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Handagama wins rave reviews for 'Thani Thatuwen' : Wings of success

A scene from ‘Thani Thatuwen’

International critics and viewers have applauded Asoka Handagama's award winning creation Thani Thatuwen Igillenna (Flying With One Wing) as a film, which would create a new trend in the Asian film scene.

The film won the Asian Film Award at the Tokyo International Film Festival 2002 held from October 26 to November 4.

"Critics and many viewers had acknowledged the fact that this film has a different and original montage of images, which would make a new trend," Asoka told the Stage and Screen.

"They held the view that an independent theme plus different and unique acting run through the whole film, making it a really worthy effort," he added.

Asoka says critics were also of the view that the film has been shot in a new perspective, opening doors for a new way of creative expression. "The Jury itself announced that Sri Lankan cinema would set a new trend in the Asian Film arena." Asoka was happy with his achievement as it would bring honour to the country before all. "The award will enable the local film industry to gain a new recognition in the world of cinema. I am happy as my creation would lead to new trends in the cinema."

Handagama was awarded a certificate of merit and a cash prize of one million yen. He also received a certificate of merit and a trophy from the Shibuya Ward of Tokyo.

The Asian Film Award has been presented annually at the Tokyo International Film Festival from 1997 to support the Asian film industry.

In September, this film won the Sebastian 2002 award for the movie that best reflects homosexuality at the San Sebastian Film festival, Spain.

Based on a true story, Asoka's film is woven around an incident but centred on a girl who prefers to act as a man. "Harbouring jealousy against rights and privileges enjoyed by males in contemporary society, she attempts to break the structure, but fails miserably."

The film, which was shot in Galle, stars Anoma Jinadari, Mahendra Perera, Jagath Chamila and W. Jayasiri.

Music direction is by Rohana Weerasinghe while art director is Rohan Samaradivakara. Asoka believes that this character is not unusual as similar cases are found in society.

Armed with a B.Sc Special Degree graduate (in Mathematics) from the Kelaniya University and M.Sc in Economics from the University of Warwick, Handagama came into film making via theatre and television in the mid 1980s.

A firm promoter of an alternative film culture, Handagama's last film Me Mage Sandai (This is My Moon) won several international awards and was also screened at a number of international festivals.

Flying with One Wing has also been selected for a number of international festivals in the coming weeks such as London International Festival (Nov.4 - 15) and Nantes International Film Festival in France (Nov. 15 - 29).

The film was produced by Upul Shantha Sannasgala for Sanhinda Films. Executive producer is Iranthi Abeysinghe.

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Hat Seller in Heaven with Gamarala and Snow White

Three musical drama creations by well-known dramatist Somalatha Subasinghe will go on the boards at the Lionel Wendt on November 16 and 17.

The three plays are: The Hat Seller (Toppi Velenda), Gamarala to Heaven (Gamarala Divya Loketa) and Himakumariya (an adaptation of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs).

These plays, which are adaptations of folk tales and fairy tales, are full of music, song, dance, acrobatics, fun and frolic.

Somalatha who has much experience in the drama field stresses the importance of the theatre for children for developing their ethics, morals and knowledge apart from the entertainment aspect. She believes that a constant stream of children's theatre would keep the children less violent. For example, Somalatha has slightly altered the plot of the original fairy tale Snow White to instill more strongly a sense of values in the young.

The relationship between Snow White and her midget servants is depicted in the play to show the importance of humility.

There is no Prince Charming in the play, but it is the family that rescues Snow White and her servants.

This is meant to strengthen the message of the importance of family unity. From Hat Seller, children learn the power of intelligence to resolve problems without using violence. Gamarala Divya Loketa infuses the importance of staying focused on the task at hand.

The Hat Seller had been performed in France, Netherlands, India, Australia and was one of the five official entries from Asia at the recently concluded Performing Arts Festival for Young Audiences in Seoul, South Korea.

The cast comprises Nadee Kammellaweera, Kaushalya Fernando, Chaya Sri Nammuni, Damayanthi Perera, Sharmain Gunaratne, Chamila Peiris, Giriraj Kaushalya, Namal Jayasinghe, Sanjaya Hettiarachchi, Channa Kularatne, Pujith de Mel, Vishvajith Gunasekara, Prasanna Mahagamage, Renuka Amarasekara, Niranjala Manjaree and a number of other trained actors of Lanka Children's and Youth Theatre Organisation. Music is by M.R. Chulasinghe.

Assistance in direction is by Chandana Aluthge who is also the lighting designer and Kaushalya Fernando. Choreography is by Somalatha Subasinghe and Chandana Aluthge.

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Poshanaya: A delicious ballet

For a few months, not so long ago, I functioned as Acting Director of the Institute of Aesthetic Studies, which is affiliated to the University of Kelaniya. By virtue of that office, I got to know rather well some young men and women who are exceptionally gifted artistically. One of them is Ms Samantha Suranji who specialised in dance and graduated in 2000. As a spin-off from my association with the Aesthetics Institute, I came to occupy a ringside seat at the debut of her maiden ballet, rather unappetisingly named 'Poshanaya' (i.e. nutrition). I found it delicious. Unsurprisingly it bagged the award for the best ballet of 2001, at the State Festival of Arts.

To tell nothing but the truth, it was a spin-off from my association with the Socialist movement in our country, that I enjoyed the privilege and pleasure of seeing a live performance of Swan Lake in Moscow several decades ago. It was an enthralling experience. Ever since that time, I have been very interested in the form of theatrical dance that tells a story. To those like me of the older generation, Chitrasena and Vajira epitomised theatrical dance in this country. Sad to say not many flowers seem to have bloomed in the field they so lovingly cultivated. Samantha Suranji's Poshanaya is one such rare, small, fragrant flower.

In our country, we have a long tradition of dance on various themes incorporating movement and chant. Our Aesthetics Institute teaches its students only traditional dance. It does not teach them ballet at all.

Therefore it speaks volumes for Ms Samantha Suranji's intrinsic talent that her creation is an integrated unity of plot, movement, decor and music. This raw graduate has been able to transcend traditional dance, and choreograph a theatrical story based on a timely plot and express it through an astonishing range of movement, synchronised with a superbly orchestrated musical score. The decor fits the story like a glove.

The music for the ballet has been scored by Ranjit Premaweera, a university contemporary of Samantha Suranji. The music matches the movements so perfectly that one feels that they were meant for each other. The creator of the dance movements and the creator of the musical score of the ballet have been absolutely on the same emotional wavelength. Unsurprisingly, Ranjit Premaweera had won the award for the best musical score at the 2001 State Arts Festival.

On the face of it, the story line of the ballet is as simple as the story implicit in the conversation between the Third and First Fishermen in Shakespeare's play, Pericles, Prince of Tyre.

Third Fisherman: Master, I marvel how the fishes live in the sea.

First Fisherman: Why, as men do a-land: the great ones eat up the little ones.

Samantha Suranji's story, however, has a twist in the tail. She has contrived to demonstrate for all to see that when members of a given group are fighting like mad among themselves, their predators have a field day.

Poshanaya is a story about men, worms, frogs, snakes and tigers. It has been documented that every known kind of animal has been eaten by some men in some part of the world at some time. Samantha Suranji's ballet is set in predominantly Sinhala Buddhist Sri Lanka. The people in the story live on snakes, not by eating them, but by capturing them and training them to dance for public entertainment. The frogs feed directly on worms; the snakes on frogs; tigers on men. All these creatures are portrayed by Samantha Suranji's university colleagues.

In the ballet, when two snakes come for their grub, they forget their common interest in nutrition and get entangled in a fierce fight. The outcome is that the man who comes to capture a snake is now able to net two. This is the moral high point of the ballet: when there is infighting between members of a group, their enemies can easily make mincemeat of them.

The visual aspects of the production are handled with a sophistication and dexterity rarely seen on a local stage. The worms wriggle like worms; the frogs leap like frogs; the snakes slither like snakes and fight like - you know who - and consequently their common enemy holds sway over them and has his way. As though to innuendo that what is true of snakes in this ballet could be true of other species, a tiger appears on the scene at the end of the story and ruthlessly pursues the snake charmer.

When I see the uninhibited exhibitionism of young women that passes for the genre of ballet on our stage and television screen, I have often felt that ballet in our country will end with Chitrasena and Vajira. Having seen Ms Samantha Suranji's Poshanaya, I know that I must be wrong.

- Carlo Fonseka

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