~@~Älluring Delusion~@~. Review on 15 Park Avenue

Smitten with the magic of Aparna Sen after, ‘Mr & Mrs Iyer’ ..I was restlessly waiting for this movie. Simple, plain vanilla, no frills artistic movies have become rare in present commercial world of bollywood. For all those, who want to give their digestive tract of mind some change from masala flicks.. it is precisely an apt choice.

iShTAAR CAShT

Ape-run-aah Sane :Director

Kaun-Kaun-aah (In)sane:Mitali (The Patient) – Mrs Joydeep

Sha(ve)-Bana(na) Aaj-mie:Anu didi

Rah-owl Boss :Joydeep/Joy/Jojo (Prince Charming)

She-fall-eee Shh-aah :Mrs Joydeep

Wahi-duhh Rah-man :Rewa…not vroom Reva, stupid!

iShTORY

Frankly speaking there is nothing called as story in this movie... it is more like a beautiful painting, which you keep watching from different angles… everytime looking at it from different perspective to realize an altogether new meaning each time. However, still let me do the formalities in brief

Mitali (Konkona Sen) is a schizophrenic patient staying with her elder sister, Anjali or Anu didi(Shabana Azmi) and mother Rewa(Waheeda Rehman). Mitali being schizophrenic, always stays in her own world with her own virtual characters. Everyone in family has empathy towards her and take her utmost care. Though at times, they lose their patience to listen her nonsense and shout back at her.

Mitali wasn’t like this for ever… yes she was schizophrenic, but her condition wasn’t so severe. Going to the flashback….She was working for a media company and going around with Joydeep (Rahul Bose), who even got engaged with her. She used call him Jojo. Then one day, she was asked to go to Calcutta on an official trip to cover some violence going out there. She wasn’t that keen for assignment, but still goes ahead to impress Jojo. Tragedy stuck her there and she becomes a victim of gang rape. It completely shatters her… and things get worse when Jojo also leaves her after this incident.

11 years later, Joydeep again sees Mitali coincidentally in Bhutan. He has come there with his wife (Shefali Shah) and two kids. He feels an urge to visit her and see what’s going on in her life after he dumped her… a mixed emotions of curiosity and guilty. Surprisingly, Mitali doesn’t recognize Joydeep… and tells him about her husband Jojo and their 5 kids who stay at 15 Park Avenue, Calcutta. An address, which doesn’t exist… Joydeep becomes her good friend and she requests him to search her house. Joydeep knows that its crazy but still wants to go with her. He has already hurt her once and can not do that again.. so what if it’s sheer stupidity of wild goose chase.. at least he can see her happy… at least momentarily.

PERFORMANCE

Shabana Azmi: It won’t be wrong to crown Shabana as queen of parallel cinema… to her credits, she has a list of masterpieces. In 15 Park Avenue, she has done role of an intellectual academician who teaches quantum physics. An energetic and dynamic lady who has taken the responsibility of her aging mother and schizophrenic sister, for whom she doesn’t even get married. A very strong character with immense confidence.. but all said and done, she is also a human who needs someone to share her thoughts to support her when she’s down. But, she doesn’t want to accept this fact in front of anyone… not even herself.

Konkona Sen: Konkona Sen has come into lime light after Page3. A wonderful actress who has done full justice to role of Mitali as a schizophrenic patient. She has full faith in her own virtual world and her only mission in life is to find his home at 15 Park avenue, where her kids and hubby are waiting for her.

Rahul Bose: This prodigy of NSD has proven his mettle time and again in Jhankaar beats, Mr & Mrs Iyer, Chameli, Mumbai matinee etc. Very beautifully he has depicted the dilemma of a person caught between his responsibility of a husband and duty of a human. Someone, who is not a able to decide, who needs him most now.. his wife with whom he’s legally married to. Or an ailing girl who also believes to be his wife and married to him for last 11 years. Does he have any responsibility towards her.. out of humanity… out of love… or out of guilt, something which he can’t undo but doesn’t want to do again.

WARNING : Some climax scenes revealed ahead. Continue reading at your own risk..

POST-MORTEM

A wonderful artistic movie made by Aparna Sen that beautifully shows the grey area where reality meets dreams. A movie, which will make you re-look and revise your definition of reality.

Scene I: Shabana Azmi is talking to a psychiatrist in a restaurant, who’s handling the case of Mitali. She asks him, how strong does Mitali believes in her virtual world ? Doctor replies, that world is as real as yours and mine. He points at a flower vase and asks Shabana, what is this? Shabana replies 'flower vase'. He says, what if I say, that is a lamp and all the people sitting in this restaurant also feels the same. Shabana shrugs, I don’t care, it still remains a flower vase. Perhaps, that’s what exactly Mitali feels.

Scene II : When Joydeep explains the situation of Mitali to his wife, he says 'She is running after something which she can never get' and Shefali says 'Aren’t we all…'

Very impactful line with great meaning, aren’t we all running after our own illusions? How many of us are comfortable in accepting the fact that every life has an end and our day will also come someday??? How many struggling actors in bollywood realize that there can be only one Shahrukh Khan.. not everyone can be a superstar ? How many of us accept that we are alcoholic or addicted to cigarettes or do we say 'I just take it within limit, so its Ok'… what is the definition of limit? Aren’t all pre-marital and extra-marital sexx just accidents, which they really didn’t want to do ? How many of us have the courage to speak truth to ourselves?

INTERPRETING THE END - continued in comments section