Once in a while something so poignant crosses your way that you are tempted to give it another look – and a thought. That’s the case with Aparna Sen’s latest offering 15 Park Avenue. She follows the same cast of her previous gem Mr. and Mrs. Iyer; i.e. Konkona Sen Sharma and Rahul Bose; and highly improves the platter with Shabana Azmi, Dhritiman Chatterjee, Kanwaljeet Singh, Shefali Shah and Waheeda Rehman.
The film is about a schizophrenic patient Mitali or Meethi, played by Konkona. She believes she is married and has five kids and two dogs living at a place called 15 Park Avenue, which does not exist.Almost the entire portion of the film delves on the relation between Meethi and her half-sister Anu (Shabana Azmi), elder to her by 18 years and a Physics professor. The film does not explain the reason of Meethi’s schizophrenia; but it states all the possible causes and leaves at the conclusion that her condition is a culmination of the trauma she has faced in her life, along with a genetic propensity to the condition. The trauma includes a jilt by Joideep Roy (Rahul Bose) and a gang-rape. The doctor attending Meethi is Kunal (Dhritiman Chatterjee).
15 Park Avenue is for the sensitive and sensible mind. Several scenes are stark just because the starkness is not shown directly in the film. Below is a list of some such scenes:-
(i) There is a scene where the mother (Waheeda Rehman) tries to get Meethi treated by an exorcist. The ‘ojha’ scenes are interspersed with Anu teaching Quantum Physics at the college. The mantras of the ojha and the theories of Quantum Physics are collated together, and this is a grand mockery on the prevalence of both orthodoxy and advancement in our culture.
(ii) Meethi gets raped by four hoodlums at a hotel. Here, instead of showing the obvious, the director has focused on what goes on outside the hotel door, where Meethi’s groans are clearly audible. People pass by; understanding but not noticing what’s going on inside. An apt comment on our society!
(iii) When Meethi meets her jilted lover Joideep after 11 years, she just looks blankly past him. Just as one would tell a casual visitor she tells him to have some tea before leaving.
(iv) The scene in which mother and Anu break down together after Meethi has an epileptic fit is a beauteous example of tragic humor.
(v) Last but not the least, the climax. The climax is the highlight of the film – it is what sets it apart from other attempts at the same subject. Guaranteed to make you think and discuss with your movie companion during the dinner you would have after the movie.
Not just scenes, even some one-liners are riveting. Some examples:-
(i) When the doctor Kunal is asked his opinion about a person who claims to hear ‘voices’, he says, “I cannot tell exactly without seeing him. Maybe he’s a case of schizophrenia.”
(ii) Meethi, in all her innocent naivety, once asks her sister Anu, “What would you do if you were suddenly told by everyone you are not a professor?” Shabana’s reaction to that line is exquisite.
(iii) This is carried on by Shabana with the doctor when she asks, “How different is our reality from hers? If she is happy in the imaginary world of hers, who are we to take away that happiness?”
15 Park Avenue is not just a film; it is a handbook on schizophrenia. Without demeaning the patient, Aparna Sen has explained what it is to be a sister, mother or lover of a schizophrenic. The length of the film may be a little imposing and so also the long pauses between dialogues in some places. Barring that, it is an exceptional piece.