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Amarapuraya - Immortal City
Marvel of lyrical storytelling
Sachitra Mahendra
Sri Lanka's teledrama lore speaks high of only a few masterpieces.
The telly is in fact too small for a masterpiece. It now houses hundreds
of teledramas a week, questioning the quality against the quantity.
Bertram Nihal's latest teleplay Amarapuraya, which will be telecast in
near future, would be a raindrop in a drought. Because it is, of course,
a classic work of art.
Bertram has already marked his position on the tele industry with his
remarkable direction efforts: Mahagedara, Kadavara, Dadabima and Bhavana
series. And for Amarapuraya he has crossed the barriers, expanded the
horizons and above all, bucked the trend. Amarapuraya with its 38
episodes, without any doubt for that matter, will be quite a creation
for any other teledrama to surpass in quality.
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| Jeevan Kumaranatunga and Dananajaya
Siriwardana as Charles Balawardhana and his son Keminda. |
Bertram Nihal directing the cast: Jeevan
and Nilanthi as Charles Balawardhana and his daughter Shakya. |
The sylvan hermitage shelters anyone seeking spiritual solace, but
how many of us have guts to make it our permanent dwelling? We have too
many excuses to turn back to the lay life - we are not genuine, so to
say. We love indulging in the temporary pleasures, because we do not see
the futility of temporary state.
This monastery is the virtual immortal city, Amarapuraya, because it
inspires our souls to reach the immortality - Nibbana, in Buddhist
analysis. Every local visits this monastery, and ironically they worship
an European monk. Bertram poses a satirical question on our position as
'born Buddhists'.
Outstanding moment
When Lisa, the European monk's ex-wife, worships him, that reaches an
outstanding moment in the drama. She compares herself with Yasodhara -
Buddhism appeals to any soul across the globe.
Our own scholars are so fond of likening Buddhism to the Sinhala
culture. Even so it is nothing other than institutionalizing the
Buddhism. If Buddhism is Sinhala culture, why do more and more Europeans
turn to Buddhism as monks while born-Sinhala-Buddhists still hang around
merely to worship foreign monks? Shame upon us!
Two main layers partition the work: worldly and spiritual - every
soul has the eternal struggle between these fortes. When all worldly
beings lead a huffing and puffing life in the din of city, the spiritual
community enjoys their serene life. It resembles a happy saint looking
down at the suffering worldlings. Is it happiness of giving up desires
or pleasure of indulging in senses that matters at the end of the day,
Bertram questions with a thick stroke.
Charles Balawardhana is the most salient point of Bertram's
characterization. Charles is a Business Moghul, actually engaged in
business. He is concerned about buying shares, owning more industries
and factories. Even at home he would tap the keys of his laptop and
would reveal his business motifs to wife. This portrayal help show the
gradual maturity of Charles' mind. He slowly gives up desires and this
is best shown in the way he is occupied with the business. No other
teledrama could have depicted the upheavals of the Business industry
this sharp and even.
Words do not make Balawardhana a Business magnate. His activities and
emotions pervade the play. Raised from rags to riches Balawardhana
always claims to be money-minded, but his emotions and reactions give
the lie to his own statements. This is actually a intricate situation to
handle. Charles Balawardhana should be Jeevan Kumaranatunga's climax in
his performance career. The way he gives life to the dialogue and the
theme of the play - simply breathtaking, indeed.
Resonance and depth
Bandula Vithanage doesn't perform - his ways transcend him beyond the
mere performance. His voice is so resonant with its calmness and depth,
reigning that particular moment, the dominance of spiritual strength
over the worldly pleasures.
The cast including Anjula Rajapaksa and Nilanthi Dias will be a new
experience to the audience fed up with their recurrent soapy
performance.
Bertram has the props of our traditional religious thought in his
powerful imagery. Everyone sees the faces of their associates on the
running waters of the monastery stream. It shows a morsel of their
sansara link. When they try to touch the face of their loved ones, they
loose the grandeur of that moment. However the European, even before
entering the monk order, tries to stay detached even though he sees his
loved ones. He watches them as if it is nothing more than a film in an
isolated mood.
'Sound of Silence' is given a Buddhist interpretation when it turns
out to be the background song when Lisa and Ralph visit Sri Lanka on two
occasions. This famous song by Simon and Garfunkel has different pathos
in its original movie 'Graduate', but in Amarapuraya it aptly depicts
the disillusion of the European truth seeker.
Prostitution, clubbing and drug trafficking are sensitively handled
with creative mastery. No one, unless they are familiar with the
profession, would get a clue. These sensitive issues otherwise would
have been labelled 'adults only'. Bertram thinks along deeper alleys.
Nikini's addiction to drugs is brought out with most usual features
such as ecstasy as well as self-depression. She finally turns to
meditation as a way of seeking happiness. She is the most corrupt one in
her family, and ironically she is the only one who could get closer to
the monk's position by taking up meditation, almost giving up worldly
hopes. It rings Yogavachara Rahula's 'One Night's Shelter' that narrates
a story of a hippie-turned-monk.
Of all balanced characters, only Kamini's character seems evil. She
schemes everything possible to win the election for her son. Her
ambitions are so high and mighty, under the belief she could own her son
forever. It would be too late when her hopes are shattered: her son
decides to move to minister's quarters to start life with his wife.
Conservative thinking
Amarapuraya is a kaleidoscope of different layers in both village and
city. The village has its own innocence as well as hypocrisy.
Conservative thinking wrinkles the sensitive feelings. Sampath was a
decisive factor in saving Amesh's mother's life, but none of his parents
would like to marry his sister off to Sampath. They even go out of the
tracks to treat him maliciously. The calm alluring scenes in village are
quite contrary with hustle and bustle buildings in the city. It however
questions the practicality of attitudes between the two regions.
When you are at the end of the final episode, the teledrama should
already have reached the depth of your heart. You wouldn't be able to
concentrate on anything else. It would trespass your mind.
Congratulations, Bertram, for your visual poem - too good to the
small screen. And well done, Jeevan - of course, for your breathtaking
performance. |
