Bela Seshe

75 years old Biswanath Majumdar was in the publishing business. His wife, Arati, was 66 years old and they had been married for the past 49 years. Over the years, they were blessed with four children- the eldest being their son Barin(Shankar Chakraborty), followed by three more daughters; Malasree(Rituparna Sengupta), Kaberi(Aparajita Auddy) & Piu(Monami Ghosh) all of them now married(Malasree to Bijon(Sujoy Prasad Chatterjee), Kaberi to Jyotirmoy(Kharaj Mukherjee), Piu to Palash(Anindya Chatterjee [not to confused with the musician of same name]) & Barin to Sharmistha(Indrani Dutta)) and well- settled. Internally the siblings married lives were undergoing strained times. Sharmistha was unhappy with Bijon's financial position as his father's assistant in the publishing house & a medium-scale cloth merchant. Malasree didn't consider Sujoy, a musician by profession, to be smart enough for her & thus conducted an extra-marital affair. Kaberi was suspicious that Jyotirmoy, who loves to drink alcohol, might be characterless. Palash being involved in the film indudtry as a director had very little time to spare for Piu. However on the night of Vijayadashami at the conclusion of Durga Puja in their north Kolkata residence, in front of the gathered family, Biswanath Majumdar drops a bombshell. He declares that he has decided to finally divorce his wife, their mother, Arati. However hard the children tried, they  could not extract any information, regarding this matter, from their father, while their mother seemed most unconcerned with the incident. Biswanath files a divorce case in the court. The court judge, however, asks them to spend a 15-days vacation together, after which if they want, they can mutually divorce. The family decides to spend this 15-day vacation in their Shantiniketan residence. To know the real reason behind Biswanath's decision, Barin & his 3 brothers-in-laws place CCTV cameras in Arati & Biswanath's room to hear their conversation at night time alongwith their spouses. As Biswanath and Arati share with each other their long experiences of living together - their grudges, their disappointments and their delights, the realise that inspite of having very little or no emotional connect with each other for prolonged periods of time due to Biswanath being busy with his career & Arati with household life, they continued to care for each other compared to which their children's actions, who were adapted to the hectic modern lifestyle, regarding their marital lives, appeared to be whimsical. Realising this the strained relations between the siblings and their spouses end and love emerges between them. In the course if these conversations Biswanath grudges that Arati had actually never loved him particularly; she loved familial life and was driven by habits to care for him. Arati retorts that her familial life does not exclude Biswanath and that her caring habits actually denote her love for him. She also grudges that she had always put up with Biswanath's whimsical nature towards her wishes and desires. At last, Biswanath reveals that he wants to divorce Arati in order to make her self dependent, at which Arati unwillingly agrees and the two separate. However, after 4 months, Biswanath finds out that Arati can be self dependent without him, but he cannot be self dependent without her & returns to Arati. The two reconcile emotionally & the entire family, with renewed love in their respective married lives, happily observed Biswanath & Arati's 50th marriage anniversary.

• Soumitra Chatterjee as Biswanath Majumdar, the main protagonist of the story
• Swatilekha Sengupta as Aarti Majumdar, Biswanath's wife for over 50 years
• Rituparna Sengupta as Malashree/Mili, Biswanath & Arati's oldest daughter
• Aparajita Auddy as Kaberi/Buri, Biswanath & Arati's second daughter
• Monami Ghosh as Piu, Biswanath & Arati's youngest daughter
• Indrani Dutta as Sarmistha, Biswanath & Arati's daughter-in-law
• Sohini Sengupta in a guest appearance as the maid in the Mukherjee household.
• Barun Chanda as judge in the court who presides over the divorce trial
• Sujoy Prasad Chatterjee as Bijon, Malasree's husband
• Kharaj Mukherjee[2] as Jyotirmay, Kaberi's husband
• Anindya Chatterjee as Palash, Piu's husband
• Shankar Chakraborty as Barin, Biswanath & Arati's only son
• Sohag Sen as Nalini Mukherjee, Arati's lawyer in court

Veteran actors Soumitra Chatterjee and Swatilekha Sengupta were roped in as the lead cast even before the script was finalised   and incidentally, both the actors signed up for the film on the same day.

'Belaseshe' is one such movie in the history of Bengali Cinema which has such a huge ensemble cast. Stalwarts like Rituparna Sengupta, Kharaj Mukherjee, Indrani Dutta, Aparajita Auddy, Shankar Chakrabarty have acted in pivotal roles in the film. Bringing so many actors who are the most popular faces of Bengali cinema was a humongous achievement for the production team. The actors themselves have done complete justice to their roles and made the film the biggest hit and the most memorable film of this decade.

The film was released on 1 May 2015 with 94 % occupancy in theatres on the day of its release. The film was a runaway hit and had an historical run of 250 days in a single hall and 217 days in Multiplexes. No other film has run continuously for 217 days in a multiplex.

'Belaseshe' became the longest-running Bengali film in 2015.  On the National level, the  film was released in 25 centres across the country and enjoyed a theatrical run of more than 50 days.

Book myshow rating of 4.6 out of 5.

Times of India: 4/5, Anandabazar Patrika: 8/10,

Radiomirchi: 4.5/5,

PowerFM: 4.5/5,

Oye104.

8FM: 8/10,

Ei  Samay: 4/5 with a box office collection of 2.3 crores.

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 the Bengali film ‘Belaseshe’. Featuring veteran Bengali actors Soumitra Chatterjee and SwatilekhaSengupta in lead roles, the film perhaps churns out the best lessons on marriage in modern times.”

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. 'Belaseshe' 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."

Sankhayan Ghosh of The Indian Express reviewed "Though the two (Soumitra Chatterjee and SwatilekhaSengupta) have put in consummate performances, the film has made a mark primarily due to its unusual story."

'Belaseshe' has been one of the most critically acclaimed films of all time that has stayed alive with even the non-Bengali audience.

Mr.Amitabh Bachchan tweeted and wrote in his blog about the film. He even wrote an appreciation letter to Swatilekha Sengupta for her impactful performance in the film.

Director Mahesh Bhatt was so moved by the film that he wanted to obtain the remake rights. Malayalam actor Madhavan Nair aka Madhuji also wanted to remake the film.

Director Umesh Shukla, of '102 Not Out' fame, wanted to make the film in Gujarati. Veteran Marathi actors Ramesh Deo and Seema Deo wanted to remake the film in Marathi.

Veteran actor Rishi Kapoor and Neetu Kapoor have also hugely appreciated the film .

For the first time composers Anindya Chattopadhyay and Anupam Roy collaborated in this film and the music became massively popular right from the day of its release, topping the chartbusters.

‘O Thakur jeona bishorjon’ became the most popular song of 2015. This song by Upal Sengupta and Prashmita Paul is still very popular.

The film was associated with many big and prestigious brands as follows

• Priyo Gopal Bishoyee
• Senco Gold
• Times Music
• Balaram Mullick
• Taj
• Nicco Park
• Damro
• SP Properties
• Samanta furniture
• Squarefour

Priyo Gopal Bishoyee also launched 'Belaseshe Saree' which became very popular. Senco Gold  launched 'Belaseshe Anniversary' special collections.

• Won the Best Bengali film at the Zee Cine Awards 2016
• The film received awards like: Zee Cine Awards, Ebela Ojeyo Somman, 'NABC' awards
• Has been included in the post-graduate diploma in the counselling course of the Legal Aid      Services, West Bengal
• It completed 5 years on May 5th 2020
• 'Belaseshe' was applauded by veteran actors like Amitabh Bachchan, Waheeda Rehman, Asha Parekh.
• Selected at the International Film Festival of South Asia: 2016, Toronto, Canada.
• First film to be released in Bangladesh under the import-export laws 2012-2015 of nations included in SAFTA.
• The script was published by Mitra and Ghosh and was launched by Soumitra Chatterjee,Prosenjit Chatterjee and Sandip Ray.

The commercial success of the film has paved the way for a spin-off titled  'Belashuru'. Though complete, the release of the film has been postponed due to the prevailing pandemic situation and the closure of cinema halls in the country.

• Bela Seshe at IMDb