Sankranthi: Narrative insights into visuals
Prof. Sunanda Mahendra
CINEMA: As conditions prevail, at the moment especially in the
cine-scene in our country, the latest film shown currently in the cine
circuits titled Sankranthi may not have the chance drawing masses due to
several reasons. But this is the type of film that should be retained
for a few more weeks, at least to discuss some of the salient factors
enhancing the building of aesthetic taste in the country.
The co-producer and scriptwriter Professor Nimal Senanayaka is not a
newcomer to the visual medium, as he has already shown his skills on the
television screen with the productions such as Ella Langa Valavva and
Maya Ranga being telecaste to his credit. His creative materials are of
interest, and are of rare calibre as against the overall tawdry
threshold experiences of scum in today’s teleplay industry.
Monkey behaviour
With the discipline of the profession of Medicine, Professor
Senanayake selects the monkey behaviour, and its link with the human
behaviour. The subject may look rather obscure, but it is convincing
from the way it is laid down in terms of visuals. While three main
characters: the scientist, his young wife and his assistant, and two or
three other subsidiaries of pivotal interest.
What happens in terms of visuals is a rare experience resting on
several layers of meaning. Firstly, the scientist is dedicated to his
task of sensitive function of attempting to gather details about his
subject area via field research.
This factor is extended to the point that he, perhaps unknowingly,
gives way liberty to his young wife and the assistant to a certain
degree; this is not presented in a crude sensational manner, but as a
human interest narrative pattern. I remember Roman Polanski’s well-known
film ‘The Knife in the Water’, with its slight similarity to Sankranthi.
The primate behaviour is the filial intimacy so tight and ethical
that a she-monkey may not give up her husband at any cost for
extra-passionate reasons for the sake of a third party. We are made to
understand that the filial bond is firm, but an alternative step is
possible quite depending on the circumstances.
Narrative line
This could be seen as the second point in the narrative line; the
possibility emerges as a reality depending on the visualized
circumstances faced by the trio with the twist of the conventional types
of behaviour envisaged. The inevitable question on the conflict between
the filial intimacy and the complexity of the circumstantial human
experience is raised via visuals.
To what extent is the experiment on the part of the scientist being
fulfilled? The entire gamut of the human experience that emerges via the
visuals of Sankranthi epitomizes these nuances in an elevated level of
communication. The basic issues such as marriage, morals, ethics,
sacrilege, sex, and jealousies are pinpointed in an elevated manner with
a supreme economy to the verbal dialogues.
The most striking factor is the visual beauty in which the narrative
rests, and, for example, the entire forest where the experiments take
place (Vanduru Kale) which is dark, mystical, and unfathomable becomes a
symbolic representation of the very labyrinthine human life.
The three characters of the ageing scientist Gerard (W. Jayasiri),
his young wife Pam (Sangeetha Weeraratna) and the assistant Sunimal (Bimal
Jayakodi) are depicted as interlinked and attached as well as aloof,
which is also significant at the very experiment of the primates.
They play their roles with a keen sense of understanding the subtext
of the simple but sensitive layers of the narrative as well as the
various meanings poring out of it. They are, at times, in a fantasy and
the next moment in reality which is darker and mysterious than the
former.
The structure of the narrative as well as the visual presentation,
though simple, raises visual meanings from frame to frame, and the
credit should go to Ruwan de Costa and Anuruddha Jayasinghe in their
successful handling of the camera and the directing respectively.
Navaratne Gamage’s music score adds colour and impact to the mystical
visual beauty. They tend to address the modern conscious in terms of
visuals and sound in the most pleasing manner possible elevating the
already discussed layers of narrative experiences.
The film director Elia Kazan once said: ‘some directors and producers
do underestimate the audience and underrate them shamefully’. This, I
feel, happens all the time in our country considering the audience
idiotic all the time.
But Sankranthi team never underestimates the local audience by
underrated pranks, though ironically and distressingly the audience is
not equipped to take up their bold challenge in the best possible
manner.
The triumph of this film work Sankranthi therefore rests mostly on
the refined sense of presentation akin to a well knitted classical
literary piece that will remain for ever. Thus from time to time a
re-reading of this type of work is a must on the part of the
communication scholars and literary critics.
I am sure this will be done not at home but in a foreign strand where
a liberal attitude to this kind of work is anticipated enabling the
makers earn more fame and awards.
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