Clear water route for ‘Bora Diya Pokuna’

Anuradha Kodagoda

A few years back I watched Satyajit Maitipe’s debut movie ‘Bora Diya Pokuna’. I am still able to recall the brilliant story telling method that he used to portray his production with Buddhist essence. Though it is his first movie, he was privileged to include many veteran artistes such as Irangani Serasignhe, Dharmasiri Bandaranayake, Kaushalya Fernando and Dilani Abewardhana into his creation.

Palitha

Kaushalya

Satyajit

There’s no doubt that the director’s excellent selection had given depth to the characters. It was quite surprising for me to note his skills in locating the intrinsic feature of the three female characters and how it changes faced by love and lust.

‘Bora Diya Pokuna’ which was completed in 2003 took nearly a decade to get the clearance from the Censor Board. Such an excessive delay on the part of the authorities has deprived the young director from showcasing his true colours in the field. However, after ‘Bora Diya Pokuna’ was out of hot water, Asia Digital Entertainment Pvt Ltd bought the production with all rights from the National Film Corporation in 2012.

In an interview with the Daily News the key players of the production: Satyajit Maitipe, lead actress Kaushalya Fernando and the director of photography Palitha Perera had their say about the matter. Excerpts:

Q: What is ‘Bora Diya Pokuna’ about?

Satya: Different kinds of relationships involve body politics. This is a significant feature which people do not exactly touch upon. It is like how your lover, husband or wife responds to your body. It’s a vague topic and I think most of the time people are either hesitant or reluctant to talk about it openly and honestly. Rather, they manipulate, cheat or exploit it.

However, there’s a very truthful and clear idea about it in people’s mind. You might like or reject this. I wanted to be little truthful here because we have not honestly dealt with it so far. It has been shielded by a political analysis veil.

Kaushalya has been involved in the field for many years more than me. She has an open mindset and she has been very loyal to the character she portrays in ‘Bora Diya Pokuna’. She addresses issues which most of the people were reluctant to talk about genuinely. However I don’t know whether being she can still talk about it as openly as she did in her younger days today as she is also a real life mother. That is one entry point I have used to build the characters of my story.

Kaushalya: Being in the film industry for many years I was able to come across one good ground reality - ‘beauty’. It is one of the most important factors which kept me going as an actress. I am fortunate to live in an era where Ashoka Handagama and a few others turned the industry upside down with their ideologies.

When Satya told me about Gothami’s character, I bonded with her instantly because we had many traits in common. When he was developing the script, we used to discuss, rehearse and argue about the scenes. I helped him mould Gothami’s personality.

Q: What are the challenges that you underwent while making ‘Bora Diya Pokuna’?

Satya: Palitha had a conflict with me because he felt that I favor my artistes. That is a natural process because I believe that people remember people after the conclusion of a project. Although we need all the technical support to complete the production, the efforts made by the entire crew are finally executed by the artistes. Ultimately they are the people who bring out complex ideas. Therefore, I say my relationship with the actors is my first priority.

Palitha: I worked with Satya once before this production but we didn’t get to know each other well till this project began to take shape. ‘Bora Diya Pokuna’ is my first film as a cinematographer. I had certain ideas about the cinematography during that time because I have been involved in the teledrama industry for a quite some time. I have also worked as an assistant cinematographer in a few films. However, even with all this experience, I find that Satya is of a different breed. Friendly alliances fade away on the sets. Satya cared more about the artistes’ body language, moods, gestures, and organism rather than the camera and lightening systems. We had disagreements because his beliefs did not tally with mine.

Gothami

Dilani and Duminda

Q: How did you select your cast?

Satya: I wanted a person who has a body like that of Duminda Silva, an acting talent like that of Mahendra Perera and versatility for acting like in Jackson Anthony for my lead male role.

I selected Duminda as the actor and dubbed Mahendra’s voice into the character. I wanted to create the ‘complete character’ which is 100 percent synonymous with the character in my mind because apart from acting, I wanted to create a body space. Kaushi naturally understood her character and the whole project.

The most surprise thing for me was the positive response I got from Irangani. She saw ‘Bora Diya Pokuna’ as a Buddhist parable and was truly committed to the movie. I’m quite fortunate and privileged to work with all these reputed people at the beginning of my cinematic career. We never had conflicts and all of them shared most of their private stories with me because they felt that it is essential to be themselves in front of the camera.

Q: Is there any particular reason why a strong Buddhist approach has been included in the script?

Satya: When it comes to characterization and the ‘body politics’ angle of love and lust, the female beauty is a good entry point to develop the storyline. However, my story structure belongs to Buddhist philosophy. It is natural because that is the way I look upon human life. It doesn’t mean that I follow a rigid and accepted pattern in my life and in my relationships. My reflection is not socio-anti political or political. We are born to err and suffer with the outcomes and also correct our mistakes as we move on.

I’m not quite sure from where I got this understanding but I think this philosophy came about from my childhood. My mother is a Catholic. Therefore I have not been raised in a Buddhist atmosphere. However, I was also in the company of my father who had given up Buddhism outwardly to satisfy my mother. Though he never took us to the temple or discussed about Buddhism with us, I believed he practiced Buddhist values because he always let my mother be the person that she is.

Q: ‘Bora Diya Pokuna’ was given the green light for public screening only in 2010. How do you feel about the movie today?

Satya: ‘Bora Diya Pokuna’ started production in 2001.The Censer Board did not allow us to screen the movie in 2004 because they did not accept some of the scenes in it. We tried to negotiate with them for the past few years and in November 2010 we got their approval. I was the one who suffered most due to these turn of events because Palitha and Kaushalya were able to continue their artistic careers with different people, different themes and achievements. Just imagine a woman who carries a child in her womb for 10 years. It obviously sounds strange but the feeling is similar to what I have undergone. During past 10 years I have been seeing many artistes making movies and winning national and international accolades for their productions. It is a pretty complex feeling. On the other hand I feel that I am unfortunate because I was able to witness the success stories of people who were once part of my production.

Palitha: Once some university students told me that there are no camera gimmicks or proper lighting methods visible in ‘Bora Diya Pokuna’. I am happy about this feedback because I strongly believe that we can experience more ‘life’ in the production sans these methods.

Kaushalya: Due to many constrains ‘Bora Diya Pokuna’ is not yet in Sri Lanka. I believe that was the ideal time for me to act that character. I committed myself to the character.. It is mainly because my age, energy and viewpoint in life tallied with the project. Many seasoned artistes still claim that Satya used my frankness to make this project a success. I do not believe in this because Satya is one of the best directors and friends I have come across. ‘Bora Diya Pokuna’ is one of my best achievements as an actress. I also did ‘Three wheeler Diaries’ which was Dennis Perera’sw maiden cinematic project. That was also one of the greatest characters that I portrayed in my life. It enhanced my status as an actress.

Constrains to cinematic development

Ruwini JAYAWARDANA

The Lankan Film Makers Alliance (Lankiya Cinema Nirmanavedinge Sandanaya) held a discussion to update the media on several issues they have identified as barriers to the development of the country’s cinema industry.

The team comprised of several key figures in the industry including its head Dr Malani Fonseka, President Eranga Senaratne and Secretary Padmasiri Kodikkara.

The approved decisions include limiting copies of a screening film to 35, screening films according to the order that they have completed work, reopening cinemas which have been shut down for the past decade and encouraging producers to invest in fils by seeing that they get their due profit instead of cinema owners cashing in on the bucks.

“NFC chairman Asoka Serasinghe had agreed to work on these issues with us and we hope to see that these problems are solved in the future to strengthen the local cinema industry towards a golden era,” Kodikara informed the ‘Daily News’.