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Random Muse:
All about Sanath Gunatilake
Sachitra MAHENDRA
Speaking of 2008, which is now in out-tray, I need to mention about
Sanath Gunathilaka. He is a man who rarely missed an event in the year.
2008 marks a turning point in Sanath’s career as well.
 Sanath Gunatilake, literally speaking, is well known as an actor, and
actor alone. For that reason he had been scoffed at when he was given a
high-up position by the former president; his credentials were
questioned by all fronts. I do not know him personally, but I have
spotted an extraordinary feature in him that is lacking in many actors
today.
He is more than an actor. His performance in Viragaya is simply
amazing as hardly any other actor would dare perform a similar role.
He is a man of precise creativity, but that was hardly put into use.
I have a feeling that he wasted his career by dedicating it only to
acting. He would have done better if only he was focused on writing:
scripts as well as novels.
2008 turns a new leaf in Sanath’s life because of two events: his
maiden direction Ekamath Eka Rataka and the launch of his maiden
screenplay Sisila Gini Gani (Ice on Fire).
Ekamath Eka Rataka doesn’t seem to be just another direction and no
doubt Sisila Gini Gani screenplay had to welcome both bouquets and
brickbats. Both plots are distinctive in their own way.
Any actor will write a script and direct a film. It’s unfair to say
so in Sanath’s case. Hardly anybody will think of launching a website.
Our country has a very few modern filmmakers who will think about
launching a website for their films.
Sanath did that and named the website www.onceuponamovie.com. To have
the domain .com is a brave step. Which means nobody else can grab it for
anything else; because the name is so catchy.
The main trio is named as unknown man, unknown boy and unknown girl.
And the famous picture from the movie shows that Sanath would have done
a performance which might go along with that of Viragaya. We are too
early passing any judgment on his movie though and interestingly it’s
Master’s last music composition.
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A scene
from Ekamath Eka Rataka |
It’s unique of Sanath to have handpicked four to speak event: Tissa
Abeysekara to chair the session, Buddhadasa Galappatty, Nuwan Nayanajith
and Gamini Weragama. Every speech had something new and distinctiveness
to offer. I was not bored with the speeches.
Galappatty as the first speaker stressed the importance of publishing
a filmscript. Weragama reminisced the troubles he had to go through when
he critiqued the film when it was released for the first time.
According to what Nayanajith remarked, only nine film-scripts have
been published. And that includes Aba and Sisila Gini Gani both
published in 2008, if my memory is correct. Nayanajith mentioned how
important it is to see how a real life experience can be syringed into a
film-script.
Then he brought out some interesting facts about Pauline de Crooz
case taking excerpts from Daily News issues in 1964. The facts are so
interesting you won’t find even by googling. The facts deserve a
separate space.
Tissa Abeysekara wanted to make the speech short, though it became
long and sweet as usual. Abeysekara raised interesting points about the
conflict between the scripter and the filmmaker.
Conflict, in the sense, is the situation the filmmaker faces when he
converts the written instructions into the cinema medium.
Scripter writes without a camera around, and hence the filmmaker has
to tune up the script to match with the camera frame. In this backdrop,
Abeysekara had the obvious question: whether the filmmaker had followed
the exact script commands, or was the script written after the film.
I cannot agree more with Abeysekara when he says that Sanath would
have written a novel. Sanath knows what creativity is, and I have often
felt that he should have tried his hand on a novel rather than wasting
time on every Tom, Dick and Harry character.
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