Bela - Reel On A Real Legend

Biopics are quite patriarchal because the protagonists we see in films, reflect the patriarchal history and mindset of Indian filmmakers, artists, writers and so on. Exceptions like Thalaivi, Shakuntala Devi, Mary Kom, Emergency are few and far between compared to the flooding of theatres and television screens with biopics of male celebrities picked from history, politics, war, .

So, the Bengali feature film Bela which marks the directorial debut of Anilava Chatterjee comes like a breath of fresh air in a cinematic ambience spilling over with action films, ghosts galore, family melodrama.

Bela Dey, a pioneering radio personality at Akashvani Kolkata. After her husband’s abandonment, she reinvented herself in England and returned to India to create the empowering radio show Mohila Mahal, which impacts millions of women.

The film showcases her resilience, breaking societal norms, and championing women’s empowerment. Directed by Anilava Chatterjee and starring Rituparna Sengupta, it honors Bela’s legacy in Bengali media.

The storyline follows the rather rebellious life of Bela De without shouting out slogans, holding candle-light processions or resorting to high melodrama. This brings out the rather strong and robust personality of a woman born ahead of her times to create a completely new world not only for herself as a woman but also as a sterling example of a woman’s determination, focus and perseverance right through her struggling life.

Cooking, till today, is taken for granted as a must-have for all girls and women across the globe. Bela Dey is perhaps the first woman in Bengal to give the relationship between cooking and women a dignity it was deprived of.

The film shows that instead of wallowing in self-pity when her doctor husband took a British wife despite being married to Bela, she used her stay in England to educate and train herself in different areas of cooking, preparing, decorating and serving of food which she learnt formally under a British cooking specialist who, in course of time, became a foster mother to Bela.

When she came back to India, and landed her job with Akashvni, Kolkata, she moved out of her parental home when her brothers objected to her taking up a job with Akashvani as, in those days, married women taking up a job was looked down upon in aristocratic Bengali families and Bela belonged to a very aristocratic family. But she created a record all by herself by creating, organizing, orchestrating and heading one of the most popular radio programmes under the title Mohila Mahal which, apart from recipes taught over the radio, included many other broadcast programmes of entertainment and culture.

The film however, glosses over the large number of cookery books she wrote through her long journey which sold like hot cakes mainly among women. Some of these books, originally authored in Bengali, have been republished recently by noted Bengali publishers.

The narrative is linear beginning with Bela’s teenage years, her evolution in life offering glimpses into her sense of dignity, self-respect and difference from girls of her time. Her relationship with her parents comes off as well as her cold rapport with her brothers who do not like her independence.

Soon after marriage to an ambitious doctor, she followed her husband to England where her bitterness brilliantly transformed in a positive direction which gave her life a new direction and changed it completely.. So, when her husband comes to meet her many years later when she is a household name, she treats him with a dignity that defines her without rancor or anger and asks him to leave as she is very busy.

Bela’s rapport with her colleagues, juniors and mentors are happy and we are very briefly introduced to lady milestones in Bengali literature within Akashvani Bhavan in the beginning. Birendra Krishna Bhadra, the famous gentleman who lifted the fame and dignity of Akashbani to a high level, is seen constantly by her side, mentoring her all the time.

It would be limiting Bela Dey’s contribution to the history of Akashbani if we were to state that Mahila Mahal was just a cookery show for women. It was not. It was a programme which Bela Dey extended to include social agendas to empower girls and women in Bengal in many different creative ways and to Bengalis who were constant fans of Akashbani, in course of time, Bela Day and her Mohila Mahal turned into a legend.

The interiors of Akashabni studio, the recording and broadcasting rooms, the camaraderie between and among the team are historic when taken in perspective in contrast to the digitalized programmes generated today and most importantly, television offering unhealthy competition to sound and music with its visual potential.

The music and the songs are well-positioned within the film. The casting is near-perfect with Rituparna Sengupta stripped off her starry airs sails through the film with a power-packed performance. Bhaswar Chatterjee as her husband is as good as he always is.

The supporting cast throws up solid performances without overshadowing the main characters or overdoing their act. The best quality of Anilava Chatterjee’s direction, who has also written the screenplay, dialogues and the story is that he has not once allowed melodrama to seep into the film at any point though being a debutant, slipping into dramatics was quite easy.

There is no soppy sentimentalism in the entire film though the story threw up several windows to allow this.

Sourav Banerjee’s cinematography, Sujoy Dutta Ray’s editing and Sabarni Das plus Priyanka Pyne’s costume design, Tirthankar Majumdar’s sound design offer solid support to the audio side of the film. Bela might not win any top award. But it is most certainly a very positive and inspirational film.