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Directors Shiboprosad Mukherjee and Nandita Roy have depicted a slice of regular married life on celluloid and managed to tease the tear ducts and touch the hearts of the audience.

They say marriage is all about togetherness and dependency and it intertwines the lives of two individuals for eternity. But what happens when love, the pivot of a functional marriage, seems to look bleak? Following this regard a plethora of questions are thrown at the spectators - Is it necessary to stay together despite the differences and difficulties? Is the sole purpose of marriage to raise children? How important a role does physical intimacy play in marriage? For how long does one compromise? And most importantly, is love ever lost? Battling these questions and many more, the grand old pair of Soumitra Chatterjee and Swatilekha Sengupta beautifully portray their emotions through the journey.

Biswanath Majumdar(Soumitra Chatterjee) is the owner of a flourishing bookshop and wishes to explore the world whereas his wife Arti Majumdar's(Swatilekha Sengupta) world begins and ends with her husband and family.
Biswanath feels that the time has come for him to make an announcement and tells his wife that their entire family should be present during the Durga Puja. Arati is of the idea that her husband has finally decided to call out his will and rings up her children. The entire Majumdar brood arrives and have immense fun during the Puja as it is a long time after which the entire family has gathered together. On the last day, Dashami, Biswanath declares that he is no longer interested in continuing his relationship with his wife and is in need of a divorce. He is married for 49 years and this change in his mind leaves his children shell-shocked. Myriad reactions run through the family ranging from anger,accusations,resorting to superstition and finally to suspicions of Biswanath having an affair.

On being questioned, Biswanath unabashedly says that he is not happy in his present state of marriage. He thinks that he is bound by responsibilities to his family and cannot get any time to look after what his heart wants. He wishes to see the world and cannot do so with his wife. He needs to be alone for his ventures. He says that Arati has always served the family and seen t.v serials but never given him any special attention. He is of the opinion that he will be doing her a favour by this divorce as she will learn to be independent in his absence. However he says that his wife is at no fault for his decision,that he shall always cater to her financial needs and is ready to hear whatever she says.
When the matter reaches the court, Judge(Barun Chanda) cannot accept that a marriage of 49 years can come to such an end and refuses them a separation. He advices them to take a few days off and spend time in each others company. In the court scene Arati delivers a memorable line. She says that through out her life she has accepted her husband's decision complacently, with a smile on her face. Even when her husband has embarrassed her before her children by openly conveying his desire to separate, has harassed her by bringing her to court after 49 years of togetherness she is expected to accept all this with a smile on her face.
On the judges advice the couple decide to go to Shantiniketan but Arati is adamant on taking the entire family for this trip. While the aged duo evaluate their conjugal bond in this trip, their children who are troubled by their own marriages as well retrospect their situation also. As a result one husband stops complaining to his wife about their lack of physical intimacy and realises that there is more to a married life, another learns to respect his efficient wife, a wife starts to value her husband and ends her extra marital affair and a young couple manage to find their love in the midst of their busy lives. The younger generation realise the importance of matrimony at the cost of their parent's separation. At this point of time even the viewers rethink about their marital status and wonder when was the last time they had complimented their other half or spent some quality time together?


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When the aged two revisit their memories Arati gives a piece of her mind to her husband. She lists the number of times and the various ways in which he has disappointed her over and over again but never let him realise that. To her husband's question regarding a habitual boring life she says that whatever she does for him has become her habit and this habit of hers is not because she is a dutiful woman, it is because she loves him deeply. Caring for him and her family is what she loves, this is her habit. Incidentally this hits true for everyone in this world. We all become someone's habit and someone becomes our habit and the wheel runs smoothly and mundanely when we know what is about to happen after what. When this flow stops life gets derailed and that is what happened to Biswanath Majumdar.
He thinks he can avoid inflicting further pain on his wife by staying separately but this is the greatest blow he ever gave his wife. He stays back in Shantiniketan with his manservant and lets Arati go to Kolkata. She fulfils his dream of her turning into an independent woman of the world but Biswanath realises that what he tried to chase is nothing but an illusion. The solitude that he craved now suffocated him. The fact that he could no longer take refuge in his 49 year old habits became unbearable for him. He comes back to his wife, who with tears on her cheeks, says that he should die before her, for she can manage without him but he cannot live without her. On this note the couple reunite and the heart-rending tale comes to an end.

The movie has exhibited stellar performances by all the actors especially Soumitra Chatterjee, Swatilekha Sengupta and Kharaj Mukherjee. Soumitra Chatterjee's acting appeared effortless and Swatilekha Sengupta could not have been more real. Kharaj Mukherjee's brilliant comic timing was one of the highlights of the film. Lastly the movie has a strong message that marriage requires time and patience, it is not something to easily give up on and that there is a particular appeal and magic to a married couple's 'boring love'. Actually movies like this can help in the survival of several marriages.

Watch it here in Disney+ Hotstar if you wish!