Bombs and Roses

Ruwini JAYAWARDANA

He believes in Parallel Cinema yet says that certain elements of mainstream entertainment cinema have to be incorporated to make a movie popular among masses.

He proved his point with his directorial debut Sankranthi (The Tender Trap) which was selected to be screened at the 34th International Indian Film Festival. His second direction Dawala Doowili was nominated for the final 10 films at the 37th International Indian Film Festival.

Emerging from the advertising field he has the well loved Api Wenuwen Api television commercial to his name. Now adding a third cinematic production to his name in the form of Bomba Saha Rosa (Bombs and Roses) director Anuruddha Jayasinghe makes no bones about the fact where he sees the Sri Lankan cinema industry heading. All this and more he revealed in an interview with Daily News ‘Projector’.

Q: Your productions embody artistic as well as popular elements.

A: The Asian audience is more into entertainment productions than artistic works. A majority of Bollywood films include glamorous costumes, backdrops, song and dance to amuse viewers. Therefore only a handful of Indian art movies are made every year in comparison to entertainment films.

The audience’s preferences are the same in Sri Lanka. Both art as well as entertainment productions are costly to make but it is more difficult to cater an art movie to Sri Lankan audience. Therefore you might not get the opportunity to make another movie because you were not able to cover the cost that you put into making your last movie. Directors need to seek assistance of investors when they make movies and the investors look towards making money out of the project. It is the director’s duty to make a production that will cover at least the amount that the producer has put into the project.

Therefore we need to change the structure of our productions to suit the audience’s taste as well as make a film that the director can be satisfied with in artistic value. This is a parallel path which embodies features of the entertainment sector as well as art cinema. I have used this aspect for my films.

Q: You employ the documentary style in Bomba Saha Rosa.

A: Most of our local productions are based on a certain structure. They have a beginning, middle and ending which makes them predictable. However if we look at some of the latest productions made by globally acclaimed directors we see that they have moved away from this structure. It has become hackneyed and they have moved onto different means of storytelling. Indian filmmakers too have started to experiment with new ways on relating a story. They have merely changed the structure in which they present the story and this has worked well for them. They have managed to trigger the audience’s curiosity with these techniques though the story may be the same stereotyped tale.

This is what I wanted to do while making Bomba Saha Rosa. I decided to make the bomb loaded motor bicycle the center of attraction amid the action. The characters in the tale are like the beads while the bike is like the string which forms the necklace. At times one person might pass another person on the road without knowing that the other person plays a major role in what is to happen in the future of his or her life. That is the irony behind the tale what links it with real life.

Q: Why did you give your film an unusual title like Bomba Saha Rosa?

A: If I gave the film a ‘good’ artistic name nobody would question me about it. I have done productions like Dahasgawu Dura, Meeduma, Wiya Sidura and Dhawala Kanya but nobody has questioned me about those titles till I did Bomba Saha Rosa. Bombs signify the pressures in our daily life while roses symbolize the people’s hopes. These run parallel to each other much like the bomb loaded bike passing a newly married couple.

The story deals with people from all walks of life. It shows how they are brought under one roof due to a life and death situation. I have projected people from slum dwellers, thieves and prostitutes to the middle class citizens and the wealthy upper class community.

The background of the film arises from the era in which the city was facing the threat of bombings. However though this threat is present, life has to go. People go to offices or do what they can to earn a living and children go to school to get educated for a better future.

Q: Why didn’t you screen Dawala Doowili in Sri Lanka?

A: I am a disciple of Dr Tissa Abeysekara. Therefore I like to make art movies but I have seen the local audience turning their back on art productions simply because they do not see beautiful images on the trailers.

Only an academic level audience will come to watch such productions.

Sometimes that particular audience will come for the premier and media show.

The rest of the days only a few passerbys will enter the hall to watch the film.

The publicity campaigns and post production work which is involved while screening the movie is costly. We have to fund all this by ourselves.

Any field will survive if it has a good interaction with the citizens in its country. We can go beyond these boundaries and reach international standards if we are given economic support.

Some countries have film funds. They select upcoming directors from film schools and fund their projects. They make Art House films in this manner.

Sri Lanka does not possess such a system. Therefore we have to depend on producers in making movies.

We cannot target film festivals or awards when we take up this chore because the main focus needs to be on earning the money that the producer has put into the film.

This has become our foundation today.

Return to Oz

Disney’s fantastical adventure Oz The Great and Powerful, imagines the origins of L. Frank Baum’s beloved wizard character.

When Oscar Diggs (James Franco), a small-time circus magician with dubious ethics, is hurled away from dusty Kansas to the vibrant Land of Oz, he thinks he’s hit the jackpot-fame and fortune are his for the taking-that is until he meets three witches, Theodora (Mila Kunis), Evanora (Rachel Weisz) and Glinda (Michelle Williams), who are not convinced he is the great wizard everyone’s been expecting. Reluctantly drawn into the epic problems facing the Land of Oz and its inhabitants, Oscar must find out who is good and who is evil before it is too late. Putting his magical arts to use through illusion, ingenuity-and even a bit of wizardry-Oscar transforms himself not only into the great wizard but into a better man as well. When small-time magician Oscar Diggs (James Franco) pulls one flimflam too many, he finds himself hurled into the fantastical Land of Oz where he must somehow transform himself into the great wizard-and just maybe into a better man as well.

Oz The Great and Powerful is directed by Sam Raimi and stars James Franco, Mila Kunis, Rachel Weisz, Michelle Williams, Zach Braff, Bill Cobbs and Joey King. It is screening at Liberty Lie cinema and Majestic Cineplex Superior 3D.

The Croods conquer the screen

The Croods tells the story of the world’s first family road trip. When their cave is destroyed, the Crood family must embark on a comedy adventure into strange and spectacular territory in search of a new home.

As if patriarch Grug (Cage) didn’t already have enough to handle, it goes from bad to worse when they encounter an imaginative nomad named Guy (Reynolds.) With Guy’s help the Croods conquer their fear of the outside world and discover that they have exactly what it takes to survive - each other.

The film is directed by Chris Sanders and Kirk De Micco. Nicolas Cage, Ryan Reynolds, Emma Stone, Catherine Keener, Clark Duke and Cloris Leachman have rendered their voices for the characters. The Croods is screening at Savoy 3D cinema.