Love strikes.
When it has to.
Unplanned
Untamed

So it did. A gutsy widow, pursued by a powerful, rich, benevolent man is determined to stay alone looking after her ailing father in law, while constantly missing her dead husband. One day she happens to chance upon a man lying unconcious , washed ashore by the river and decides to bring him home and help him heal.
A saga unfolds…
He reminds her of her husband…
And while she tends to him, she falls in love with him.

Bishorjon and its sequel Bijoya is one heartwarming , touching tale, exploring myriad hues of love, raising questions…and then…telling us that questions need not always be answered…

A Hindu widow in Bangladesh falls deeply in love with a Muslim man from India who lands up at her doorstep quite by accident. She protects him and in the process, falls in love.
A love she sacrifices because he wants to return home.
But she never gave up on her love for him.
Even while she marries the elderly benefactor after extracting the promise of safe passage for the man she loves.
And yet, as a wife she remains true to her husband, and when many years later she meets the love of her life, and has the opportunity to settle down with him, she decides to walk away, chosing the man who gave her respect and love, over the man who was always in her heart.

More often than not, true love remains unrequited.
And yet, there is a different kind of love…
Less passionate perhaps but more stable.
Built on the bedrock of mutual respect, goodness and honouring each other.
This second kind of love is perhaps what rock solid marriages are made of.
It is wonderful if one gets to experience fierce passion with stable honour.
But alas that is not as common as we wish it were…

While the first movie Bishorjon is based in Bangladesh, its sequel Bijoya is based in Calcutta, India. While at one level the movie is a love story it also expplore the deep connect between the two “Banglas”, Bengal and Bangladesh. Yes the dialects are different, but then dialects change from one district to another.
Quintisentially its the same stock of people, on both sides of the barbed wire, or both sides of the River Ichamoti which plays an important role particularly in the first movie. Yet the divisions are firmly entrenched. And inspite of the connects the lands have now grown to be different.
The movies also subtly touch upon the very pertinent message of religion being a matter solely of personal belief, never coming in between mutual love and respect. On many occasions it upholds Humanism above religiousness.This is infact the way Bengal has lived most of its its history with a strong Hindu and Muslim coexistence side by side

Kaushik Ganguly presents a beautiful thought process through both the movies. He also gives a stellar performance as Ganesh Mondal.
Jaya Ahsan always adds a different dimension through her powerful portrayal of Padma and Abir Chatterjee as Naser Ali takes our heart away.

For those of us who have had grandparents and relatives stuck between borders, for those who have grown up hearing stories about the other side and most importantly for those who believe in love, Bishorjon and Bijoya is a treat to watch.