|
|
 |
| Sunday, 28 April 2002 |
 |
|
 |
Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
|
Aswasuma: Its dharma and karma by H. A. Seneviratne Quite recently, a remarkable pronouncement regarding films was made, not by a film critic, as one would expect, but by a career diplomat. In a way this was not something surprising, for it came from someone belonging to a philosophic genre and ancestry: Gopalakrishna Gandhi, High Commissioner for India in Sri Lanka, who is the grandson of Mahatma Gandhi. He was speaking at the inauguration of the Girish Kasaravalli Film Festival held in Colombo, last November and presented by the Asian Film Centre. Mr. Gopalakrishna Gandhi in the course of his speech said: "Every film has its karma and its dharma." This is a dictum that is equally relevant to any work of art and it came back to my mind in a strange way as I saw the Sinhala film 'Aswasuma,' the other day. Incidentally, the name Aswasuma is assigned to the film in a rather unsinhala manner instead of Aswasilla and translated into English as 'Compensation' instead of the more correct rendition 'Consolation.' That too appears to be connected to the karma and dharma of the film. Loose - ended thinking, fear of breaking through the psychological barriers that militate against the search for artistic reality or the dharma of a film, the gullibility of an audience prone to ignorance and, above all, the criminal defense of obscurantism by media and critics: work together in the Sinhala cinema like the karmic cycle. Aswasuma provides an opportunity to dwell into the present stage of development in the Sinhala cinema as an art form. Aswasuma rises above the formula film that has reached its dead-end with the only prospect of descending from vulgarity to obscenity for its survival. But at the same time it fails to transcend the hidden forces of the "modern" formula film. Undoubtedly, there are signs of an attempt made by the director cum script-writer of the film (Bennette Ratnayake) to touch the reality of both the political and the socio-economic matrix of society. But it is done hesitantly and superficially. A touch of sensationalism has superseded where artistic reality has failed. A series of questions of doubt arise in our minds as the film draws to an end. What sort of connection is there, if at all, as between the first attackers and the three rapists as between the doctor, the gem merchants, the attackers and the rapists? Are they all acting in concert? After all who are these unidentified rapists? Could the protagonist be so naive as to publicise the discovery of a gem so valuable? Would a man be burdened with such great repentance by killing the men who raped his wife before his very eyes? These are some of the questions that trouble our minds and prevents us from attaining aesthetic pleasure. These questions go to the film's dharma itself only to bring forth yet another twin question. Is the poor man who accidentally finds the gem while digging his dead son's grave fit to be punished for greed? Is it his karma? Why is it that the villainous doctor's karma - whatever that could be - does not follow him? The karmic cycle here seems to be working rather inconsistently! The film's karmic cycle itself has apparently not been consistent with its dharma. The film has - like many others - won some international awards and draws large crowds. That, of course, has something to do with the karma of the average film-goer who is voyeristically attracted by rape scenes inacted by local actors and actresses talking his own language while foreigners hand out awards thinking that kandyan dancers, cloth and jacket wearing woman, funeral rites and abject material poverty are the only elements of local culture. In Sri Lanka the karma of a Sinhala film does not yet follow its dharma. But is there yet a proper dharma in our films? It seems that the film-critics and not so much the creators of films should take the blame for this sad state of affairs. |
|
News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security Produced by Lake House |
