Top 5 Films by Aparna Sen to Watch This #WomensDay

Aparna Sen is a respected name in Indian cinema. She started acting at 15 with Satyajit Ray's "Teen Kanya". In 1981, she directed her first feature film and thus began the journey of filmmaker Aparna Sen. Most of her movies have highlighted women and their lives from different perspectives. Her films have a powerful storyline, and her characters are real people, mostly placed in some unique situations.

Today, I have listed a few films from the veteran Filmmaker that can be watched this Women's Day:

1. 36 Chowringhee Lane (1981): This film tells the story of a senior Anglo-Indian school teacher living in an apartment alone, only with her cat for company. One day, by chance, she meets her ex-student and her boyfriend. The movie's story gradually progresses after that. The beautiful film highlights how loneliness can make someone attached to others, overlooking the red flags. And when she needs them the most, they would be nowhere. A simple story just brought up the reality of life. A powerful performance by Jennifer Kendell gave life to the character of Miss Stoneham. The film won a National Award as Best Feature Film.

2. Sati (1989): An orphan and mute girl, Uma (Shabana Azmi), is being married to a banyan tree because of her horoscopic predictions that she would lose her husband if she married, as a result of which she would be burnt alive on the same pyre. This strange ordeal of the woman back in the early 19th century focuses on their inability to voice their opinion in those times. Uma's muteness serves as the general state of women in society in those times. Shabana Azmi's intense portrayal of distress and mental trauma, which later transcends to accepting the banyan tree as her only protector, is heartfelt. 

3. Mr. & Mrs. Iyer (2002): Set amidst a religious riot, this story is about a bus journey of a woman and her infant son and her beautiful bonding with a co-passenger (Rahul Bose) who belongs to a different faith. A violent backdrop brings out the reality of emotional layers hidden under orthodox beliefs. A woman like Mrs. Iyer (Konkona Sen Sharma), who considers touching or drinking water from someone from another faith as a disrespect to her religion, saves someone from another faith without thinking twice. 

4. 15 Park Avenue (2005): A middle-aged professor (Shabana Azmi) is a caregiver for her schizophrenic sister (Konkona Sen Sharma), who has made a world of her own. Her deteriorating mental health pushes her to believe that her sister and mother are stopping her from going to her husband at 15 Park Avenue. The elder sister sacrifices her life to care for her elderly mother and younger sister. The film explores a different side of human nature, where Meethi- a grown-up woman, acts like a child, believing her truth to be true and ignoring the real world. The open-ended climax raises plenty of questions in the viewer's mind. 

5. The Japanese Wife (2010): A school teacher in a village in Bengal makes a pen-friend in Japan. Their friendship turns into a deep emotional bond of togetherness and marriage through letters. The film shows 17 years in their relationship, during which they remain loyal to their marriage without ever seeing each other. A wonderful tale of love, faith, loyalty and strong emotional connection, just through words, makes the film visually appealing and emotionally pleasing despite the tragic end. 

So, these are the few films by filmmaker Aparna Sen that tell the extraordinary stories of ordinary women.