THE REALITY OF ILLUSIONS:
A study of Aparna Sen's 15, Park Avenue

Physical disability, mental disorder, sexual orientation, and religious background, in general, are the parameters of excluding people from the mainstream of society, the rules and regulations of which are determined by those who define themselves as “normal”. Consequently, a physically disabled person or somebody who’s suffering from some mental illness is often marginalized and looked upon with pity. The basic human rights are sometimes denied to them; they are often treated as inanimate objects sans feelings. Aparna Sen makes an attempt to reveal to us the reality of these people who are mercilessly sidelined. Schizophrenia has always interested the director. We come across schizophrenic characters in almost all her films. Schizophrenic people are driven to the margins simply because the reality, in which they seem to have unwavering faith, appears hallucinatory to others. Sen delves deep into this unreal reality and goes to the extent of identifying reality as multiple…no reality is more real than the other.

15, Park Avenue featuring Mithi (Konkona Sensharma) as its protagonist is another attempt on the director’s part to show the reality of the unreal a schizophrenic person believes in. In Paromitar Ekdin Sen had introduced us to a schizophrenic girl Khuku, who knows that she is brainsick. She sings marvelously but can’t even tie her hair properly. Her reality was set against Sanaka, her mother and Paromita, her sister-in-law, both of whom go on defining for themselves their identities. In the process, Sanaka, a half-literate woman doesn’t seem much different from the post-graduate copywriter Paromita. Both feel victimized as women in a patriarchal society and in contrast to them, Khuku lost in her own world seems luckier. As she sings “Hriday aammar prakash holo, ananta aakashe” (My heart finds expression in the boundless firmament) with Sanaka and Paromita gazing at her with wet eyes, we feel how fortunate she is on being able to move effortlessly between the world of mundane reality and her own reality which is as boundless as the sky.