15, Park Avenue
Encyclopedia
15 Park Avenue is a 2005 National Film Award winning English-language Indian film directed by Aparna Sen
.
) suffers from Schizophrenia
and is taken care of by her much older, divorced sister Anjali aka Anu (Shabana Azmi
) and an ageing mother (Waheeda Rehman
). Although she was never married in real life, Meethi has created her own alternate reality in her mind in which she got married to her ex-fiancé Joydeep (Rahul Bose
) and has five children. While Anu has dedicated her life to taking care of Meethi and her mother, even putting her own relationship with a fellow professor (Kanwaljeet Singh) on hold, in Meethi's imaginary world both the older women are holding her in the house and away from her kids against her will. She imagines her family to be living at the non-existent 15 Park Avenue in (Kolkata
).
After Meethi has a severe seizure, her case is taken up by a new doctor Kunal Barva (Dhritiman Chatterjee). While discussing her sister's case with the new doctor, Anu reveals that though Meethi had dormant schizophrenic traits since childhood, she led a very normal life till her early 20s, before a traumatic experience in the course of her job as a journalist made her withdraw from the outer world. Her fiancé, unable to deal with the emotional upheaval caused by the incidence, broke off the engagement. On the doctor's advice, Anu takes both women on a vacation to Bhutan, where they are spotted by Joydeep, now married with two kids. In her present state, Meethi does not recognize Joydeep as the same man she is married to in her imagination, and befriends him. When Joydeep learns of Meethi's worsened condition and her imaginary world, he offers to help her locate the elusive family home - 15 Park Avenue.
Back in Kolkata, Joydeep drives her down to the part of the city where she believes her house and her family are. In a surrealistic climax, Meethi finally locates the house and finds her husband Jojo (as she fondly calls him) and her five children waiting for her return. She walks into the house, reunited with her 'real' family and is never seen again.
) who suffers from schizophrenia
, and her sister Anjali (Shabana Azmi
).
Meethi (short for Mitali) hails from an upper middle class family, fraught with a complex relationship structure. She is the child through the second marriage of her mother, and this is not explored in much detail in the movie since it focuses on other issues. Anu, her older sister, is a professor of physics at a university, who is shown to be intellectual and practical; however, the paradox in her character becomes obvious when she decides to forsake her personal life for her ailing younger sister. This shows her in a different light, and the viewer sees the contradiction throughout the movie.
Meethi is shown to have dormant schizophrenic
traits since childhood, as depicted in the scene where Anu tells her doctor Kunal Barva (Dhritiman Chatterjee) that Meethi had always been a loner. Meethi felt everyone could hear her swallowing or gulping and so was embarrassed to go to school. Anu believes that a traumatic gang rape by political goons during Meethi's work assignment has pushed her over the edge and has led to the onset of full-blown schizophrenia.
Meethi lapses into incoherent delusions about a happy family and children which have been her erstwhile dreams. (In reality, her fiance Jojo (Rahul Bose
) backed out from the relationship.) Clutching on to these straws, she desperately looks for her home 15 Park Avenue, where she feels she will be at peace. A chance meeting with her Jojo, 11 years after they broke up, gives Meethi a further impetus into her delusional world, as she touchingly trusts him to look for her home since now he is an outsider whom she does not recognise. For Meethi, the world is divided into her imaginary home and the outsiders, who keep her from going to her "family."
Guilt is a predominant colour in the landscape of this movie, depicted in the persona of every character, be it Anu, Joydeep or Mrs. Mathur (Waheeda Rehman
). Iit is in the background of this tale of reality, illusion and the thin line between the two.
Aparna Sen
Aparna Sen is a critically acclaimed Bengali Indian filmmaker, script writer, and actress. She is the winner of three National Film Awards and eight international film festival awards.-Biography:...
.
Plot
30-something Mitali aka Meethi (Konkona Sen SharmaKonkona Sen Sharma
Konkona Sen Sharma is an Indian actress. She is the daughter of actress and filmmaker Aparna Sen. Sharma appears primarily in Indian arthouse and independent films, and her achievements in the genre have established her as one of the leading actresses of contemporary parallel cinema.Making her...
) suffers from Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by a disintegration of thought processes and of emotional responsiveness. It most commonly manifests itself as auditory hallucinations, paranoid or bizarre delusions, or disorganized speech and thinking, and it is accompanied by significant social...
and is taken care of by her much older, divorced sister Anjali aka Anu (Shabana Azmi
Shabana Azmi
Shabana Azmi is an Indian actress of film, television and theatre. An alumna of the Film and Television Institute of India of Pune, she made her film debut in 1974 and soon became one of the leading actresses of parallel cinema, an Indian New Wave movement known for its serious content and...
) and an ageing mother (Waheeda Rehman
Waheeda Rehman
Waheeda Rehman , is an Indian film actress who appears in Bollywood movies and is known for many successful and critically acclaimed movies from 1950's, 60's and early 70's most notably C.I.D. and Guru Dutt classics such as Pyaasa , 12 O'Clock , Kaagaz Ke Phool , Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam...
). Although she was never married in real life, Meethi has created her own alternate reality in her mind in which she got married to her ex-fiancé Joydeep (Rahul Bose
Rahul Bose
Rahul Bose is an Indian actor, screenwriter, director, social activist, and rugby union player.Bose has appeared in Hindi films such as Pyaar Ke Side Effects and Jhankaar Beats. Time magazine named him "the superstar of Indian arthouse cinema" for his work in parallel cinema films like English,...
) and has five children. While Anu has dedicated her life to taking care of Meethi and her mother, even putting her own relationship with a fellow professor (Kanwaljeet Singh) on hold, in Meethi's imaginary world both the older women are holding her in the house and away from her kids against her will. She imagines her family to be living at the non-existent 15 Park Avenue in (Kolkata
Kolkata
Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...
).
After Meethi has a severe seizure, her case is taken up by a new doctor Kunal Barva (Dhritiman Chatterjee). While discussing her sister's case with the new doctor, Anu reveals that though Meethi had dormant schizophrenic traits since childhood, she led a very normal life till her early 20s, before a traumatic experience in the course of her job as a journalist made her withdraw from the outer world. Her fiancé, unable to deal with the emotional upheaval caused by the incidence, broke off the engagement. On the doctor's advice, Anu takes both women on a vacation to Bhutan, where they are spotted by Joydeep, now married with two kids. In her present state, Meethi does not recognize Joydeep as the same man she is married to in her imagination, and befriends him. When Joydeep learns of Meethi's worsened condition and her imaginary world, he offers to help her locate the elusive family home - 15 Park Avenue.
Back in Kolkata, Joydeep drives her down to the part of the city where she believes her house and her family are. In a surrealistic climax, Meethi finally locates the house and finds her husband Jojo (as she fondly calls him) and her five children waiting for her return. She walks into the house, reunited with her 'real' family and is never seen again.
Themes
The film is the story of the relationship between a woman, Meethi, (Konkona Sen SharmaKonkona Sen Sharma
Konkona Sen Sharma is an Indian actress. She is the daughter of actress and filmmaker Aparna Sen. Sharma appears primarily in Indian arthouse and independent films, and her achievements in the genre have established her as one of the leading actresses of contemporary parallel cinema.Making her...
) who suffers from schizophrenia
Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by a disintegration of thought processes and of emotional responsiveness. It most commonly manifests itself as auditory hallucinations, paranoid or bizarre delusions, or disorganized speech and thinking, and it is accompanied by significant social...
, and her sister Anjali (Shabana Azmi
Shabana Azmi
Shabana Azmi is an Indian actress of film, television and theatre. An alumna of the Film and Television Institute of India of Pune, she made her film debut in 1974 and soon became one of the leading actresses of parallel cinema, an Indian New Wave movement known for its serious content and...
).
Meethi (short for Mitali) hails from an upper middle class family, fraught with a complex relationship structure. She is the child through the second marriage of her mother, and this is not explored in much detail in the movie since it focuses on other issues. Anu, her older sister, is a professor of physics at a university, who is shown to be intellectual and practical; however, the paradox in her character becomes obvious when she decides to forsake her personal life for her ailing younger sister. This shows her in a different light, and the viewer sees the contradiction throughout the movie.
Meethi is shown to have dormant schizophrenic
Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by a disintegration of thought processes and of emotional responsiveness. It most commonly manifests itself as auditory hallucinations, paranoid or bizarre delusions, or disorganized speech and thinking, and it is accompanied by significant social...
traits since childhood, as depicted in the scene where Anu tells her doctor Kunal Barva (Dhritiman Chatterjee) that Meethi had always been a loner. Meethi felt everyone could hear her swallowing or gulping and so was embarrassed to go to school. Anu believes that a traumatic gang rape by political goons during Meethi's work assignment has pushed her over the edge and has led to the onset of full-blown schizophrenia.
Meethi lapses into incoherent delusions about a happy family and children which have been her erstwhile dreams. (In reality, her fiance Jojo (Rahul Bose
Rahul Bose
Rahul Bose is an Indian actor, screenwriter, director, social activist, and rugby union player.Bose has appeared in Hindi films such as Pyaar Ke Side Effects and Jhankaar Beats. Time magazine named him "the superstar of Indian arthouse cinema" for his work in parallel cinema films like English,...
) backed out from the relationship.) Clutching on to these straws, she desperately looks for her home 15 Park Avenue, where she feels she will be at peace. A chance meeting with her Jojo, 11 years after they broke up, gives Meethi a further impetus into her delusional world, as she touchingly trusts him to look for her home since now he is an outsider whom she does not recognise. For Meethi, the world is divided into her imaginary home and the outsiders, who keep her from going to her "family."
Guilt is a predominant colour in the landscape of this movie, depicted in the persona of every character, be it Anu, Joydeep or Mrs. Mathur (Waheeda Rehman
Waheeda Rehman
Waheeda Rehman , is an Indian film actress who appears in Bollywood movies and is known for many successful and critically acclaimed movies from 1950's, 60's and early 70's most notably C.I.D. and Guru Dutt classics such as Pyaasa , 12 O'Clock , Kaagaz Ke Phool , Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam...
). Iit is in the background of this tale of reality, illusion and the thin line between the two.
Cast
- Shabana AzmiShabana AzmiShabana Azmi is an Indian actress of film, television and theatre. An alumna of the Film and Television Institute of India of Pune, she made her film debut in 1974 and soon became one of the leading actresses of parallel cinema, an Indian New Wave movement known for its serious content and...
as Anjali - Konkona Sen SharmaKonkona Sen SharmaKonkona Sen Sharma is an Indian actress. She is the daughter of actress and filmmaker Aparna Sen. Sharma appears primarily in Indian arthouse and independent films, and her achievements in the genre have established her as one of the leading actresses of contemporary parallel cinema.Making her...
as Meethi - Soumitra ChatterjeeSoumitra ChatterjeeSoumitra Chatterjee or Soumitra Chattopadhyay is an iconic Bengali actor from India, known among other things for his frequent collaborations with the great Bengali film director Satyajit Ray and his constant comparison with the Bengali screen idol Uttam Kumar.-Background:Soumitra graduated from...
as Meethi's father - Waheeda RehmanWaheeda RehmanWaheeda Rehman , is an Indian film actress who appears in Bollywood movies and is known for many successful and critically acclaimed movies from 1950's, 60's and early 70's most notably C.I.D. and Guru Dutt classics such as Pyaasa , 12 O'Clock , Kaagaz Ke Phool , Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam...
as Meethi's and Anjali's mother - Rahul BoseRahul BoseRahul Bose is an Indian actor, screenwriter, director, social activist, and rugby union player.Bose has appeared in Hindi films such as Pyaar Ke Side Effects and Jhankaar Beats. Time magazine named him "the superstar of Indian arthouse cinema" for his work in parallel cinema films like English,...
as Joydeep Roy - Dhritiman ChaterjiDhritiman ChaterjiDhritiman Chaterji is an Indian actor. He began his acting career in 1970 as the protagonist of Satyajit Ray's Pratidwandi . Most of his acting work has been in the India's "parallel", or independent, cinema with filmmakers such as Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen and Aparna Sen, among others...
as Dr. Kunal Barwa - Kanwaljeet Singh as Anjali's colleague and boyfriend.