Matters of the heart

Ruwini Jayawardana

Loving and being in love add richness to our lives. When people feel close to others it brings them happiness.The passion of youth, the hormones and the ‘I can't live without you’ obsession is more evident in the teenage years than at any other time in one’s life.

This recalls the love relationship between Rosalind, Romeo and Juliet. Romeo and Rosalind did have a romance going till he set eyes on the fair Juliet. This shows the nature of teen romance: its unsteadiness, unpredictable manners and impulsive actions where you jump into conclusions at your lover’s slightest move.

The concept of spontaneous actions before thinking it through is very prevalent in teens today. Director Roy de Silva makes this a topic for discussion in his latest movie ‘It’s a Matter of Love’. The film sees Saranga Dissasekara and Anarkalli Aakarsha as teenage lovers who have to overcome odds to realize the strength of their feelings. Her feelings are unsteady while he is eager to set a foundation to their romance. This leads them to several incidents where they undergo passion, anguish, sorrow, loss, elation and unbridled emotions.

‘It’s a Matter of Love’ is de Silva’s second English movie and the sequel to 1991’s hit ‘It’s a Matter of Time’. Like all his previous films ‘It’s a Matter of Love’ too introduces new talent to the scene. Keshiya Leitch, Ronnie Leitch’s daughter, makes an entrance to Sinhala cinema. Rosy Senanayake, Lucky Dias, Vijaya Nandasiri, Nehara Peiris, Ronnie Leitch and Corrine Almeida comprise the rest of the cast. Since this is the month of romance, Daily News ‘Projector’ spoke to de Silva about the making of the movie.

Q: Why did you decide to make another English movie?

A: I used to watch a lot of English movies while I was studying at St Joseph’s College. Me and my friends would cut school and visit the nearest theatres to watch the latest films. Making an English film had been my dream from those days.

I also loved to do playback singing and while auditioning for such an event I met M Neelakantan. Since I resembled the Indian actor Jaishankar, I was soon asked to act in movies. My first film was ‘Sujage Rahasa’ (1963). After acting in a number of movies and later turning to directing, I wrote the script of ‘It’s a Matter of Time’.

I worked with Kamal Addararachchi in ‘Gedara Budun Amma’. I realized that Kamal was able to speak English fluently and pronounce the words with an accent. I came across Sangeetha Weeraratne, a product of the international school education. Later I spoke to Gamini Fonseka and he approved my idea. Rosy Senanayake too express her desire to be involved in the project. We made a good team and the movie ran for 75 days at Majestic theatre.

Later in the 1990s the local cinema scene faced a downfall. People hardly visited theatres and many directors turned towards making cheap sex films. Family oriented films were rare at that time. I decided to make a set of movies to entertain the whole family. They were the ‘Cheerio’ series. All the top comedians in Sri Lankan cinema acted in these movies. I was the only director to have eight box office hits during that era with ‘Cheerio Doctor’, ‘Cheerio Captain’, ‘Cheerio Darling’, ‘Love 94’, ‘Surayan Athara Veeraya’, ‘Rae Daniel Dawal Migel 1, 2 and 3. I earned a name as a comedy director.

The story of ‘It’s a Matter of Love’ was born while I was on my way to LA. I felt that the time had come to do another English film.

Q: Is there an audience for English movies in Sri Lanka?

A: There is an audience for local made English movies in the main cities like Colombo and Kandy. Matara. Galle, Ratnapura, Matale etc too have certain crowds who would be able to enjoy this movie but they should be screened at well equipped cinemas.

Many people still discuss ‘It’s a Matter of Time’ with me. Many of the film’s DVDs had been sold taken abroad. Maybe the audience is not as big as those who enjoy Sinhala movies but I wish to see more film-makers following my avenue. I wish to see producers who are able to put money into making English movies using the latest technological devices to make better productions. If this materializes I am sure we would be able to popularize our creations by running our films for at least a week in countries like USA and India.

Q: Why are our directors hesitant to make English movies?

A: They are afraid to take on the challenge because they are intimidated by questions like there will not be an audience for this kind of films and if the film will become a failure. You need to try out something to realize whether it will work or not.

We were planning to do an India-Sri Lanka co-production named ‘White Roses’ some years back. Upeksha Swarnamali was chosen for the lead role and some Indian actors were chosen for the cast. The producer was an Indian hotelier called Dharmalingam. An Indian director called Udaya Kumar and I were in charge of directing. We took Upeksha to Indian and trained her for one month but once we returned, we were prohibited shoot in Batticaloa. The project came to a halt.

We also need to bring in more locally made Tamil films into the scene. I wish to make a Tamil film someday.

Q: Should the audience watch ‘It’s a Matter of Time’ before watching ‘It’s a Matter of Love’?

A: I have included a few flashbacks to link the two stories and remind the audience about the previous movie.

There are several incidents which refer to some happenings in ‘It’s a Matter of Time’. I believe the audience will understand ‘It’s a Matter of Love’ better if they watch ‘It’s a Matter of Time’ first.

Q: Robert, the driver’s role is one of the most interesting characters in the story. How did you develop this character?

A: My father was the superintendent visiting agent at Castle’s estates. One of the drivers there used to drive the Englishmen around the area and act as their guide.

He had cultivated the habit of speaking in English the easy way, through listening and translating his Sinhala into English. He speaks broken English and uses phrases alike ‘Sir, I go where?’. My father had requested him to speak Sinhala with him many times but the driver is confident that he knows correct English. I developed this character into Robert.

Vijaya Nandasiri played the role remarkably. The only advice I gave him was to forget all the roles he had previously acted and make a fresh start.

I told him that I needed some serious acting here where the character believes that he is well versed in English.

Q: Some say that most of your films are made purely for light entertainment and has nothing meaningful to offer to the audience.

A: I do not agree with that statement. We watch films purely for entertainment. I do not try to capture the audience’s interest by including sex scenes or bloody episodes in my films.

My movies make the them happy and relieve them from stress. I develop a character within a plot. If you study the film, you would realize that there are certain lessons you can learn form them as well.

Q: You have not stepped into the art cinema side except in a few instances like in the case of making ‘Thana Giravi’.

A: I made ‘Sudu Piruwata’ in 1994. The movie was in theatres when a series of bomb blasts occurred in Colombo. There were constant curfews and people did not get the opportunity to visit theatres.

I made ‘Tom Pachaya’ based on Oscar Wilde’s ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’. After it became a hit I wanted to prove my mettle at making an art film.

‘Thana Giravi’ was base on of Anton Chekhov’s short story ‘The Grasshopper’. Unfortunately the film was removed from the fifth circuit because of a political grudge.

I have requested my brother, Clarence de Silva, to write a script for an art film out of one of his short stories. He is an award winning writer who had written short stories in English and later translated them into a collection in Sinhala called ‘Adhbootha Hamuweema’. Meanwhile I am writing the script for a comedy film which is very different from my previous productions.

Q: You were one of the country’s prominent actors during Oswald Jayasinghe and Tissa Vijayasurendra’s time. Yet your roles were limited to romancing the heroine and fighting villains. Do you think the directors did not make full use of your acting potentials?

A: Only one director was able to make use of my talents. He is Daya Wimalaweera. We made ‘Mihidum Sihina’ and ‘Madu Sihina’ together. All the other directors brought me fame by giving me roles in their productions. I learnt the art of acting and directing from them. I was dubbed the ‘Lucky Artiste’ because all my films became hits.

Q: When will ‘It’s a Matter of Love’ hit the screen?

A: It will begin screening at local cinemas during this year. ‘Daily Mirror’ Reel Life Editor Ramesh Uvais helped me a lot in this venture.

I also got a lot of encouragement for ‘Sarasaviya’ editor Aruna Gunaratne. The whole project was run by my wife Sumana Amarasinghe. Without her support the film would not have been a reality.

‘It’s a Matter of Love’ premiered at LA’s Vista cinema hall.

The show was house full and there were a lot of youngsters among the audience. We held another show in New York. It was also screened at the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa last year.

Ranjan bags fifth People’s Award

Ranjan Ramanayake won the award for the most popular actor at the seventh SLIM Nielson People’s Awards Night at Waters Edge in Battaramulla on February 02.

This is the fifth occasion that he has won this particular award.

In addition to being an actor, the 49-year-old is also a film director.

In 2008 he became involved in active politics and was elected opposition leader in the Sabaragamuwa provincial council.




 

Keerthi begins work on ‘Doni Amaya’

Renowned dramatist and film-maker Keerthi Bandara of ‘Adara Meena’ fame began work on his recent film ‘Doni Amaya’.

The muhurath ceremony of the event was held recently at the Colombo Nippon Hotel. The chief guest of the event was SLTB chairman L A Wimalaratne.