Soumitra Chatterjee's Bela Seshe to get a global release
The bengali movie, which scored at the box office despite competition from bollywood box-office hits Piku and Tanu Weds Manu Returns, is set for a pan-India release. The movie will also be released in UK, US, Singapore.
Shiboprosad Mukhopadhyay and Nandita Roy's latest Bengali release, Bela Seshe, which hit theatres on May 1, is going strong at the box office in its seventh week.
Made at a budget of approximately Rs. 1.10 crore, the film has managed to cut across all age groups, and has collected approximately Rs. 3 crore so far.
This is no mean feat for a Bengali film given that it is running alongside two Bollywood blockbusters, Piku and Tanu Weds Manu Returns. The Bengali film fraternity feels that the success of Bela Seshe will help revive the industry too.
Now that the film has already been declared the biggest Bengali hit of the year, it will have a pan-India release on June 26.
The film, which brings together the iconic Ghaire Baire pair of Soumitra Chatterjee and Swatilekha Sengupta on the big screen after a gap of 31 years, will release in Mumbai, Delhi, Noida, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Gurgaon, Pune and Bangalore and will also will have an off-shore release in UK, US and Singapore.
Naturally, Mukhopadhyay is elated. "The entire cast and crew of Bela Seshe are indebted to the audiences for liking the film. People, who refrained from watching films at theatres, came and watched this film," says Mukhopadhyay, who has earlier directed films such as Ichche, Muktodhara and Alik Sukh.
Interestingly, Mukhopa-dhyay is also receiving offers for the film to be remade in other languages. But given that the film is still having a successful run at theatres, he first wants to release the film in other parts of the country and then take a call on other proposals.
"A person from the Malayalam film industry called me and expressed his desire to remake the film. Eros International, which is distributing the film in other parts of the country, has also expressed its desire to make the film in Hindi," says the filmmaker.
Bela Seshe released simultaneously with Srijit Mukherji's Nirbaak, which marked Sushmita Sen's debut in Bengali films. However, Nirbak didn't have too many takers. Arijit Dutta, owner of Priya Cinema, last week tweeted: "#Belasheshe opens 100% in the 6th week at Priya ... just amazing !!!! Surely a 100% weekend too (sic)."
Dutta says that the box office success of Bela Seshe proves that films with good content always do well. "It will give other filmmakers and producers the required confidence. It's the biggest Bengali hit of this year and I can't recall any Bengali film in recent years, which did such good business after seven weeks," says Dutta.
Subhasis Ganguli, regional director, Inox, informs that the evening show (4.25 pm) of Bela Seshe at the multiplex, South City, in Kolkata, on Saturday was houseful. "Bela Seshe has managed to impress audiences of all age groups and the film also has a repeat value," he says.
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