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Arumosam Wehi -overcoming deception

It has become a major challenge for a cinema director to make a children's film at a time when producers of third rate erotic films dominate a virtually bankrupt cinema industry.

Priyantha Colombage undertook the task of directing 'Arumosam Wehi' (Fancy Rain) against heavy odds. It was proved by the circumstances surrounding the film' withdrawal and re-release.

The story is woven around a circus and its impact on the lives of people in a remote dry zone village. In today's socio-economic context, the circus symbolises the antics of unscrupulous elements in the commercial world where ordinary folk are lured into making fools of themselves.

The Sinhala title itself implies this deception which is evident in our everyday life. The story's main characters - the circus clown (Mahendra Perera) does not allow his innocence and honesty to be swept away by all the viciousness and corruption he confronts. It is this very quality of his that endears him to the trapeze girl (Nuwangi Liyanage) and the village children.

The despicable circus manager (played superbly by W. Jayasiri) is a embodiment of craftiness that is also found elsewhere in society. He conspires with his henchmen to take over the circus himself by deceiving the owner (Gnananga Gunawardena). The main obstacle to the manager's ambition is the clown's loyalty to the owner. Consequently, the manager makes the clown fall during a circus act, causing him serious injuries. The injured clown is treated in the village temple by a Buddhist monk who is also a practitioner of indigenous medicine. The wise monk cherishes all that is noble and deep-rooted in traditional Sinhala society. He snubs the circus manager in the presence of villagers for the man's insolent behaviour in the temple premises.

He fails to find a suitable person to replace the injured clown since the village children foil all his attempts to do so. As a result, the circus begins to lose its attraction to the villagers who had initially welcomed it. Some of them had even neglected cultivating their paddy lands with the hope making quick money by selling commodities to crowds visiting the circus. But they soon realise that they have taken the wrong step. It is the manager who makes the bigger profit by renting out stalls to the villagers near the circus tent.

The bribe-taking minor official and the comical village villain (Santin Gunawardena) who becomes a puppet in the manager's hands are a miniature version of our corrupt society, where the majority has lost its bearings.

Credit also goes to boys of Maliyadeva College, Kurunegala who played their roles excellently as village children.

Camera Director Suminda Weerasinghe effectively captures the beauty of the dry zone.

- Janaka Perera

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