BroadcastChic Excellent, a Must See

Teddie Blake The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Janae Milner Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

Billy Ollie Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

alexdeleonfilm Viewed at the River to River Indian film festival, Firenze, December 2005. The title of Aparna Sen's latest film, "15 Park Avenue", is an oblique reference to that most exclusive of New York streets where many of the wealthiest people in America used to have their private residences. Meethi, an attractive young woman who can be very charming and appealing in her lucid moments, suffers from extreme delusions and has been diagnosed as incurably schizophrenic, although for a time she was engaged to a sincere young man whom she called Jojo. Jojo was aware of her condition but deeply in love, however, when her spells became too traumatic, the wedding was called off and he married another woman. Meetha has always been under the care of her much older, intellectual, and domineering sister Anjali. Anjali, herself a very attractive divorced woman of a certain age, supports the family, herself, her sister and their aged mother, by lecturing on Nuclear Physics and Quantum Mechanics at the local university -- (a nice touch attesting to India's highly advanced state in the theoretical sciences, of which there is precious little awareness in the Western world). A middle-aged academic colleague of hers keeps throwing himself at her feet, but Anjali has become much more interested in the white-haired psychiatrist, Kuman, who has been called in as a consultant on Meethi's difficult case and is more of an intellectual challenge to her. This is also a tricky relationship because Kuman is still committed to his own marriage, though obviously interested in the still very attractive quantum professorial Anjali. To complicate matters even more, Jojo who has been out of the picture for years with wife and young children, suddenly reappears to share in Meethi's delusionary world which has long been centered on the fixation of being happily married to him and living a number "Fifteen Park Avenue" in Bombay -- an address which doesn't exist except in her feverish mind -- During this chance meeting at a Himalayan mountain resort Mheeti fails to recognize him as her long-lost Jojo, but accepts his complicity in her dream world as she feels that everyone else is against her. In the strangely mystical ending of the address on the Monopoly board which is mistakenly mentioned as "Park Avenue" at several points in the film ...There is actually much more to this picture than the cursory plot summary above might indicate, for the insights it provides into the lives of the contemporary Indian intelligentsia as well as for the depiction of the constant battle between cold rationalism and subjective emotionalism which is a leit motif throughout the film. The dialogue, especially in the first half of the picture, may sound excessively stiff and unreal to Western ears, but, apparently, this is the way westernized Indian intellectuals talk. Moreover, the Freudian analyses which take up much of the second half of the film, sound like a throwback to Hollywood movies of the forties when Freud was all the thing -- and makes it seem like the Indians of today are just now catching up on long over-baked Western psychology ... However -- and it is a big "however" -- whatever the trivialities of the plot from a jaded western point of view, it is the personalities of the players, the excellence of the acting, and the humanitarian warmth throughout which makes all else secondary. There are really two, if not three central figures: (1) Meethi, the disturbed young lady as portrayed by Konkona Sensharma, a talented actress who happens to be the daughter of director Aparna Sen, (2) the charismatic Shabana Azmi , who portrays the older protective sister and is one of India's leading older movie stars -- to see her is to understand why, and (3) "Jojo" -- the long-lost lover with an overweaning sense of responsibility, played by now 40 year old actor Rahul Bose, a favourite leading man of the director's and an unforgettable presence of every film he's in. Whether a striking piece of work like this will ever be seen outside of festivals is an open question, however it seems to me that an enterprising American distributor could do very well with this pic because it has universal appeal and universally appealing performers.

candida-100 Once in a while one come across a movie that forces one to rethink about society's reaction to people who differ from its definition of normal.Mitthi having suffered at the hands of unsocial elements,left all alone to cope with her tragedy, retreats into her idyllic world....one which according to her is the real world.....Surreal(Mitthi's world) superimposes itself on the real(her family).Mitthi, suffering from schizophrenia, forces us to reconsider our priorities about trying to rehabilitate 'patients' like them. Are we right to drag them back to our reality when all we have to offer them in ours is pain and suffering? What right have we to deprive them of their source of happiness? What right do we have to take away their joy when we are unable to help them in their sorrow? 15 Park Avenue is one of the best movies on social issues...showing us the need that any patient needs empathy and not plain sympathy.

kunalsen_7684 SPOILERS AHEAD 15 PARK AVENUE: My Humble take on this film Now, for a viewer of cinema having tastes as severely limited as mine, niche films like 15 Park Avenue ought to be palatable to my sensibilities. With this thought, and a mild sense of embarrassment that I hadn't watched the complete film earlier, I watched this film last Saturday. There are some starting similarities with other works like the legendary Mulholland Drive (David Lynch) from which, this film borrows at least 3 concepts:- a) That (at least some) truths are relative b) The first scene of Shabana and Konkonam going around in a car as the opening credits roll, is uncannily similar to the car ride that Betty and Rita undertook in Mulholland Drive. In both cases, the object of inquiry happens to be a place which is probably mythical in both cases and perhaps more openly symbolic in Aparna's film c) The incident revolving around the mad beggar woman is again extremely reminiscent of the whole 'occurence behind Winkies' involving a bum but while that scary creature is an embodiment of something and that that 'something' as well as the character per Se is seamlessly linked to other works of Lynch (notice carefully the disheveled long hair), the effect of the beggar woman in 15 PA appears to be a tribute and therefore insignificant in the context of the film and its message The other films from which 15 PA also borrows is Blow Up (especially the last scene is a throw back to the truth Vs. perceived truth poser presented towards the end of Antonioni's masterpiece). Of course, the professor and schizophrenia angle also bring to the mind, "A Beautiful mind". Although, admittedly the subject here is high brow physics and Shabana, who professes it, inadvertently ends up being the brilliant antithesis to the delusional hallucinations of Konkona's character through those very prophecies. In an outstanding scene in the movie, some of these elements are juxtaposed with each other and that scene cuts back and forth from the 'real' world of Shabana, where Quantum Physics and the Theory of Relativity justify the finiteness and composition of the universe, to the artificial edifice of the 'make believe' world of Mithi But for all their differences, the sisters are alike too. Both are incapable of forming long lasting relationships- one out of choice and the other out of nature. So, Mithi's pain at being rejected in love by Joydeep is in harmony with the inability of Shaban to form a special bond with either Kunal(Dhritiman) or Sanjeev (Kanwaljeet). But I'm getting ahead of myself. Viewers generally tend to view this film in one of the following two ways:- Hypothesis 1: "It was Shabana all along" There is a certain section of the audience who think so. But that explanation is not only too far fetched but also contrived as that would mean she was dreaming up so many other characters too (i.e. all those characters whom she visualized as visualizing Mithi along with her) Hypothesis 2: "There WAS a REAL Mithi and the ending is a metaphor" This POV says that the film's essence is summarized in one dialog in the film, when in response to a statement by Joy (Rahul Bose), that Mithi is looking for something that she will never find, his wife Laxmi (Shefali Shah) philosophizes that we all are looking indeed for that illusive utopia, the end of the rainbow wherein appears to lie the mirage of happiness and contentment There are other more minor possibilities which have not been embraced that much by our knowledgeable audience like:- Hypothesis 3:" Shabana and Konkona are alter egos of the same person" Hypothesis 4: "Shabana too is a figment of Mithi's imagination" Hypothesis 5: "The old, haggard, perhaps mad, beggar woman is the real protagonist of the story" Are these hypotheses worthy of even being tested? Well, your guess is as good as mine "Why 15 Park Avenue?" Contrary to the popular perception that she was thinking of the Park Avenue in NY, I believe that she got the name from the brand name of a semi popular bathing soap. Remember, her stating Jo Jo's profession as "Prime minister of Shikakai", which as you may be knowing is a popular ingredient used in manufacturing Shampoos. The prefix '15' is used as it was on 15th December that Mithi got engaged to Joydeep and after his walkout, she remains forever in a time warp. The film has its fair share of flaws- lack of use of a strong background score, which in films like these can really augment the narrative, some sloppy dialogs unabated by some forced dialog delivery. Inconsistent performances (Shabana and Dhritimaan are excellent though IMO) by a few of the cast members albeit many members of this ensemble cast have been wasted. Shefali Chaya's sudden insecurity about her husband seems to be an unimaginatively introduced dimension in the plot. I give it 7/10 as it made me think but not any higher than that because I can easily fathom its sources of inspiration and having experienced (and for the most part, thoroughly enjoyed) those previously, I have already thought on similar lines earlier. So, the experience post 15 PA is bound to be sans a certain degree of novelty. Where am I coming from? I gave 9.5/10 to '36 Chowringhee Lane' (though rumors still persist that one Satyajit Ray ghost directed it), 7.5 to 'Paromiter Ek Din', 7 to 'Mr and Mrs Iyer' and 5 to 'Paroma'. On an existential level, it failed to invoke my interest, not even as much as say a 'Truman Show'

sattire_gal A movie about Schizophrenia, an educational effort on the part of the director at times when most movie seem to be just about skin show. Konkana Sen is a Schizophrenia patient who lives with her sister and mother. The movie is about how the family tries to cope with this disease, while Konkana continues to live in her delusional world. I would have given a 10 to this movie if not for the ending which seemed pretty pointless. Without letting in on the ending, I must say that I do not see the point of having an ending which forces the viewers to try and understand what actually happened in a movie..15 park avenue ended up being a movie like that. I would not call such an ending intellectual, just plain lack of insight on the part of the director, or whoever was responsible for the ending, to realize that the audience would like to know everything when seeing with a movie that deals with such a sensitive topic. That said, Shabana Aazmi,Rahul Bose, Konkana Sen and Wahida Rehman are a delight to watch in the movie. Acting can never be an issue in a movie with Shabana Aazmi and Rahul Bose. I just wish that the end was different. It was the ending that let the movie down a bit. However, still a movie with such an excellent director and wonderful actors should be seen.