Sinhala cinema on the slide?
Channa Bandara WIJEKOON
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Chathurika Peries and Roshan
Pilapitiya in Hatharadennama Soorayo Anarkalli Aakarsha and
Roshan Ranawana in Hirpoda Vessa |
When we talk of the Golden Era of Sinhala Cinema, we always take
examples from the films of yesteryear. Names of late B A W Jayamanne,
Eddie Jayamanne, Rukmani Devi and our cinema Maestro, Dr Lester James
Peiris linger in our minds. In the decades of 60s and 70s , there was a
film industry in this country, of which we can still boast about. Then
came the downfall of Sinhala Cinema. What really prevented the local
cinema from achieving greater heights?
A poster was displayed prior to this Sinhala New Year at Borella
Junction. It said the film Chandi Putha which featured late Gamini
Fonseka will be screened at Ritz Cinema on April 16. I was thrilled and
looked forward to see the film after many years. When I saw the film
first, I was a schoolgoer and I can still remember the mesmerising songs
in the film like ammala dukganne puthun handanta (Latha Walpola),
thaniye aware and bambara wage atha thawama vise (H. R. Jothipala).
Sinhala comedy
But my enthusiasm was soon killed when I went to see the film on the
particular day. The cut out in front of the cinema carried the name of
some other third grade Sinhala comedy produced in the 90s. I rushed to
the manger and queried about this change. These were the very words he
uttered to me.
"Sorry sir, Chandi Putha cannot be screened, as the copy is of very
poor quality. There is no other copy to the standard of screening."
Alas! One of the best Sinhala action films this country has ever
seen, had vanished into thin air. This is one example. which portrays
the plight of the Sinhala film industry. Today film as a viable industry
does not exist in our country. Many reasons have contributed towards
this tragedy. To add insult to injury, evergreen old films too have not
been preserved for the benefit of the future generations. This must be
the only country, which does not preserve films in a scientific manner.
Many good Sinhala films produced in the 60s and 70s were destroyed
during communal riots in 1983 and many others trod the same path, due to
negligence in preserving them. For many years, respective governments
have not responded positively to the requests made by people such as
Lester James Peries, Gamini Fonseka, Tissa Abeysekara and Wasantha
Obeysekara to introduce an archive to preserve films.
In the past, films were made to suit tastes of the local audiences
and these films made profits too. Some of these films such as Eya Den
Loku Lamayek and Rekhawa were screened at foreign festivals and obtained
recognition too. Our culture and heritage were the basis of these films.
The scripts were very strong and touched the hearts of local audiences.
In these times, local films were made with primitive technology.
Still for all, these films had its magic because of the credibility of
the actors and plots. Even commercial stream film directors like late
Lenin Moraes, who was a box office filmmaker, used effects (then it was
called camera tricks) with greatest difficulty to direct a film like
Onna Babo Billo Enawa which was a box office hit in 70s.
Then came artistes like Chandran Rutnam and Jayantha Jayatilleke who
worked with foreign filmmakers. They worked hard to bring down Hollywood
filmmakers to Sri Lanka. Manik Sandrasagara, who did Seetha Devi and
'Rampage', is another director and producer in this clan.
Mesmerising locations
This exercise gave wide exposure to our country, its actors, and
technical personnel and of course to tourist industry. Mesmerising
locations in our country were projected to outside world via cinema.
Late D R Nanayakkara played a major role in Steven Spielberg's 'Indiana
Jones and the Temple of Doom', which was filmed in Sri Lanka. We must
not forget that veteran Hollywood filmmaker Sir David Lean, who came to
our country to direct 'Bridge on the River Kwai' many decades earlier.
Later with the introduction of the open economy in 1977, quality of
local films went down drastically. Only a handful like Siribo Aiya and
Mayurige Kathawa made a mark in the 80s. Some producers, who did
filmmaking too, came out with utter garbage rather than films. Their
only motive was to earn quick bucks. Their films were made with low
budgets over a couple of days and brought down the rich taste of local
filmgoers. The film habits of families faded away rapidly, leaving the
producers with a small segment of youth who got addicted to films full
of obscene scenes.
Governments too kept a blind eye to this tragedy and dumped money
only to bring forward the colour TV concept. Premature introduction of
colour TV for entertaining purposes is another factor which contributed
strongly in confining families to their homes. Instead of 'Bionic
Woman', 'Six Million Dollar Man' and 'Incredible Hulk', local
authorities could have restricted TV to educational programmes
initially, with only a flavor of entertainment.
1983 communal riots saw the destruction of film halls owned by Tamil
businessmen and copies of commercial Sinhala films. After LTTE raised
its ugly head, Sinhala films could not be shown in the North and the
East. Many good film producers decided to keep away from their job. In
1970s, Gamini Fonseka and Victor Ratnayake were very popular among Tamil
population in the North and the East.
Their creations contributed in nurturing communal harmony. Professor
Sunil Ariyaratne directed Sarungale with Gamini in the main role and
mesmerising music scores by Victor Ratnayake. The film discussed the
subject of communal differences.
Quality Hollywood films brought down and screened earlier too came to
a standstill. English films shown in urban areas in these times were
more into sex than art. This too became a trend for a couple of years.
This was followed by the low grade local comedy film trend, which added
to the downfall. Although several governments came out with relief
packages for the industry as well as its employees, the core of the
problem that was the decline in quality went unnoticed.
Demise of H R Jothipala, the local Mohammad Raffi with the magical
screen voice, and contemporary actors like Vijeya Kumaratunga and Gamini
Fonseka too dealt a deadly blow to the Sinhala cinema.
There wasn't the chandiya (hero) or 'romantic lover' who kept the
audiences spellbound in the 70s anymore. This is because the country had
not groomed actors over the past two to three decades. The retirement or
demise of a handful of born actors, action stars and comedy stars thus
created a void in the Sinhala cinema.
For many decades, not a single actor with 'charisma' was introduced
to Sinhala Cinema. The credibility of an actor was forgotten by film
producers and directors.
Simple terms
They resorted to play around with 'power babies' who could not act
properly, fight properly or love properly. In simple terms, these so
called actors could not project a credible image for the audiences to
believe in them. Also, film directors and script writers lacked
creativity to a great deal. Thus they didn't create any aspiration or
inspiration among audiences, in contrast to Hindi films.
This tragedy could not have surfaced, had the past governments heeded
to Dr. Peries' plea to form a film training school or an academy. Thus
we humbly request our President Mahinda Rajapaksa who himself an actor
with charisma, to respond positively to this request. It is better late
than never.
At the same time, we must be grateful to various TV channels that
have come forward to introduce action stars, dream stars and comedy
stars.
They are doing something which has to be done by an academy.
Tissa Nagodawithana as an individual too has to be commended for
putting a great effort to preserve good films at his own cost.
Now we see the dawn of a new era in our motherland with the crushing
of terrorism. Thus art, especially cinema, could be used as a very
effective means in bridging the gap among all groups to boost efforts at
national reconciliation.
Hence in conclusion, it must be stressed that the Government's
intervention is essential in this crucial juncture to rejuvenate the
Sinhala film industry. |
