Cinephile

Joydeep: I cannot relate to Mithi today anymore and I could when I left her 11 years ago. She seriously asked me to help her find our house on Park Avenue. Can you imagine that? Park Avenue?

Laxmi: That’s in New York.

Joydeep: It would be funny if it wasn’t so sad. She is looking for something she can never find.

Laxmi: Aren’t we all?

This intense conversation between Joydeep and Laxmi from the movie 15 Park Avenue provoked my thoughts on complexities of human mind and the illusions associated with it. But how to differentiate illusion from reality? Aren’t they two sides of the same coin? Isn’t reality subjective in nature defined by the frame of reference of the observer? I may sound too philosophical but these are some of the mind boggling questions which the director raises through the narrative of 15 Park Avenue.

15 Park Avenue is a 2005 National Film Award winning English-language Indian film directed by one of the renowned film personalities “Aparna Sen”. It stars some of the stalwarts of the cinematic world such as Shabana Azmi (Anjali), Soumitra Chatterjee (Mithi and Anjali’s father), Waheeda Rehman (Mithi and Anjali’s mother),Dhritiman Chatterjee (Dr Kunal Baruah), Konkana Sen Sharma (Mitali aka Mithi), Rahul Bose (Joydeep Roy), Shefali Chhaya (Laxmi as Joydeep’s wife) and  Kanwaljit Singh (Anjali’s colleague).

The story orbits around Mithi who is in her 30’s and is suffering from Schizophrenia. In the beginning scenes of the movie we see Anjali taking Mithi for a ride looking for 15 Park Avenue in Kolkata which is Mithi’s abode in her illusionary world with her husband and children. Anjali who is a physics professor in college is frustrated by Mithi’s compelling belief about the existence of 15 Park Avenue in Kolkata albeit she accompanies her sister in quest of this imaginary address. Anjali, Mithi and her mother are a family with Mithi and Anjali extremely fond of each other. As the story progresses, the prejudice against Schizophrenia patients is displayed on screen where Mithi’s brother is shown to be reluctant about Mithi holding his new born. Here the director makes a point by highlighting the social stigma associated with Schizophrenia. Having witnessed the sufferings of schizophrenia of a very close relative I could very well relate to this point. Well it takes courage to deal with such sensitive topics on screen and the director has done it with utmost sincerity.

Meanwhile we see Anjali taking a physics class where she points out some of the interesting aspects of Quantum Mechanics. One of her dialogues in this scene stating how micro particles can display wave like properties depending on one’s observation holds a great significance in this entire narrative. Shabana Azmi looks like seasoned physicist when she tells about Schrodinger’s equation and the ongoing research to combine Einstein’s Theory of Relativity and Quantum Mechanics as one unified theory. In a parallel scene we see witch craft being done on Mithi to cure here. Both these scenes have been intertwined to depict that we are far away from a unified approach for treating medical conditions like schizophrenia. With this the director make a clear point that schizophrenia needs to be tackled comprehensively with a correct approach. It’s a lifelong condition which can only be managed with proper medical guidance and support from family and society. When Anjali returns home after her classes Mithi tries to explain what happened with her, but owing to her medical condition Anjali feels that Mithi might be hallucinating. With Anjali busy in her academic work she is frequently visited by Mithi who tries to explain her plight but is unheard by Anjali. At the same time Anjali gets a call from her professor colleague (Kanwaljit Singh) who is looking forward to a relationship with Anjali. He wants Anjali to accompany him to Princeton University for research work which perplexes Anjali as she is torn between this opportunity and her responsibility towards Mithi. With this ongoing conversation between Anjali and her colleague Mithi feels ignored and gets depressed. She attempts suicide albeit her life is saved by timely medical intervention.

With Mithi becoming frequently suicidal, Anjali and her brother meet psychiatrist Dr Kunal Baruah who starts evaluating Mithi’s case. As Anjali and her brother describe their versions of Mithi, we go in a series of flashbacks. In Anjali’s detailed version we see Mithi as a very shy child who is mostly aloof from friends and family members. We get to know that Mithi was conceived after her mother’s (Waheeda Rehman) second marriage to Mr Gupta (Soumitra Chatterjee) fondly called as Kaku ,and the very fact that Mithi and Anjali don’t share the same biological father might have impacted her childhood. Mithi in her teens is able to cope up with her mild hallucinations and with proper medical attention and support from family members she leads a very eloquent life. Life becomes complete for her when she gets engaged to Jojo (Joydeep Roy) whom she is courting for a long time. Before their engagement, Jojo (Joydeeep Roy) is warned by Mithi’s parents about her medical condition but Jojo (Joydeep Roy) doesn’t pay heed to their advice. In Jojo’s (Joydeep Roy) world, Mithi is a perfect girl who loves him dearly. Life presents its own challenges when Mithi’s modesty is outraged by goons while on a journalism assignment for “Illustrated Weekly.” Although Mithi tries to cope up with the shocking incident, she is left alone in her battle as Jojo (Joydeep Roy) walks away from her life. Jojo (Joydeep Roy) acknowledges in a heartfelt letter to Mithi about his lack of courage to marry her owing to her condition. Present day we see Anjali repenting and considering herself guilty for Mithi’s present situation since Mithi had always wanted Anjali by her side during the journalism assignment.

Dr Baruah consoles Anjali by explaining that Mithi had a propensity towards Schizophrenia in her teens which was mostly dormant. He clarifies that the unpleasant experience during her journalism assignment might have triggered it making her condition worse. As per Dr Baruah we all have some unpleasant incidences in our life but we don’t get schizophrenia because we are not genetically prone to it. Dhritiman Chatterjee portrays Dr Baruah with sheer elegance asserting his stature as a class actor. With the story progressing we see Anjali and Dr Baruah having a series of conversations as Anjali intends to have a better understanding about Mithi’s condition so as to ensure the best possible treatment for her. One of those intriguing scenes from the movie is the below conversation between Anjali and Dr Baruah in a restaurant which remains with you for a long time.

Anjali: What right do we have to take away the happiness she (Mithi) gets from her imaginary world? From her house at 15 Park Avenue, from her husband and her children. What makes her reality less than ours?

 Dr Baruah: Do you see the table there? What do you see on it?

Anjali: A vase with a rose in it

Dr Baruah: Looks like a table lamp to me

Anjali: You need to get your eyes examined

Dr Baruah: Are you absolutely sure?

Anjali: Yes I am absolutely sure

Dr Baruah: Suppose everyone in this restaurant saw this as a table lamp would you still see a vase?

Anjali: Please

Dr Baruah: Then whose reality is more real? Yours or theirs?

With these amazing dialogues the director looks at reality through a different angle. The director emphasizes on the point that reality is a perception and is defined by the lens through which one views it.

On Dr Baruah’s advice Anjali takes Mithi and her mother for a refreshing break in Bhutan. Some marginal improvement is observed in Mithi’s condition but her frequent seizures call for Dr Baruah’s intervention. Dr Baruah who is now fairly interested in Anjali comes to Bhutan and gives Mithi and her family members a much needed sigh of relief. Anjali’s growing affinity towards Dr Baruah doesn’t go well with her professor colleague who is also in Bhutan to spend time with them. He decides to move ahead in life by taking up the opportunity at Princeton without Anjali. Anjali is devastated by this decision and confesses to her mother about the failure of her relationship due to the constant attention required by Mithi’s medical condition. The director portrays some heart wrenching moments on screen by depicting the helplessness of family members dealing with such medical condition.

A twist in the tale occurs when Joydeep (who is also holidaying in Bhutan with his wife  Laxmi (Shefali Shah) and kids) notices Mithi. Joydeep follows her and reaches her abode in Bhutan. Anjali encounters him and asks him to go away owing to his past actions but Joydeep is implacable looking at Mithi’s present condition and feels a sense of responsibility towards her. As the ex-couple face each other after a decade, Mithi fails to recognise Jojo (Joydeep Roy) and acknowledges him as Mr Roy. With Joydeep’s frequest visits to Mithi ( much against the wish of his wife Laxmi), Mithi starts trusting Mr Roy and a friendly bond builds up between the two. Mithi feels that with Mr Roy by her side, her quest for 15 Park Avenue will soon end making Anjali and her mother apprehensive as they don’t intend to open the pandora’s box. But with Joydeeps’s persuasion they both agree to Joydeep accompanying Mithi to 15 Park Avenue.

As we move towards the climax, we see Mithi and Mr Roy looking for 15 Park Avenue in Kolkata. They both are observed by Anjali and Dr Barual from a distance. Mithi constantly enquires with people passing by about her imaginary address only to get mocked by them. Mithi feels pity on these people who are living in this locality since years but are still not aware about 15 Park Avenue. Mr Roy tries to convince Mithi that there is nothing like 15 Park Avenue and comforts her away from the crowd. Mithi being firm in her resolve of getting to 15 Park Avenue greets Mr Roy with a Namaste and walks away looking for it on her own.

When Mithi finally sees her home and family at ’15 Park Avenue’ she enters it. But well, all that is illusionary, so in reality, she actually just gets lost. Another name to the list of missing persons!

Anjali keeps looking for her, and keeps asking people for the ‘illusionary address’.

This is what is most striking about the movie. Though Anjali knows it is not real, she believes in her sister’s delusions. She believes that just as we live in the ‘real world’, the illusionary world of her sister’s is true too. Now that does not make her schizophrenic. While she is a strong, practical woman, this belief of hers, impractical as it sounds, is real to her. Again, while that is her reality, for passers-by, that again, seems to be a delusion.So what is reality and what is illusion? Its a big big question. An unanswered one in that. Because there is no answer.

As the illusionary Mithi finds her reality and the practical Anjali believes in her delusions the movie beautifully depicts that reality is intertwined with what isn’t real.

The movie also draws parallels with some of the cherished concepts of Quantum Mechanics. The references of Thermodynamics and Quantum Mechanics made in Professor Anjali’s classes represent a significant metaphor in the movie. One of the interesting interpretations from the internet relating the narrative with Quantum Mechanics is outlined below.

As per Quantum Mechanics, a sub-nuclear particle expresses itself in two forms – wave as well as particle like ‘day’ and ‘night’, ‘trough’ and ‘crest’ – the ‘Wave’ existence and the ‘Particle’ existence of a sub-nuclear matter are equally true at once. Is ‘Mind’ an expression of ‘Life’? If so, ‘Mind’ must have a root in ‘Matter’. Since the activities of the sub-atomic particles fall in the domain of Quantum Mechanics, subtlest of activities of ‘Mind’ can logically be understood through this principle of duality.

Mr. Roy is the particle aspect of an ‘existence’, while Jojo is the Wave feature of the same existence. Mr. Roy, the particle, is palpable for all the people around him. Jojo, the wave, exists only for one person – Mithi. The irony is, despite being the two forms of the same existence, they cannot see/feel each other – like a day and a night cannot stay simultaneously on the same face of a solar planet. Only an observer, flying by a supersonic jet, can see day and night in a very short span of time. It is only the observer, i.e. Mithi, who can see both of them in a very short span of time – yet not simultaneously. Therefore, the observer herself does not know that both are dual existences of the same entity highlighting the subjective nature of truth. Thus 15 Park Avenue is a celebration of subjectivity – a celebration of the inevitable duality of any existence.

The theory is also applicable to understanding of the rational basis of Mithi’s individual sighting of 15 Park Avenue in the end. The wave functions are interpreted as describing the probability of finding a particle at a given point in space (that means, if “No. 15” symbolizes the said “given point”, then “Park Avenue” itself is “space”). Thus, if one (i.e. Mithi) is looking for a particle (i.e. Jojo) one may find one. Only few filmmakers before Aparna Sen might have experimented with such a theme and kudos to the director for handling it with great maturity. It emphasizes the point that philosophy and science may be different in their approaches but they share a common base.

Aparna Sen raises the bar with 15 Park Avenue as she asserts herself as one of the finest directors of the cinematic world. The quality of acting is unbelievable. Portraying the schizophrenic Mithi, Konkana Sen Sharma displays her acting prowess. She proves her credibility for handling such challenging and unconventional roles with great poise. Shabana Azmi portrays Anjali with great elegance and proves why she is renowned as a fine actress. Rahul Bose, Dhritiman Chatterjee, Waheeda Rehman, Soumitra Chaterjee, Shefali Chhaya and Kanwaljit Singh are all outstanding. As we all revolve around illusions and reality of our lives, this movie explores different dimensions of reality by depicting striking similarities between reality and illusion. A must watch for those who are looking for a real cinematic experience.

36 Chowringhee Lane is the maiden directorial venture of the prominent Bengali actress cum director “Mrs Aparna Sen”. Released in the year 1981, the film stars Jennifer Kendal, Debashree Roy and Dhritiman Chatterjee in lead roles alongwith Geoffrey Kendal, Soni Razdan, Munmun Kapoor , Sanjana Kapoor and Karan Kapoor in supporting roles. The movie explores the nuances of human relationships through the story of an Anglo Indian women portrayed by Jeniffer Kendal. The narrative which revolves around the Anglo Indian Lady is about the edifice of human relationships which are built on the foundations of trust. At the same time, it also tells about the fragility of these relationships if the component of trust is inadequate. With some interesting aspects of Anglo Indian community entangled in the narrative, the movie is quite an engrossing watch.

Violet Stoneham (Jennifer Kendal) is an aged Anglo Indian lady who leads a lonely and mundane life. Her world is all about teaching Shakespeare to budding students in a school , paying regular visits to her ailing brother Eddie Stoneham (Geoffrey Kendal) in an old home and offering prayers in a cemetery for her loved ones who have left her long back. A cat (fondly called as Sir Tobby) is the only company Violet has in her not so interesting life. She often writes to her niece who has now settled down in Australia. As the story progresses, we see Violet reminiscing the conversations with her niece while going through her letters. As we go in flash back, Violet and Rosemary are seen discussing about Rosemary’s marriage to a cultured Indian boy belonging to a well to do family. For some reason the marriage falls apart and Rosemary decides to marry an old acquaintance Fredrick to settle down in Australia.Violet request her to rethink on this hasty decision in order to avoid any regrets a later stage. Violet knows that Rosemary doesn’t love Fredrick and and hence she is hesitant about her marriage with him. Violet also tells her that she will try her best to get her a job in the same school. Rosemary laments at her aunt for this advice as she feels that her aunt has made extremely wrong choices in her own life. She makes it clear to her aunt that she doesn’t want to lead a solitary life like her neither does she want to end up in an old home like her uncle Eddie at a later stage of life. Except for this scene which is heavy on dialogues and depicts a bitter conversation between aunt and niece ,we see that for majority of the beginning scenes the director has used only visuals to portray Violet’s solitary life . The visuals in the beginning scenes speak louder than words due to some brilliant cinematography by Mr Ashok Mehta. The soothing background music is a perfect match to these brilliant scenes which stay with you for a long time.

Coming back to present day we see Violet being persuaded by Rosemary through repeated letters to join them in Australia. Violet is hesitant about leaving her birth place and migrating to an unknown country. Life takes an interesting turn for Violet when she comes across Nandita her ex student (Deboshree Roy) and her fiancee Samaresh Maitra (Dhritiman Chatterjee) on Christmas. She persuades them to accompany to her nearby apartment for a cup of coffee. Violet is elated as they chat over a cup of coffee and Christmas cake however Samaresh and Nandita have something else in mind. For spending some quality time, Nandita and Samaresh think Violet’s apartment as a perfect place as against roaming around in taxis. Nandita tells Violet that Samaresh is an upcoming writer and her apartment would a perfect place to contemplate. Violet agrees to the proposal expecting a good company in her otherwise boring life. To impress her further and to win her confidence, Samaresh thanks her for the magnanimous offer and tells her that history will remember her for extending her kind patronage. He even gives her a signed copy of his book stating ” To my first patron” making Violet fond of this young couple. A superb dialogue delivery by Dhritiman Chatterjee during this scene brings the screen alive. As the story progresses, we witness a change of guard at Violet’s school with a new principal taking over . Violet is relieved from her present responsibility of teaching Shakespeare as another qualified young Indian teacher takes over the job. Taking into account her old age, Violet is allotted a junior class for teaching English Grammar which is like a demotion for her. Most of her Anglo Indian colleagues at school are unhappy with the young Turks replacing the old guard. Most of them contemplate a migration to other countries where their sons or siblings are well settled. Violet is still hesitant about migration even after repeated requests from Rosemary as she asserts that her birth place is still the best place.

Back home, in Violet’s absence Nandita and Samaresh spend some quality in disguise of Samaresh’s writing. On her return from school, she is well looked after by the young couple. Slowly and steadily a bond builds up between Violet and this young couple who have across her as a breath of fresh air. She feels exuberant with her regular outings with Samaresh and Nandita to Victoria Memorial ,movies theaters and to roadside phucka and icecream corners. Violet experiences a paradigm shift in her life and is so happy in the company of this young couple that she even forgets to pay timely visits to her ailing brother and responses to Rosemary’s letters. Now she doesn’t return to an empty home with a pile of homework and Sir Toby waiting for her. As we traverse through this, we come across one of the most striking scenes in the film when we see young Violet (Sanjna Kapoor) looking for her lover Davy (Karan Kapoor) in a forest, when she comes across a door on the other side of which unfolds a dream and a nightmare, simultaneously. A funeral and a wedding ceremony overlap with each other. The wedding vows and the words of the prayer for the departed soul all mix up in a knot. Poignant and powerful, the scene appears to be a dream within a nightmare, or vice versa. Life and death merge and collapse. The synchronicity of living and dying assumes a stark resonance. Violet is probably stuck somewhere in between, in the middle of life and death, dust and breath.

As the story progresses, we see that Samaresh and Nandita’s marriage is fixed after Samaresh gets a good job. They come over to Violet’s place for celebration and after having a few drinks, Samaresh requests Violet for cakes since he has a heard a lot about them from Nandita. Violet promises to bake a cake for them in christams. With this ongoing conversation, Samaresh is enchanted by the antique gramophone at Violet’s place. He demands it as gift from Violet and having grown extremely fond of this couple, Violet gives away the antique gramophone as a wedding gift to them. Post marriage Samaresh and Nandita get busy with their lives and have no time for Violet. One fine day, Violet reaches their abode with some old gramophone records but their meet is unexpectedly cut short because of pre planned commitments of the newly wed couple. Finally its Christmas time and Violet remembers her promise and calls up Nandita iniviting her for Christams Cake. As Nandita and Samaresh plan to host a party at their place on that particular day, Nandita insists on inviting Violet to their house party. Samaresh tells her that she will be a fish out of water and persuades Nandita to get rid of her. Nandita albeit hesitant makes a lame excuse about them going out of town on that particular day. Violet still bakes the christmas cake for them thinking that she would deliver it to Nandita’s place so that they can have it once back in town. When she reaches Nandita’s place she is surprised by the ongoing celebrations at her place. Soon she realises that she has been tricked and is no longer wanted by the newly wed couple. A scene that touches the heart is when one of Samaresh’s friends asks him about the gramophone, he avoids acknowleding the fact that it has been gifted by Violet rather he boasts his taste for getting such an antique gramophone. The hypocrisy is well evident through Samaresh’s act. You will feel the mean mindedness of the couple who have exploited the old lady for their own benefit. The lady who had given her everything to them was having her greatest reality check with a heart wrenching lie of her student surfacing up. She realizes that her association with Nandita and Samaresh was a mere illusion and contemplates on migrating to Australia with Rosemary as the edifice of the Nandita, Samaresh and Violet’s relationship crumbles. In the concluding scene of the movie we see Violet walking down the street of Calcutta on a dark night, reciting the lines from Shakespeare’s King Lear (Act IV, Scene VII). with a stray dog as her only audience. Like the King, did she trust the wrong people, after all?

Pray, do not mock me.

I am a very foolish fond old man,

Fourscore and upward, not an hour more nor less.

And to deal plainly

I fear I am not in my perfect mind.

Methinks I should know you, and know this man

Frankly speaking the movie belongs to Jennifer Kendal for a mind blowing performance. I cannot imagine anyone else in that role. She portrays emotions with perfection and manages to pull the rabbit out of the hat. The nuances of the Anglo Indian community has been depicted beautifully by the director. After going through some articles I realized that 36 Chowringhee Lane in Calcutta was the abode of Anglo Indians and with the story relating to them, the movie is named as “36 Chowringhee Lane”. Dhritiman Chatterjee is anyways a fine actor and his on screen presence is a visual treat. Deboshree Roy does justice to her character and makes her presence felt admist stalwarts like Dhritiman Chaterjee and Jennifer Kendal. Being Aparna Sen’s debut movie as director, she was guided in to her directorial journey by none other than Mr Satyajit Ray. She even won the National Award for the Best Director for this movie. Although the movie was quite ahead of its time, the narrative is very much relevant in today’s world as it reminds us about the fragility as well as importance of human relationships through Violet’s heart wrenching story.