Aparna Sen’s movie 15 Park Avenue is a touching film with a sensitive subject. It is a film that will appeal to selected audience, not the masses.

Written and directed by Aparna Sen , the movie stars Konkana Sen , Shabana Azmi , Rahul Bose , Waheeda Rahman and Kanwaljeet.

‘15 Park Avenue’ tells the tale of Mithali (Konkana Sen) and her elder sister Anjali (Shabana Azmi). Mithi suffers from schizophrenia. She lives in a delusional world. A part of Mithi’s imaginary world is her husband Jojo and her children who live at 15 Park Avenue. She is searching for the address, but can’t find it anywhere.

Mithi was not like this always. Once she was a vibrant girl and worked as a journalist. She was engaged to Joydeep Roy (Rahul Bose), whom she lovingly called ‘Jojo’.

During one of her assignments, when Mithi went out of Kolkata, she was gang-raped by a number of goons. Since then, her dormant schizophrenia became a full-blown malady.

Mithi’s mental condition became so far removed from reality that even Joydeep had to turn his back to her. Mithi sinks deeper into her delusional world that has her husband, her children and an address. Anjali, her elder sister, too is coming to terms with her own life. She has to fend for the family, take care of her ageing mother (Waheeda Rehman) and sick sister, Mithi.

Mithi, Anjali, their mother go on a vacation to Bhutan. It is here they meet Joydeep (Rahul Bose) once again. Joydeep is now married and has children. Joydeep is deeply shaken when he sees Mithi’s condition. He decides to help her find 15 Park Avenue.

‘15 Park Avenue’ is a film of brilliant performances. Herself an actor, Aparna Sen knows well how to extract performances from her cast.

Konkana Sen is incredibly convincing in her delusional, schizophrenic and epileptic act. Shabana Azmi fills her performance with subtle nuances that make her character very real and believable. Rahul Bose plays his part competently. Waheeda Rehman is natural. It doesn’t seem that she is acting.

Without doubt, the movie has an engaging story. But what makes the proceedings look superficial is the excess use of English at places. Also the conclusion to the story leaves many things open for viewer interpretation. Perhaps that is Aparna Sen’s way of including the audience in completing the story.