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. The film brought back Satyajit Ray’s iconic Ghare Baire pair, Soumitra Chatterjee and Swatilekha Sengupta on the big screen after 30 years.
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
Soumitra Chatterjee as Biswanath Majumdar
Swatilekha Sengupta as Aarti Majumdar
Rituparna Sengupta as Malashree/Mili
Aparajita Auddy as Kaberi/Buri
Monami Ghosh as Piu
Indrani Dutta as Sarmistha
Sohini Sengupta in a guest appearance
Barun Chanda as judge in the court
Sujoy Prasad Chatterjee as Bijon
Kharaj Mukherjee as Jyotirmay
Anindya Chatterjee as Palash
Shankar Chakraborty as Barin
Sohag Sen as Nalini Mukherjee
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