film of the last decade .It Completed 217 glorious days in multiplex run and had 250 days theatrical run.
  • The film received awards like: Zee Cine Awards, ebela Ojeyo Somman, 'NABC' awards
  • Bela Seshe was applauded by veteran actors like Amitabh Bachchan, Waheeda Rehman, Asha Parekh.
  • It completed 5 years on May 5th 2020 [10][11]

Spin-off

The commercial success of the film has paved the way for a spin-off titled as Bela Shuru.[12]

References
  1. "Soumitra Chatterjee's Bela Seshe to get a global release". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 14 June 2015.
  2. "Belaseshe — a family drama on Bengali screen after long". The Times of India. Retrieved 2 May 2015.
  3. "Post Ray's film, Swatilekha-Soumitra feature in modern tale". Business Standard. Retrieved 25 March 2015.
  4. "Multi-starrers are the flavour of the season in Bengali film industry". Hindustan Times. 13 August 2016. Retrieved 3 May 2018.
  5. "Mother-Daughter together in Bela Seshe?". The Times of India. Retrieved 12 December 2014.
  6. "'Bela Seshe' review: A beautiful lesson on marriage and relationships". IBNLive. Retrieved 2 July 2015.
  7. "Bela Seshe review:Explore marital bliss with this film". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 26 June 2015.
  8. "Autumn Ending". The Indian Express. Retrieved 27 June 2015.
  9. "Belaseshe touches old and young alike". The Times of India.
  10. "Iconic film Belaseshe marks its 5th anniversary!". Popdiaries. 2 May 2020. Retrieved 3 May 2020.
  11. "This day that year: 'Belaseshe' marks its 5th anniversary - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 3 May 2020.
  12. "'Bela Shuru' starts rolling in Bolpur - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 13 September 2019.
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