An unmatched legacy in Sinhala cinema
By Dilshan Boange
Lester by Lester, as told to Kumar de Silva
Today as Sri Lanka's cinema industry spreads its wings towards
various genres ranging from teen pop to historical films and so forth,
one of the forefathers of the Sinhala cinema Dr. Lester James Peries
claims a pedestal that few mortals can during their lifetime, to be a
'living legend', celebrating his 95th birthday.
Today as this iconic creator of moving images quietly rests in his
days of retirement, one can only wonder what images of his golden days
behind the camera and onset 'playback' in his thoughts. Today as a
tribute to this Sri Lankan filmmaker who crafted an unsurpassable legacy
on celluloid I believe it is apt to spare a few minutes to dwell on what
LJP has presented as his official biographical account covering his
entire body of work in the form of an oral narrative made into a textual
record titled Lester by Lester, as told to Kumar de Silva.
The book which is a Vijitha Yapa Publication was launched as a
limited edition issue in April 2007 and commands great value as a
collector's item since every single copy bears an authentic signature of
LJP himself.
On turning each page any film lover who holds a sense of respect for
the complex craft of creating stories in moving visuals will be
captivated by the words that narrate a film legend's life in the world
of cinema, and feel awed as the tones and turns of phrase speak out the
voice of LJP to take shape in the reader's mind, to recreate the days
and events that chartered his path to become who he is today, a word
renowned film-maker from Sri Lanka who stands to be the only Sri Lankan
so far to be honoured by the French government as Commander in the Order
of Arts Letters (Commandeur dans l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres).
Passion
In the personal note by LJP to the reader, he reveals that the
publication is one of passion and devotion on the part of the
biographer, well-known media personality, TV broadcaster and author
Kumar de Silva, whose unwavering commitment over a span of five years,
to record, transcribe, and collate the 'LJP story' created the
biographical narrative now existent for posterity as 'Lester by Lester,
as told to Kumar de Silva'.
The onus of recounting an authentic, true to fact 'career story'
covering 20 film projects no doubt had been considerably felt by LJP's
conscience which is evinced in the following words -"A journey in time
is always fraught with multiple dangers; nostalgia and an obfuscation of
the truth. I have tried to avoid both pitfalls - it hasn't been easy.
When you have worked with artistes who enjoy iconic status today, but
were unknown when you started their careers, how much can you reveal?
When you have ghost directed a considerable number of scenes, would you
now reveal what has been an artistic triumph today? Historical veracity
may try to force you to, but the ethical thing to do is to keep your
trap shut."
The book presents 20 chapters, and each chapter is titled with the
name of the film it deals with. Each chapter is thus something of a
'director's cut' in words, if one may adopt the term as a turn of
phrase, as the images that get conjured in the mind of the reader will
run like something of a private rendition of the film in aspects that
were beyond the scope of being recorded on camera.
Insight
What the reader discovers first is where it all began, Rekawa; which
was titled in English as 'The Line of Destiny'. The reader is taken back
in time to what happened in 1955; literally in the 'last century'. In
this opening chapter LJP gives in the following words insight as to how
his desirous flames for feature film-making were getting fanned with
getting the feel for Rekawa -"Deep down my feeling for cinema was not so
much for documentaries, as for fiction. It is difficult to say where the
stories come from. This story came from a whole lot of associations. It
may have been a simple story where I could embody a great deal of
village life and the things that happen in a village like a puppet show,
a masked devil dance, or a stilt walker coming to the village."
Budgeted back then at Rs.150,000 the story of the Gamperaliya film
project is one that will surely enthral readers when the words of the
pioneering film-maker describe how the locations were selected and the
acting talents of the late greats of the Sinhala stage and screen Henry
Jayasena and Trilicia Goonewardena were cultivated and harnessed to
achieve the vision that the directorial eye had conceived.
How the bestselling Sinhala romance novel Golu Hadawatha made it to
the big screen, how LJP devised the narrative from text to visuals, and
how the renowned leftist legislator Bernard Soysa had helped save the
film from being brutally contorted with suggested deletions of scenes by
the authorities of the Ceylon Theatres is all stated in the book.
The book offers to the world of cinema in terms of learning, a
practitioner's account of how film-makers work between film theory, the
politics in society and institutions and actual onset work; taking a
film project from concept to reality, or from script to celluloid.
Surely the details that give technical insight as to how certain
shots in certain films were achieved and why they were done in that
manner will be of much interest to cinema enthusiasts, film critics and
academics as well as students of film and aspiring filmmakers.
Sinhala translation
When I came to know from the biographer Kumar de Silva that a Sinhala
translation of this book is currently underway, being translated by
Athula Samarakoon, the current Head of the Department of Fine Arts of
the University of Peradeniya, to be launched in July as a Samaranayake
Publication, and, as part of the French Spring Festival, I felt that a
tremendous service is being done to the existing body of Sinhala
literature on cinema.
Many after all are the monolingual Sinhala readers in our country who
have been enamoured with LJP's Sinhala cinema. His story in Sinhala will
surely touch the pulse of many of his viewers who were partners in
certain respects to the success he enjoyed over the decades.
And so with my salutations proffered to the great doyen of Sinhala
cinema may I say let us all on this day in our hearts warmly accord him
a standing ovation.
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