'Bela' reminded me of my mother who is no more: Rituparna Sengupta at trailer launch event

Bela is a biopic on well‑known Bengali cookbook author and radio personality Bela Dey.

Bela Dey was a speaker at Akashvani. She had spoken about the rights of women and started a show named Mahila Mahal.

The film is directed by Anilavaa Chatterjee, a former sports journalist.

Speaking of her experience of shooting this film, Rituparna said one scene had reminded her of her late mother.

"The person I'm playing the character of, is very respected to me. She was an example to everyone of her time.

"This character has inspired me in a lot of ways and as Bela Dey's father helped her through her struggle, it reminds me of my mother," Rituparna said.

Speaking on why he chose Bela for his debut film, Anilavaa said, "People live for cognizance in life. I have run a food magazine for over a decade and came across many women who have found confidence when being acknowledged for their cooking skills.

"Similarly many years ago, Bela Dey did the same thing with her radio show encouraging women and was a rebel according to me."

The film also features Biswajit Chakraborty, Basabdatta Chattopadhyay, Bhadra Basu, Debdut Ghosh, Debapratim Dasgupta, Padmanabha Dasgupta, Bulbuli Panja, Rajannya Mitra, Manasi Sinha, Srija Bhattacharyya, Aryuun Ghosh, Bhaswar Chatterjee and Sourav Chakraborty in key roles.

It is set to make a theatrical release on August 29.

(Reporting by Aaheli Chakraborty, Photos by Avishek Mitra/IBNS)