Gushes of a film freak

Reviewed by Kalakeerthi Edwin ariyadasa

“What is film? Is it art?
Is it literature? It is an art forum that is larger than life.”
- Jean Renoir (1894 – 1979)
French film director

Sunil Mihindukula's collection of essays elicits an ardent appeal largely because of its unadorned rawness, unaffected style, stark genuineness and its naïve simplicity, bereft of artificial posturing.

The spirit that pervades this anthology of columns, is that of an uninhibited title-tattle among intimate chums, over a relaxing cup of tea (or, for that matter, even a little more potent brew.) The title of the work - “Film Buff” (Picture Pissa), reflects this free-wheeling expression of views, ideas, impressions, comments and opinions, on a wide variety of themes, of which ‘film’ stand out in high profile.

Even the typographical presence of the book, exudes the feel of an informal, unplanned format. The chapters are not defined by specific headings. The essays merge seamlessly into one another. The top of each page is decked with the sketch of a film-strip-complete with frames and sprockets. A clapperboard punctuates the stark of a new essay. All these details cumulatively convey the notion of an unending “chat, gushing out of a mind, filled with luscious tid-bits and morsels of knowledge, assiduously garnered, over a lifetime of enthusiastic participation, in the life of art and culture.

Significance

Sunil Mihindukula's work, assumes a special significance, as it provides a crucial point of departure, to focus emphatically on a current and troubling trend, relating to some books, essays columns and articles on films and allied thematic areas.

Today, an ever-widening audience, finds access to films and teledramas – primarily because of the availability of facilities, for non-theatrical exhibition of films and television programs. Parallel to this development, vast swathes of space in dailies, weeklies, fortnightlies, magazines, and tabloid-inserts, are on offer to those who are willing to fill them.This has created a demand for those who write about films and television, as the aura of glamour associated with these fields, ensures increased sales.

In consequence a tribe of quill-wielders, has emerged, mushrooming instantly into film pundits, cinema critics, sages and servants of the electronic media. Though they rarely rise above the level of pathetic gossip-monger, they find ready and willing publishers and much-hyped and thickly crowded book launches.

I must hasten to add, that this is only an objective observation of a general drift and I do not feel either compelled or obliged to make value – judgements. Sunil Mihindukula's book, quite effectively transcends this disturbing deterioration, as his essays stem from long years of carefully amassed experiences and sustained enthusiasm restrained by discrimination and discipline.

To my mind, the exceptionally compelling elements in Sunil's essays, derives unerringly from his effortless use of the spoken idiom. This level of stylistic case can occur because these experiences have transformed themselves into an integral part of his inner being.

Sense of gratitude

It is quite clear that he has ‘lived’ all those moments he records in his articles, with an ultra-keenness.

Sunil's recurring references to the late Neil I. Perera deserve to be especially singled out, as they provide an inkling of his sense of gratitude to Neil I. Perera who worked hard, with little or no recognition to establish a systematic film awareness in the country. I must mention in passing, that I was closely associated with him, in many of his film promotional moves. Many of the pieces Sunil has anthologised in this work, take on the guise of film reviews.

His personal, appreciative responses to such films as Pather Pancholi and Tin Drum, are an index to his strong addiction to the cinema.

Sunil possesses a built-in capacity to dramatise their reaction to a film, engendering in the reader a desire to view films. Although the book is titled Film Buff, Sunils’ work ranges over a vast sweep of subjects, that extend far beyond the cinema.

Moving tributes

His memories of some of the stalwarts in Sri Lanka's landscapes of art and culture, form moving tributes to those persons of high stature who are no more.

Sunil remembers Sugathapala de Silva, who adorned the Sri Lankan stage, quoting a series of meetings with him. These brief episodes, evoke his personality, in an admirable economy of word-use.

Taken together, the essays collected in this thin volume, chronicle an era in Sri Lankan art and culture, from the point of view of an exceedingly sensitive observer of the passing pageant of life.

Although these experiences are associated with the recent past of the country, Sunil's style of writing elevates them into a historical status. In an entirely personal level, I was surprised no end, to find a reference in this work, to a headline I wrote, nearly forty years ago.

Creative curiosity

The article that appeared under the headline quoted by Sunil, celebrated the 100th performance of Simon Navagattegama's popular stage dram Subha and Yasa. This proves the utmost care Sunil lavished on what he read, what he saw and what he heard.

It is this wholesome creative curiosity that has made Sunil Mihindukula occupy the front ranks of the columnists in Sri Lanka.

In a piece contributed to the back-cover of this book ANCL Chairman Bandula Padmakumara, characterises Sunil Mihindukula as a profound voyager in the terrain of cinema. He adds that Sunil's writings are leavened by a sense of loving kindness towards the persons Sunil writes about.

It could very well be said that Sunil Mihindukula's writings are enlivened by his sense of humanity and his unfailing adoration of life. Though he sets out to be a mere Film Buff he ends up as an important chronicle of those events and persons who matter in art and culture of this land.