the search that never ends....

Everyperson seems to live in her/his own world! we our have our own dream lands.Aren't we? What seems to be a non-existent for others would sometimes be real and original for us!Perceptions differ from person to person. So what? That does not exclude the people from common world! why then some people are deliberately pushed away from their world, from the world that is common to all the living things, into a confined space. Why are they deprived of their basic rights? So what if they live in their own world, seeing things that others could never possibly see? So they are schizophrenic?If it is true that they are schizophrenic, then aren't we all the same at times when we start dreaming of the future that we want to be shaped into as something that we desire for or at times when we think of the past where we had missed those golden opportunities or those misfortunate moments happened to us? So does schizophrenia give the eligibility for a person to be excluded from the society that s/he has been a part of so far ?
So many questions, and not so many answers! Shit, isn't it an animal behaviour to exert powers over the weaker section! So, Man, I mean just the MAN, has not evolved from the past. He is the same, the same old animal in search of food and...
Ok! coming out of the detour of nasty behaviours of men and going into the schizophrenia, the recent English movie "15 Park Avenue", directed by Aparna Sen, does give a detailed account on schizophrenia. It shows the reality... the movie does not come as the one raising voice against the exclusion of schizophrenic but has its philosophical moments of drawing a parallel between those affected and those who claim to be normal! yes somewhere down the line, the movie claims that there is none who is normal. That is clear in the ending sene of the movie(of course it is an open ended film). But the movie never fails to give a detailed account on the big S and at times there is possibility for the viewer to get a "documentary-watching-feel".
But the movie does not stop with that. It comes in multiple layers of complex issuesof the society. As the movie flows, the layers unfold and the issues present themselves and start questioning us! If you could call that as the wonderful aspect of the movie then you could also say that the movie has failed to make an impact at certain moments for the same reason! When just one single complex issue is beyond reach for the Indian audience, it is not a wonder that the this powerful movie has failed to reach even the so called Intellectual group!
You could find everything in this movie: feminism, violence against women, spineless bastards who call themselves "men" and treat women as sexual objects,love life of a not-so-young-but-single woman and everything.
Shabana Azmi, with her realistic and excellent performance( though it is not a surprise!) steals the show!She, as the elder (step)sister who is in charge of her schizophrenic sister (Konkana Sen Sharma) has been portrayed realistically without any exaggeration! She,a divorcee, comes as a strong intellectual woman. She does not come as that motherly elder sister like in those melodramatic and unrealistic movies who does all the kinds of sacrifices that one could possibly do on the planet for the life of her 'hopeless' sister!Instead, she comes as the one who treats her sister as normal as anyone(except in those moments when she turns suicidal)!And she has her own spaces too in the movie, affair with her colleague and the doctor who treats her sister!
Konkana Sen plays her part beautifully! It is a commendable performance done by her!She comes as a rape victim (the movie does not address this issue much). And this incident triggers off her Schizophrenia which had been so far lying dormant in her!
Rahul Bose, the lover of Konkana, plays the role of not-so-important-person, that usually all the men get to play in an Aparna Sen's movie. He dumps Konkona Sen for being raped eight times(though he is called a bastard by Shabana Azmi in the movie, that did not put off my burning agitation that was ready to pop out at the slightest provocation while watcing the movie. And my friend sitting next to me recieved the pinches and punches on behalf of Mr. Bose). In the movie, he is shown to portray the real nature and mindset of men in our country. After all, aren't women their men's property?
Shafali Shah, wife of Rahul Bose, comes as a surprise!After coming to know the past love life of her husband, she finds it hard to digest the fact that it has been kept away from her by him all these years. As an unsatisfied wife, she shows the real status of Indian married woman on screen. This is clear in the scene when she responds to her husband by saying "aren't we all?" when he says to her that his former girl friend actually lives by an illusion. And the moment she comes to know that Konkona Sen had been raped eight times, starts crying who has all the while been just a person grappling with her husband's past! Her life in the movie would definitely have resemblance with all the married women of our country!
This movie in which all the protagonists are women is definitely one of the powerful movies of the year! But the movie does not present the issues blatantly and the subtleties with which the movie adresses these issues have failed to reach out to the audience! And the truth is many people have failed to understand what the movie is all about! Importantly, the climax has not been understood by anyone who has watched the movie. The last scene in which everyone in the frame searches for "15 Park Avenue" tries to tell the truth that everyone in her/his life is behind something that doesn't exist or that is beyond reach and no one is contented with the life he/she is living. It is defintely not just the schizophrenic people who are abnormal!