‘Dancing Star’ - an attempt to fantasise reality
Sachitra MAHENDRA and Ruwini JAYAWARDANA
The reality television program itself oozed with glitz and glamour,
and it’s no wonder that this alluring quality played a key role in the
movie as well. Not surprisingly ‘Dancing Star’ the movie presented by
MBC Networks (Pvt) Ltd., is currently climbing up the ladder to
box-office success at CEL circuit cinema island-wide.
Targeted at commercial cinema with unique and modern trends, director
and Sirasa TV head Susara Dinal has made no qualms about the fact that
he had based the storyline on the channel’s popular reality television
program ‘Sirasa Dancing Stars’ which completed its second chapter
recently.
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A scene from the movie |
Slumdog Millionaire
With the recent array of Oscars for ‘Slumdog Millionaire’, a movie
based on India’s reality television program ‘Who Wants to be a
Millionaire?’, one would naturally compare this with ‘Dancing star’,
though both creations are actually poles apart.
The movie’s theme, similar to ‘Slumdog’s, is to reflect a tale of
‘rags to riches’. Shiroshi, a talented dancer who hangs out with a fun
loving troupe led by Dushyanth, is spotted by Dunuwila who wants her to
take part in a reality dance contest. Shiroshi takes up his offer and
joins the troupe only to come under the wrath and the petty jealousies
of some teammates. She emerges as the winner of the contest but her
triumph comes with a price.
Slum dwellers
Apparently the Oscar movie features actual slum areas, whereas the
Sinhala film portrays a glorified version of slum dwellers and their
exaggeratedly luxurious lifestyle.
For example it is surprising to see the team, clad in trendy clothes,
dancing at a luxurious shopping complex - most of them having
sophisticated wheels.
This first impression of the dance oriented gang paints an erroneous
portrait of the youths who later make their way up to the slums after
their daily ventures.
Quite contrarily however the real picture of the local slum dwelling
community only emerges towards the end of the tale as the heroine takes
flight once she hears that her residence, ‘Lake Wattha’, is being pulled
down by local politicians.
Until this point the true picture of the slum was limited to
Shiroshi’s father’s tavern. It may seem unnatural, but still Shiroshi’s
father’s tavern has a theatric outlook which brings us the feeling of
stage audience.
The dancing skills of the cast shines through but most of them are
not given a proper opportunity to display their acting. One feels that
Dushyanth Weeraman’s dancing feat should have been highlighted if he had
been given more opportunities to take part in the dance scenes. Likewise
Shiroshi, who shows a lot of promise in the scene, should have been
presented with an opportunity to display her prowess in the competition
in a realistic pace.
The movie at times focuses too much on its sub plots like the growing
trust between Dunuwila and Shiroshi amid many eyes of suspicion at their
relationship.
Fantasy
Similarly the scenes which dwell on Sudesh’s fantasy are too lengthy
and the plot seems to digress from the main theme at times when such
scenes come to play.
For that matter, Ravindra Randeniya’s role seems a little novel,
since he does not play the customary villainous role trying to seduce
the poor girl with his charms.
The story takes a more interesting turn after the interlude and
things fall back on track.
However a few scenes like Sanath Gunathilaka’s encounter with the
local politician raises a question in the audience’s mind since
incidents that follow spring out of the blue.
There is a streak of unreality in the competition as the rest of the
competitors are handed low marks, while Shiroshi turns out to be the
apple of the jury’s eye.
Best dancer
Though this emphasises the fact that Shiroshi is the best dancer of
the lot, it reveals the fact that she lacks any competition from other
participants and in fact only a little light is shed on the competition
as we do not catch sight of fans and the media flocking that signifies
that this is one of the most popular programs that brings out a ‘star’.
Despite the drawbacks in the plot, other effects such as lights,
camera and sound are well positioned.
It would have been close to a good work of art, if only the script
was more powerful.
However it marks a winning streak as far as the audience’s interests
is concerned as a multi starrer as well as the curiosity it had aroused
due to the image that the television channel has been striving to build
over the years with its unsurpassed feat. |
