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. This film was remade in Telugu as Sathamanam Bhavati.

Synopsis

Biswanath Mazumdar (Soumitra Chatterjee), owner of a publishing house in Kolkata shocks his son and daughter-in-law (Shankar Chakraborty and Indrani Dutta), three daughters (Rituparna Sengupta, Aparajita Auddy and Monami Ghosh) and their husbands (Sujoy Prasad Chatterjee, Kharaj Mukherjee and Anindya Chatterjee) by announcing his decision to divorce his wife, Aarti (Swatilekha Sengupta) on the eve of their 50th marriage anniversary . The reason for divorce is stated to be the fact that there is nothing more left to happen in their married life at this stage, which has then been reduced to nothing more than performance of certain obligatory duties and habits. Biswanath wants to start life afresh, by going on a world-tour with his online friend Patrick but Aarti is entirely an homely person whose entire life is centered around the family & performance of household chores with no interest in the outside world. The judge who is hearing the divorce plaint stated that the Indian society does not recognise divorce under these conditions but mutual divorce can be done. He advised the couple to spend 15 days together secluded away from the presence of any third person in order to rediscover each other before undertaking mutual divorce. Accordingly, they decide to spend those 15 days at their bungalows in [Shantiniketan]. Aarti insisted that they should go with their entire family, in order to resolve the problems in the married lives of their children(of which she was unaware but really existed). Thus the entire family goes there. The rest of the story follows an emotional re-discovery of the institution of marriage.

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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