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Film Review:
Sikuru Hathe depicts decent sense of humour
Dr. Senarath Tennakoon
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CHALLENGING ROLES: Wijaya Nandasiri and Susila Kottege in a
scene from Sikuru Hathe. |
CINEMA: Giriraj Kaushalya's maiden cinematic creation "Sikuru Hathe"
makes an attempt at making a laughing stock of the marriage broker
(match maker)on the one hand and on the parties going in search of
marriage partners. It hits the nail on the head of a community that
believes over head and ears of matching horoscopes in marriage affairs.
The match maker in his typical black coat and carrying the
cock-headed umbrella (without the konde) has come back in this film.
Wijaya Nandasiri has enlivened the character of the traditional match
maker in external deport as well as in expressing his intrinsic values.
His walk, facial gestures and crafty conversational style are
reminiscent of the rural marriage broker who adorned every village.
The ideal match maker was well respected and admired for his service
of not only joining a suitable couple but also for bringing together two
families and two village communities. The formula of ABCDE (age, beauty,
caste, dowry and education) were looked into apart from the
compatibility of the horoscopes.
With the passage of time, this service turned out to be a lucrative
business and the personal touch in it became diluted. Further, the role
of the traditional match maker was taken over partly by the
advertisements and computer technology. But in Sri Lanka, there are some
social groups who disregard or disbelieve in horoscopes. Nonetheless,
the majority of the Buddhists and Hindus inspire a faith in astrology.
Giriraj's creation identifies a match maker 'Jaya Mangala' who leads
a cat and dog life with his ferocious wife at home. He too has a pretty
grown-up daughter. His wife's grudge is that Jaya Mangala tries to make
matches with others, instead of finding a suitable husband for their
daughter.
The film depicts the dangers the match maker faces after arranging
unsuitable marriages. But, he continues to do so mainly for earning a
living.
His capability of converting a playful, urban bred, pretty, rich
girl, to a well mannered, well dressed sober girl, in order to please a
rich educated young man who preferred such gentle qualities, nearly took
the bread out of his mouth when it failed. But, unexpectedly that young
man selected Jaya Mangala's daughter for her genteel mannerisms. He
believed that her genteel manners spoke of her upbringing.
Jaya Mangala's facetious remarks keep the audience in good humour.
There are other characters that contribute to the humorous agenda in
this film, which could be complementary.
Susila Kottege plays a challenging role. Rodney Warnakula is a crack.
Tony Ranasinghe and Veena Jayakody play the role of parents of a pretty
playful daughter - Anarkali Akarsha.
Tony and Veena play very limited and restricted roles that do not
bring out their skill and potential in performance. Anarkali on the
other hand has no serious element in her role. Even the new comer Mapa
too has a very limited role.
One could highly appreciate the realistic nature of performance of
Irangani Serasinghe, although her role too is too brief. Himali Saurangi
makes her maiden role impressively.
The communicative significance of Sikuru Hathe is not so dense and
not so impervious to reason. In particular, the match maker becoming
drunk over head and ears cannot see the wood for the trees, talks
through his hat, makes a storm in a tea cup and goes off the track.
Wijaya Nandasiri's performance as a drunkard in addition to that of a
marriage broker is to be watched Argus eyed and all agog. Right
throughout the film's progress it was a situation of high feather of the
audience without an opportunity to be in the doldrums. |
