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| Sunday, 11 September 2005 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Arts Sudu Kalu saha Alu : Another memorable film by Ranga Kamaladasa When you enter the film hall there's a huge banner stating in Sinhala that "anyone who hasn't taken a single grain of mustard (aba) from a family affected by the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka is not suitable to view this film.
So this reviewer will start by doing the film a favour. The film 'Sudu Kalu Alu' is not completely a portrayal of the darker side of war. Though the story does take place in a boarder village deeply affected by the war, and though the storyline does suffer some strong blows from the war going on outside, the characters inside have their own story. A story of being alive and trying to live respectfully even when all the other things seem to collapse around them. Even before the film hit the screens from the posters and banners, the film carried a huge slogan with a huge advertising campaign. It was deemed to be a realistic film; a film without inflated characters. Looking at the conventional film industry even a statement like this is a huge step to take. A lot of incomparable films like Guerilla Marketing, Ira Madiyama, and Agni Dhahaya came into existence in the last few years but they were not completely void of heroes or admirable figures. The characters in those films were distinct and they were somewhat stereotyped characters of our culture. So will Sudath Mahadivulwewa and crew change the whole paradigm of cinema? How are they going to make it into a reality film, and still keep the audience at bay long enough to keep them watching the entire film? These were the first questions that came to mind after reading the various posters. After all, from the earliest days of our lives we've been used to (and lived in) the typical damsel-in-distress and knight-in-shining armour stories (though the gender may change today due to our post-feminist society), that it's really hard to imagine a real world without these fancies. In the first couple of scenes there seems to be no significant difference in the film. A brave schoolmaster who comes to the village, the hard working bus driver, the wise old blind man and the other characters seem perfectly stereotyped and faultless. Making the audience adjusted to the typical characters that would be seen in a normal Sinhala teledrama. But when the tide takes a shift to the worst, it leaves the audience in a situation where they're not sure what to hold on to. The inflated characters suddenly seem to be human beings that do change. But the changes and blunders of the characters are cleverly justified by external pressures. Even when Komala betrays her husband (who leaves for the army after marrying her) and turns into a prostitute, she is given a degree of innocence and helplessness that you tend to sympathise with her. At one stage one might think that the whole blame of the suffering caused should go to the raging war outside. But the war is an entity which is beyond their ability to prevent. In fact, if you look closely the war is not the immediate reason for the shades of grey. It's the deprival of love and hope throughout the film. Take a look at each of the characters in the film, their hearts seem to be incapable of love, either towards any other human being or for a passion they want to pursue in life. And at the least they don't have anything significant to occupy themselves with. Their lives are but a matter of survival, and they only live because they have to, not because they want to. Their very reactive existence defines their incapability of handling external pressures. Thus the film subtly illustrates the loss of a clear conscience when people are deprived of love and hope. There's also another funny thing about the film. Even when the film boasts of no hero, no outstanding selfless person to somehow save the day; the opposite is not quite true. While the heroes of the film are coloured in shades of grey, the villains seem to be coloured in pitch black. Characters like the monk-turned-thief, the ever corrupt and cunning government agent and his side kick seem to be the notorious bad guys you see in a typical comic book. Though this defies all the things the film stands for, it relieves a great deal of stress to see some characters that don't change colour, and for a moment you can point the finger and laugh at them (a common habit which seems to run in our blood). Maybe it was Sudath's idea to show a world only consisting of black and grey, to express the absence of light in a war torn country, but in the process he has made the film into another fairy tale (turned upside down) filled with all the bad guys and maybe forgetting those knights-in-shining-armour. The film could've been much more realistic if the completely dark characters had also been shown emotionally vulnerable at some stage and therefore giving a justifiable reason for their behaviour. But that doesn't happen. One other thing, the children have been painted completely naive throughout the film. It's as if Sudath wanted to say that selfishness and the other roots of evil come from extensive exposure to the intoxicating society, and not from human nature. In doing so, it's given a nice touch to the film; a lighter side that reveals hope and a distant prosperity if the circumstances were to change in the future. The cinematography and the choreography of the film is quite nice. The way that the camera moves in some scenes with just the right timing to reveal the broader picture is quite compelling. The camera angles chosen in most scenes capture the whole spirit of the moment and you can easily see that the producers have strained a lot into this department. In a culture where Hindi films run rampage and where one-shot-one attracts immense applause it's hard to figure out where the film will stand in the hearts of the people. The majority of the people expect in a film to have a hero or at least someone they can relate to. Some expect the film to have a guideline or some sort of cheap truth that transcends. Unfortunately the film has neither, and when the average movie fan that comes in search for an entertaining fantasy finds out the film is seemingly real, it might become frustrating. But on the other hand, it's a step towards a new film tradition. Though the attempt has its flaws, it's destined to leave a mark in the history of Sinhala cinema. Expressions from within by Angelo De Mel "When you think of art, it is not the case of trying to mediate something or do what someone else has done. It is a way of expression. Expression in terms of not what you see but what comes from within" - Thilake abeysinghe
The entire collection of paintings consisted of only twenty paintings in oil on canvas. Twelve of these were already with his daughter in Canada, as part of her collection of paintings. The rest were painted in a very short time in Canada, expressly for this exhibition, while the major bulk of his work, consisting of some 250 paintings and sculptures being in his private gallery in Sri Lanka. Tilake Abeysinghe was born in Karathota near Matara in 1929. After his primary education at Rahula College, Matara, he finished his college education at St. Sylvester's College, Kandy and joined the Survey Department as a draughtsman, while studying Art at Government College of Fine Arts in Colombo, he won at a competition for the Buddha Jayanthi Stamp in 1956 which brought him to the limelight in Sri Lanka and soon his talent earned him a postgraduate scholarship to the famed Academia De Belle Arte in Milan, Italy where he came under the tutelage of world famous painter Dominico Cantatore and earned the praise Marano Marini, who was very impressed by his work. Tilake graduated from the Academia, with distinction in both painting and sculpture. After holding his very first one-man exhibition in Milan, Tilake established a highly successful atelier there. But the call of his own country, no less accentuated by the young wife and children he has left there, was soon too great to resist and after returning he lost no time in establishing himself as one of the major painters and sculptors in Sri Lanka. Seventy eight one-man exhibitions and 43 years later Tilake Abeysinghe who had by then acquired numerous accolades, both local and international, including the title of Chevalier of the Order of Merit from the Government of Italy, awarded to him in recognition of his immense service to Arts, proceeded to Canada just to visit his daughter, with the least idea of holding an exhibition. His daughter Dr. Chitralekha Abeysinghe, and her architect husband Ruwan Costa, who live in Canada, had already in their residence in Labrador, a sizable art collection, the pride of place of which were of course twelve paintings of her father. These paintings were highly appreciated and admired by Canadians who visited them, and when the painter himself was in their midst, they suggested that he hold an exhibition there. Hectic arrangements were made, a date set and Tilake undertook the task of painting eight new works expressly for this exhibition-his 79th. The exhibition was organised by Labrador Art and Culture Centre, at Labrador City whose director Ellen Turner was immensely helpful in making it a resounding success. A large number of Canadians came to see the exhibition, as a result, wide publicity in printed media, such as North 53 Labrador News Magazine and Aurora, the trans-continental newspaper. Canadian Broadcasting corporation (CBC) through its hourly news bulletins and a live interview with Tilake, gave a country wide publicity to the event throughout the exhibition. Senior Broadcaster CBC Mike Power, presented Tilake with a compact disk of the live interview to mark this event. The Mayor of Labrador City, honoured Tilake with a presentation of a gold medal as a mark of respect and appreciation of his work. Andrew Kelly writing a review in Aurora said of Tilake Abeysinghe: "Admirers will possibly have a chance to meet this compassionate, powerful man, during the exhibit who has devoted his life to self-expression and shared pieces of his life with the rest of the world". Channa Jayanath has much to offer by Umangi de Mel
His train of thought could never be distracted by anything on earth. Not confined to accepted norms, quite free in his expressions, the popular lyricist of our time, does plenty of things, balancing whatever he does, properly. He is General Manager of Nilwala Group, B. A. Channa Jayanath and the brother of Lalith Vasantha, a famous lyricist. Having written popular songs such as Sudu araliya mala sung by Ajith Muthukumarana and Appachchiye mata theluvata which is sung by Kingsley Peiris, Channa has completed over 700 songs, so far. According to him, his brother has been helping him to come up the ladder of success. "It's his foot-steps that I follow. He's contributed a lot to my journey and also Upul Jayasinghe, my chairman has had a lot to do with my success. He always backs us to improve our talent," Channa says talking about a few people behind his fame. Although he is quite busy with the company work, Channa finds a minute to pen down a few lines for a song, "whenever the idea comes, I quickly write it down; it could even be while I'm travelling. The ideas could be from my own experience as well. If I come across any difficulty, I talk to people like Professor Sunil Ariyaratne or Ratnasiri Wijesinghe. I don't believe in imitating styles or artistes but do my own thing." Channa completed his education at the Vidyalankara Maha Vidyalaya in Maharagama. He was also a student at the Sri Dharmasoka Dhamma School, Godigamuwa, which apparently helped him come up as an artist. Being pretty active in both school and Dhamma school, Channa took care of almost all the literary events organised by them and won most of the competitions held back then. "Actually most of my songs top the charts on the Sinhalese radio stations these days," says a very proud Channa, talking about his fruitful attempts. Talking about the Sri Lankan audience, Channa says that they should be financially stable to enjoy music. "We've got an intelligent audience though, they won't just welcome anything that's been dished out by the so-called artists but the musicians got to be competitive and talented. "There's definitely a place for talent." Speaking of other genre of music, Channa points out that still, it's the Sinhala music that covers the majority of Sri Lanka, "You get a lot of rock, rap and hip hop groups but it's an addiction that is limited to a certain strata. It doesn't reach people in the rural areas where as people like Kingsley Peiris, Ajith Muthukumarana are best selling artists who have caught everyone's attention, reaching the masses. Their music definitely covers a wider area than all the rap, rock and hip hop artists." He adds that he's proud to be part of something that caters to the majority of Sri Lankan music lovers. Voicing his opinion, Channa says that he feels if a song gets played on air, it soon gets very stale. "People don't feel like listening to it anymore. The radio stations should play a variety of songs without playing the same tracks all the time." He feels that there's a place for talent now, printing out the fact that it's not limited to radio. "Television does a lot of things. Opportunities are ample now that they organise loads of competitions and programmes on TV for talented people. But whatever you do, you've got to do it properly, because that way you last long." He also feels that the young generation is doing quite a lot to make a difference in the music field. Nevertheless, he reveals that the radio stations are merely catering to a limited crowd. "They play songs to satisfy certain individuals and not the real listener which is totally unfair." Having come to the end of the sixth year of his journey as an artist, he looks quite content and claims his songs were even sung by experts like Nanda Malini and Sunil Edirisinghe, "I've also written songs for teledramas like Deepashika and Sanda Daruwo which are yet to be telecast and film called Nilambare which is directed by Kelum Palitha and produced by Upul Jayasinghe. That's my debut film, actually." The very hardworking person that he is, Channa has got the break to do lyrics for albums of Kingsley Peiris and Ajith Muthukumarana. Quite satisfied with his achievements Channa says that he owes it all to people like Upul Jayasinghe, Lalith Vasantha, his wife Sugandhi and his family. 'Butterfly Wings': Best Feature Film Award
Speaking with the Sunday Observer Dissanayaka said "I am Happy. Happy because this is the first international competition for feature films that I participated in, and to have my film chosen as the best is something worth rejoicing". Describing the competition as a "tough" event he said, he had to compete with leading film-makers of nine other countries including Canada, Brazil, Germany, Sweden and France. Butterfly Wings had been screened at three cinemas and had received "good comments and wonderful feed-back from the audience". As there is no embassy representing Sri Lanka in Mexico, the award was handed to Robert Roy, Honorary Member of CIFEI who will hand it over to Dissanayaka at the Rimouski Film Festival in Canada next month. (AD) Gender speaks in art A woman who feels so much for womankind and an issue, 'The Beauty Queen Concept' which brings about compulsion on every woman, consciously or subconsciously in today's society was most powerfully brought out by young artist Jayani Cooray of Hambantota, at a recent exhibition held at the Art Gallery Colombo.
In the novel concept of artistry, the critique had artistically depicted and powerfully explored the commercial value added to the 'total woman concept', as against the ideal beauty of a woman and the influence of international beauty pageants, which the artist portrayed is the governing body which datives and sustains, the ideal statistics and attributes of a 'beauty queen', in the day's context. The artist had emphasised that all fashion and behavioral patterns is based on consumer culture and women are thus compelled to conform to the 'Beauty Queen Concept' whether they like it or not. Women should not be taken for sex symbols, she emphasised. The theme of artistry on display basically related to this problem and what women had to face in society as a result. Jayani Cooray is a holder of a Bachelor of Arts degree from the Institute of Aesthetic Studies of the University of Kelaniya. (RK) Semage's paintings on display in Canberra
Semage's paintings Mawakage Aadaraya (A mother's love) and Waadakayo (The musicians) have been given a prominent place at the exhibition. Organisers claim that Semage's unique traditional Sri Lankan style sets his work apart form the rest. Sri Lankan organisers in Australia hope to follow this exhibition with two more one-man exhibitions in Canberra and Sydney in 2006. In 2004, Semage held a one-man exhibition in the 'Kaisa' International Art Gallery in Helsinki, Finland, for almost a month. According to Semage, the exhibition in Helsinki brought a larger number of spectators than any other exhibition he had held in any foreign country. |
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| Produced by Lake House |
Though this banner can only be seen when entering the film hall, it's
pretty much visible, and one can only wonder why the producers wanted to add
prejudice into the minds of the audience even before the film begins. The
film truly speaks for itself and whether or not the spectators want to see
the darker side of war through the film is solely up to them. Apart from
ruining the whole film the banner is definitely a pretty bad marketing
strategy! 
Eminent Sri Lankan painter and sculptor Chevalier Tilake Abeysinghe made
a big impact in Canada recently, when an exhibition of some of his paintings
was held at Labrador Art and Culture Centre, Labrador City, Newfoundland and
Labrador from August 8 - 12, 2005. 
A week after he heard he has won the best feature film award at the 10th
Festival International de Cine Para Ninos in Mexico City held from August 9
to 14, for Butterfly Wings, Director Somaratne Dissanayaka is still
exuberant over his achievement. 
Several paintings of Internationally renowned Sri Lankan artist,
Kalasoori Jayasiri Semage are on display at an Art Gallery in Australia's
Canberra city, from August 24. The exhibition contains the works of some
well-known artists in Canberra as well as those of a number of international
artists. 
