Aparna Sen's 15 Park Avenue: Movie review

30 January 2006
MUMBAI, INDIA

Pretty much everyone who will be reading this review will have known already that this movie is about a schizophrenic person, played by Konkana Sen, with her customary effortless ease – she makes acting truly look simple, rather like another intense actor who recently got married and did not want people to turn it into a national event.

This is another tale from Aparna Sen, on the lines of her earlier English movies 36, Chowringee Lane and Mr and Mrs Iyer.

What’s the movie about? Apart from a story about a schizophrenic – it has got great characterization, simple but effective cameos, different narrative styles, clean and fresh feeling cinematography, interesting and provocative ending, that can either lead you to tear your hair (if you are too used to Hollywood and Mumbai Hindi movies you are not going to enjoy so much of freedom to use your imagination and figure out what happens next) or it can lead you delightfully empowered to enjoy the teasing ending…

To get back to the beginning – it’s a simple tale, simply told. Mithee (Mitali) Gupta, always a slightly solitary child goes through a harrowing gang rape, while in Bihar to record the polls as a journalist, returns to a weak fiancé Joydeep Roy (lovingly called Jojo) who cries off the marriage unable to handle the responsibility of taking care of a rape victim (well played by Rahul Bose), and is lovingly taken home. She degenerates into full-fledged schizophrenia, which she had shown some signs of earlier as well, and her sister, 18 years her senior, Anjali Mathur (divorcee professor of Physics) takes her into heart and home and nurtures her through all the horrors, social gaffes and pains of Schizophrenia. Anjali or Anu as she is called has a tame professor friend Sanjeev (charmingly played by the always understated Kanwaljit) and is also shown sharing a subtle attraction to the experienced worldly-wise Dr Kunal Barua (Mithee’s psychiatrist). In between, one sees Mithee exchanging glances with a bag lady, walking the streets, carefully packing away a broken bangle, and muttering to herself.

Joydeep Roy, now married to Lakshmi (the lovely and versatile Shefali Shah in another pleasing cameo) with two children, v obviously reared in the US of A, with mandatory accent to show that Joydeep has been living elsewhere, has just come to holiday in the same spot in Bhutan as Mithee, Anu and their mother, with Sanjeev and an assortment of friends. Joydeep, unrecognized by Mithee, yet manages to build a relationship of trust with Mithee, who now in the throes of hallucinations, imagines everyone including Anu to be in cahoots with Bush, in opposition to Saddam Hussein. In her hallucinations, Bush is the enemy and her husband Jojo is working for Saddam. She has her dream house in 15 Park Avenue, with 5 children, each one bearing the names that Jojo and she had dreamt of, all those years ago.

The movie ended with Mithee finally finding her dream house in 15 Park Avenue, in her dreams, lost in the by-lanes of Kolkata, with the perfect gate, her husband and children greeting her with delight – she is finally free to live in her dream house without the troubling reality that Anu and the others force upon her. The viewer is left to wonder where she really went, as Anu, Joydeep and Dr. Barua run around looking for Mithee who is both lost and found. A brief clue of Mithee is left, showing the bag lady again in the final scenes.

Sounds complicated? My narrative might be at fault, but the direction and editing are pleasing, acting is effortless from all concerned, script is tight and worth your time and money. Go for it if you like a slightly cerebral approach to your movies and are willing to look at something beyond the ordinary. If you like your fare really predictable, please avoid it completely.

A lot of people sitting with me in the dark of the movie seemed to laugh at the oddities of behaviour and tensions between Sanjeev and Kunal. It seemed heartless to my companions but to give the benefit of the doubt, I think the audience was just exhausted by the intense emotions that Mithee (Konkana Sen) and her lost world seemed to evoke. The stellar performance by one of my favourite actors of all times - Shabana - as the indefatigable, caring, loving, tiresome Anu was the icing on the cake.