''15 Park Avenue'' is a 2005 English-language Indian film directed by

Aparna Sen Aparna Sen (, ''Ôporna Shen'') is an Indian film director, screenwriter and actress who is known for her work in Bengali cinema. She has received several accolades as an actress and filmmaker, including nine National Film Awards, five F ...

. It stars

Shabana Azmi Shabana Azmi (born 18 September 1950) is an Indian actress of Hindi film, television and theatre. One of India's most acclaimed actresses, Azmi is known for her portrayals of distinctive, often unconventional female characters across several ge ...

Konkona Sen Sharma Konkona Sen Sharma (born 3 December 1979) is an Indian actress and filmmaker who works primarily in Hindi and Bengali films. She has received two National Film Awards and four Filmfare Awards. The daughter of filmmakeractress Aparna Sen, Sen S ...

, Soumitra Chatterjee,

Waheeda Rehman Waheeda Rehman (born 3 February 1938) is an Indian actress and dancer. Regarded as one of Hindi cinema's finest actresses, Rehman's accolades include a National Film Award and three Filmfare Awards. Rehman was honoured with the Padma Shri by G ...

Dhritiman Chatterjee Dhritiman Chatterjee is an Indian actor. He began his acting career in 1970 as the protagonist of Satyajit Ray's ''Pratidwandi'' (''The Adversary''). Most of his acting work has been in India's "parallel", or independent, cinema with filmmaker ...

Rahul Bose Rahul Bose (born 27 July 1967) is an Indian actor, director, screenwriter, and social activist. Bose has appeared in Bengali films such as '' Mr. and Mrs. Iyer'', '' Kalpurush'', ''Anuranan'', ''Antaheen'', ''Laptop'' and ''The Japanese Wife''. ...

and Kanwaljeet Singh.It won the

National Film Award for Best Feature Film in English The National Film Award for Best Feature Film in English is one of the National Film Awards of India presented annually by the Directorate of Film Festivals, the organisation set up by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. It is one of seve ...

Plot

30-something Mitali aka Meethi (

) has

schizophrenia Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by continuous or relapsing episodes of psychosis. Major symptoms include hallucinations (typically hearing voices), delusions, and disorganized thinking. Other symptoms include social wit ...

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 ( Kanwaljeet Singh) 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 Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

. 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

as Anjali *

as Meethi * Soumitra Chatterjee as Meethi's father *

as Meethi's and Anjali's mother *

as Joydeep Roy * Dhritiman Chaterji as Dr. Kunal Barua *

Kanwaljit Singh Kanwaljit Singh may refer to: * Kanwaljit Singh (politician), Indian politician * Kanwaljit Singh (actor), Indian actor * Kanwaljit Singh (cricketer), Indian former first-class cricketer * Prince Kanwaljit Singh, Indian Punjabi film actor See al ...

as Anjali's colleague and boyfriend *

Shefali Shah Shefali Shah (born Shefali Shetty on 22 May 1973) is an Indian actress of film, television and theatre. Respected for her acting prowess, she works primarily in independent Hindi films and has received local and foreign accolades for her perf ...

as Lakshmi, Joydeep's wife *Suranjana Dasgupta as Madwoman on the street *Dipavali Mehta as Child Meethi *Sunil Mukherjee as Witchdoctor

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:15 Park Avenue 2005 films 2005 drama films Indian drama films English-language Indian films Fictional portrayals of schizophrenia Films set in Kolkata Best English Feature Film National Film Award winners Films directed by Aparna Sen 2000s English-language films