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15 Park Avenue
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2005 Indian drama film
July 2020
December 2015
December 2015
15, Park Avenue 15parkavenue.jpg Aparna Sen Bipin Vohra Aparna Sen Shabana AzmiKonkona Sen SharmaSoumitra ChatterjeeWaheeda RehmanDhritiman Chatterjee Rahul Bose Kanwaljeet Singh Hemant Chaturvedi Rabiranjan Maitra yes 2005 10 27 London https://www.thetimes.com/article/this-weeks-screenings-ldk9rj9wnwx This week's screenings The Times 6 July 2020 live https://web.archive.org/web/20240808170445/https://www.thetimes.com/article/this-weeks-screenings-ldk9rj9wnwx 8 August 2024 2006 1 6 India https://boxofficeindia.com/movie.php?movieid=1614 15 Park Avenue Boxofficeindia.com 21 August 2024 7 December 2023 https://web.archive.org/web/20231207221203/https://www.boxofficeindia.com/movie.php?movieid=1614 live 124 minuteshttps://www.bbfc.co.uk/release/15-park-avenue-q29sbgvjdglvbjpwwc0znjq5ote 15 Park Avenue www.bbfc.co.uk 21 August 2024 29 August 2024 https://web.archive.org/web/20240829171028/https://www.bbfc.co.uk/release/15-park-avenue-q29sbgvjdglvbjpwwc0znjq5ote live English
15 Park Avenue is a 2005 English-language Indian film directed by Aparna Sen. It stars Shabana Azmi, Konkona Sen Sharma, Soumitra Chatterjee, Waheeda Rehman, Dhritiman Chatterjee, Rahul Bose and Kanwaljeet Singh. It won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in English.http://dff.nic.in/images/Documents/49_53Nfacatalogue-%20.pdf 53rd National Film Awards Directorate of Film Festivals 84 2 September 2020 25 July 2020 https://web.archive.org/web/20200725205618/http://dff.nic.in/images/Documents/49_53Nfacatalogue-%20.pdf dead
Plot
30-something Mitali aka Meethi has schizophrenia and is taken care of by her older, divorced sister Anjali aka Anu, who is a professor, and their ageing mother. Although she was never married in real life, Meethi has created her own alternate reality in her mind in which she married her ex-fiancé Joydeep 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 on hold, in Meethi's imaginary world both the older women are holding her in the house and away from her husband and children 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 Barua. 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 until 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 children. 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.
Cast
Shabana Azmi as Anjali
Konkona Sen Sharma as Meethi
Soumitra Chatterjee as Meethi's father
Waheeda Rehman as Meethi's and Anjali's mother
Rahul Bose as Joydeep Roy
Dhritiman Chaterji as Dr. Kunal Barua
Kanwaljit Singh as Anjali's colleague and boyfriend
Shefali Shah as Lakshmi, Joydeep's wife
Suranjana Dasgupta as Madwoman on the street
Dipavali Mehta as Child Meethi
Sunil Mukherjee as Witchdoctor
Reception
Sonia chopra of Rediff.com called it "hauntingly beautiful." She further wrote, "There's dry, black humour all over the film, if you care to look for it. There's comedy in the darkest of scenes, if you dare to laugh. As Joydeep himself broods, 'It would have been funny, if it wasn't so sad.' Watch the film, and forgive the small irregularities and pace. You'll step into another world. Just like our Mithi."https://www.rediff.com/movies/2006/jan/06park.htm 15 Park Avenue is hauntingly beautiful Chopra Sonia 6 January 2006 Rediff.com 21 August 2024 19 October 2022 https://web.archive.org/web/20221019141758/https://www.rediff.com/movies/2006/jan/06park.htm live
Conversely, Namrata Joshi of Outlook gave the film 2 out of 4, writing, "In effect, the film seems to have everything going for it. Not quite. Instead of exploring these intriguing associations to their logical emotional depth, Sen leaves them sketchy and open-ended."Joshi Namrata Namrata Joshi 23 January 2006 15 Park Avenue https://www.outlookindia.com/art-entertainment/15-park-avenue-news-229900 Outlook New Delhi Outlook Publishing (India) 21 August 2024 live https://web.archive.org/web/20210811105907/https://magazine.outlookindia.com/story/15-park-avenue/229900 11 August 2021 Taran Adarsh of IndiaFM gave it 1 out of 5 praising the performances but criticised the writing, pace and climax of the film.https://www.bollywoodhungama.com/movie/15-park-avenue/critic-review/15-park-avenue-movie-review/ 15 Park Avenue Movie Review Adarsh Taran Taran Adarsh 6 January 2006 Bollywood Hungama 21 August 2024 21 August 2024 https://web.archive.org/web/20240821132136/https://www.bollywoodhungama.com/movie/15-park-avenue/critic-review/15-park-avenue-movie-review/ live
References
External links
0449159 15 Park Avenue
Category:2005 films
Category:2005 drama films
Category:Indian drama films
Category:English-language Indian films
Category:Fiction about schizophrenia
Category:Films set in Kolkata
Category:Best English Feature Film National Film Award winners
Category:Films directed by Aparna Sen
Category:2005 English-language films
Category:Films about schizophrenia
Category:English-language drama films