Reminiscences of a master film-maker
Ruwini Jayawardana
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LEGENDARY FILM DIRECTOR: Lester James Peries - Pic: Palitha Gunasena
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AWARDS CEREMONY: With 50 years of experience in the film industry and
28 successful films to his credit, Lester James Peries has made his mark
in history. The internationally recognized film director was able to
recall the establishment of the Sarasaviya Film awards in the following
manner:
“The idea of the local film awards ceremony was born in the mind of
Ranjith Wijewardena, the chairman and Ranapala Bodinagoda, the
advertising manager of the Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd., in
1963.
He was inspired by the Filmfare Awards and it seemed like a very
logical thing to have a cinema magazine sponsor a film festival. Up to
that period there was no film festivals except the Deepaseeka Awards
established by D.B. Dhanapala,” he explained.
“The first Sarasaviya Awards Festival was held at Asoka Cinema,
Grandpass in 1964. That was the era of Sinhala Bioscope. Therefore high
class and sophisticated people did not take this field seriously. The
films did not call for any serious critical evaluation. Thus, there was
a great need for a film festival.”
Since the inception of the Sarasaviya Film Awards, Lester James had
clinched two awards for best director: Gamperaliya (1964) and Delowak
Athara (1966) along with the award for best film which was won by Golu
Hadawatha in 1968. He was also given the Rana Thisara award in 1986.
“The mass audience consisted of the common folk.
They had less awards to be handed out but I miss the enormous
popularity that the festivals of the past. The audience treated the
artistes like demi-gods,” he expressed.
The legendary film director also claimed that the Sarasaviya Awards
gives rights to a whole lot of other festivals.
“The Festival leads to competition and raises the interest of the
public towards films. In the 1960s and 1970s 70 million people went to
the cinema but today the rate had dropped to 20 million.
There were 370 cinemas in the past but after the riots in 1983, 100
were burnt along with the Vijaya Studios and Ceylon Studios. Now only
Dalugama studios is left.
Television had revolutionalised the industry with 12 channels. All
these factors are problematic for the organizers. Therefore the
Sarasaviya Awards Festival was stopped from the 1970 to 1980 and 1997 to
2000,” Lester said.
“Personally I do not believe that any of the Film festivals, be it
the Oscars or the Filmfare will help to improve the quality of films.
Cinema should be accepted as an art form by both the public and the
government.
Quality films depend on the willingness of certain people to come
forward and finance. The local film industry is totally under
capitalised.
It is very costly to make a film and most of the films do not recover
their cost.The present government had decided to take 25 million rupees
off of the tax and this had become an incentive to film makers,” he
observed.
“Film Festivals bring awareness to the public at large that there are
some good films. It enhances the competition.
Hence, I believe that the Sarasaviya Awards ceremony focuses interest
on certain aspects of cinema.”
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