Through the looking glass
ZIYA US SALAM
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In "15 Park Avenue", director Aparna Sen says she explores reality from the other side.
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I am very unhappy doing certain films but I won't disown them. I made myself heard through them. They made me what I am today. Aparna Sen
`SURREAL IS IN' Director Aparna Sen cans a shot. PHOTO: PARTH SANYAL
She is not an everyday filmmaker. She does not make films every day. But when she does, heads turn, people talk, and many soak in the experience. There is an indefinable charm in her melancholy, and an unmistakable joy in her storytelling. There is an unmatched attention to detail, and that abiding love with the craft. Her films often talk of pain and loneliness. Yet they are never despondent. Be it "36 Chowringhee Lane", "Paroma" or "Mr Aur Mrs Iyer", there is that feeling of affinity. The pain is that of the characters, it could as well have been of any of the viewers. Never for a moment is there an overriding aura of sadness. Welcome to the world of Aparna Sen, now reaching out to the world, as "15 Park Avenue", a story that is so personal, a film that is so honest, that the art and the artiste tend to merge, the subject and the director, the actor and the baton wielder share a vision. Incidentally, "15 Park Avenue" is the story of a schizophrenic girl who believes she has a husband and five children. Hallucinations are her constant companion, fear never too far from her mind.
"This film stems from a personal experience. I have had an aunt and a sister-in-law afflicted with the disease. And there was another relative too whose identity I would not like to reveal. But all this gave me an occasion to observe them closely, to enter a world otherwise denied to others. However, `15 Park Avenue' is not a biographic picture. I have taken the basic idea from there, and moved on. For instance, the film has a rape sequence which is only a part of the film, because I needed something truly traumatic to build up the drama," says Aparna Sen, who is also set to give us two more films shortly - There is "Gulel", which has been in the news for some time now, and there is "Jewellery Box" which talks of jewels as assets for three different generations of women.
However, for the moment Aparna would want to talk of a gem called "15 Park Avenue".
"For a long time I have noted in the world of literature, films and theatre, you don't have to show the reality. Magical reality is finding new acceptability the world over. Surreal is in. I have also shown perceived reality only. In my film there is this schizophrenic girl who is trapped in other people's reality. Nobody had gone into her reality. It is because I have gone to the other side that the film is not dismal. The idea all along was to make a film that will appeal to the discerning audiences, move them but not be a gloomy venture."
Newer shades
PERSPECTIVES Stills from "15 Park Avenue".
It may not be a gloomy film, but "15 Park Avenue" reduced noted lyricist and poet Javed Akhtar to tears and forced Shabana Azmi to look within for newer shades. "She is excellent in the film. When you thought she had given it all, she would surprise you with something more than you had bargained for." By the way, Shabana had earlier worked with Aparna Sen in "Sati" and claims that the director always has the film etched out in her mind before stepping on the sets!
"15 Park Avenue" also reunites Shabana with former classmate Kanwaljeet Singh, who had been cast alongside her in a typical Bollywood flick "Ashaanti" nearly three decades ago. Singh plays a professor here, and says Sen, "It is not a big role but an important one. I thought of only Kanwaljeet for it. Fortunately, he agreed, and I think like everybody else, he has done a fine job."
The film has just been dubbed into Hindi as well, and most of the members of the leading cast, including Konkona Sen Sharma as the lead character Meethi, Shabana Azmi as her elder sister, Waheeda Rahman as the long suffering mother and Rahul Bose as Meethi's suitor, have done the dubbing themselves. "Yes, the initial idea was to make a film only in English, then I realised that the film had potential to be dubbed into Hindi without losing on its depth or meaning. That is when we decided, and everybody dubbed for their roles," says Aparna Sen, admitting that the idea of making the film in Bengali with Hindi or English sub-titles the way they do in Iran or Japan did not occur to her.
This twice-National Award winner who started her career as an actress, still finds it difficult to approach actors for roles. "When I spoke to Waheeda ji I was not too sure how she would respond."
No more acting
While the world has gained with Aparna being a director, we have lost out on Aparna the actress. Says Aparna, , "I am very unhappy doing certain films but I won't disown them. I made myself heard through them. They made me what I am today. It is the area where I learnt my craft. I did not go to any acting school though my father did want me to go abroad to learn. But then I would have had to unlearn many things. My body language would have changed, I would have become more Westernised. I realised it when I was 13. So I joined Utpal Dutt's school and not much later was picked up by Satyajit Ray for his film."
All that is in the distant past, part of some fading memories, part of the seed for the huge tree we call Aparna Sen. For the moment only one address endures: "15 Park Avenue".
"It is a human interest story told from the heart," Aparna Sen sums up. Indeed.
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