Fifty Years After Ran Muthu Duwa
Nalaka Gunawardene and Vindana Ariyawansa
Exactly 50 years ago (August 10, 1962) on a week like the same we
were able to witness the initial theatrical release of Ran Muthu Duwa
(Island of Treasure), the first full-length Sinhala colour feature film
made in Sri Lanka.
Ran Muthu Duwa was a landmark in the history of the Lankan cinema,
which at the time was only 15 years old (having started in 1947). It not
only introduced colour to the Lankan movies, but also showed for the
first time the underwater wonders of the seas around Ceylon, which had
barely begun to be explored.
Gamini Fonseka |
Joe Abeywickrama |
W D Amaradeva |
It was also a commercial success: seen by more than a million people
on its first release during 1962-63 - a tenth of the island’s then
population. But the cultural influence of the film went well beyond the
box office. It starred in the leading roles talented young actors who
would soon become big names in Lanka’s film industry, especially Gamini
Fonseka and Joe Abeywickrama. It also launched or catapulted the careers
of a number of other creative or technical professionals.
Today’s Wiz Quiz opens with a few questions that recalls this
trail-blazing movie.
1. Ran Muthu Duwa was written and directed by Mike Wilson, an
Englishman who had arrived in Ceylon with Arthur C Clarke in the mid
1950s and settled down on the island. Wilson was a multi-talented person
- a diver, photographer, writer and filmmaker. Ran Muthu Duwa was his
first feature film, but he had already made a name for himself by
writing, filming and directing the country’s first underwater
documentary film in 1958. What was its title?
2. Ran Muthu Duwa provided a welcome departure from formulaic Sinhala
feature films, and included elements of the discovery of underwater
treasure, ancient legends, human treachery and romance. The movie was
produced by an artiste who was talented as a dancer, actor and
theatre/cinema producer. He acted as an astrologer and stilt walker in
Rekawa (Line of Destiny) by Lester James Peries, considered to be a
landmark and turning point in the Lankan cinema. He produced Ran Muthu
Duwa and a few later films through Serendib Productions. Who was he?
3. As film historian Richard Boyle has noted, Mike Wilson’s
contribution to the Sinhala film industry extended beyond his own
directorial efforts, for he also actively encouraged other aspiring
directors to make movies under the banner of his company, Serendib
Productions. One of them, who started as assistant director in Ran Muthu
Duwa, went on to become a prominent figure in the industry, directing
his own films. Who was this person? (He provided Sinhala dialogue for
the film as its director was not proficient in the language)?
4. The man who edited Ran Muthu Duwa was one of the most technically
accomplished film and television (TV) professionals in the country, and
has been described as the finest editor in the first six decades of the
Lankan cinema. In all, he edited 25 feature films, nine of which he also
directed, between 1956 and 1979. Ran Muthu Duwa was the third feature
film he edited. Who was he?
5. It was in Ran Muthu Duwa that music maestro W D Amaradeva made his
debut as a music director for a feature film.
The film’s songs became very popular and have sustained their appeal
for half a century. One song, Galana gangaki jeevithe (life is like a
flowing river), sung by Nanda Malini and Narada Disasekera, earned its
playback singers the award for the best film song of 1962 at the
inaugural Sarasaviya Film Awards Festival. Who wrote the lyrics of this
well loved song?
6. Ran Muthu Duwa’s cast included Gamini Fonseka, Joe Abeywickrama,
Jeevarani Kurukulasooriya, Austin Abeysekera, Thilakasiri Fernando,
Shane Gunaratne and Vincent Waas. The villain (Renga) in the movie, who
famously fought an underwater battle with the hero’s character (played
by Gamini Fonseka), was not a typical film actor. In fact, he was a
boxer turned diver who was part of the diving company that Mike Wilson
and Arthur C Clarke were operating. Who played the villain in Ran Muthu
Duwa and declined to pursue a career in acting even after he became
popular with his single appearance?
7. The cinematic story of ‘Ran Muthu Duwa’ was preceded - and
inspired - by the serendipitous discovery of an old shipwreck off the
southern coast of Sri Lanka by Mike Wilson, Arthur C Clarke, Rodney
Jonklaas and their diving associates. This wreck was later determined as
a Muslim trader ship that had sunk in 1703 while sailing the legendary
Spice Route carrying thousands of freshly minted silver (Indian) Rupee
coins. The wreck was located at sea 13km off the Yala National Park, and
close to a British-built lighthouse on an offshore outcropping called by
which name (give either English or local name)?
Ran Muthu Duwa (Island of Treasure) - 1962 |
8. According to the preliminary results of Sri Lanka’s 2011/12
census, released by the Department of Census and Statistics, the
country’s total population was 20,277,597 on the counting date of March
20, 2012. This was the first time in 30 years that a census covered the
whole island. Two districts were found to have more than two million
people living in them. One is Colombo District. Which is the other?
9. At the previous census in 2001, Sri Lanka’s population density
stood at 300 persons per square km. According to the preliminary results
of the latest 2011/12 census, what is the population density of Sri
Lanka now?
10. Which 19th century British poet wrote a famous poem titled
Timbuctoo, in which we find these lines:
Is the rumor of thy Timbuctoo
A dream as frail as that of ancient Time?
11. Rodney King was a construction worker in the United States (US).
On the night of March 3, 1991, he was beaten harshly by Los Angeles
police officers after a high-speed chase. A resident videotaped the
beating from his apartment balcony nearby, and later gave the tape to TV
stations. Its broadcast sparked three days of riots in Los Angeles, but
also raised awareness on police brutality, racism and other social
inequalities in the US. Who filmed this incident in one of the earliest
examples of citizen journalism?
12. London 2012 Olympic football games were held at six venues across
England and Scotland. Among them was the Old Trafford, one of the most
famous football grounds in the world. Also known as the ‘Theatre of
Dreams’, with a capacity of 75,811, it is home to which famous football
club?
13. A European prince competed in the bobsled event at every Winter
Olympics from Calgary 1988 to Salt Lake City 2002. He reportedly refused
any special treatment during his Olympic stints, living in the same
basic quarters as all other athletes. His grandfather (father of his
mother) had won both the single and double sculls at the 1920 Games,
while his uncle also competed in four Olympics. Who is this Olympian
royal?
14. In 1937, a young Anglo-Australian planter with socialist leanings
was clamouring for better living conditions for the island’s plantation
workers, who at the time lacked basic housing, sanitation, healthcare
and education. He joined the Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP). When the
then British Governor of Ceylon, Sir Reginald Stubbs, sought to deport
him, he went into hiding and the LSSP started a campaign to defend him.
He made a dramatic appearance at that year’s LSSP May Day (Labour
Day) rally, and later won his case in the courts and the deportation
order was quashed. The Governor was isolated and the incident aligned
almost the entire State Council against the colonial government. Who was
this foreigner whose name is now part of social justice and socialist
history of Sri Lanka?
15. In the semi finals of the 1992 World Cup Cricket in Australia,
England were playing South Africa. The latter team was chasing a target
of 252 and required 22 runs from 13 balls when rain interrupted and
stopped play. Once the match resumed, the ‘best scoring overs’ method
was used to devise the revised target which turned out to be 21 runs
from one ball leading to an anticlimactic end to an otherwise exciting
encounter. Which mathematical model was devised later by two English
statisticians to calculate revised targets when matches are interrupted,
in order to avoid fiascos like that?
Last week’s answers
1. Carl Theodore van Geyzel (1902 - 1971)
2. Auckland, New Zealand
3. Pauline Davis-Thompson of the Bahamas
4. R (Ranatunge) Karunananda
5. Montreal 1976
6. Kalika Pathirana
7. Dr V R Schokman
8. V A Sugathadasa
9. Niluka Karunaratne
10. Flyweight, Middleweight, and Lightweight
11. Rubin “Hurricane” Carter
12. Greater Himalayan Region (including the Tibetan Plateau)
13. Year 1953
14. W Somerset Maugham
15. Sir Giles Gilbert Scott (1880 - 1960) |