The unfolding human drama

By Anuradha Kodagoda

How beautiful it would be if a movie hits your heart’s softest spot and reminds you of every single emotion that you’ve been going through being a woman; by confronting the never-ending inner desires as well as the agony of femininity.

Satyajit Maitipe’s Bora Diya Pokuna is a killer and it could literally tear me to a million little pieces by its insight it brought to life through three female characters Gothami (Kaushalya Fernando), Mangala (Dilani Abeywardhana) and Suwinitha (Priyanka Samaraweera).

They have not only portrayed their journeys in life, but more or less the journey of every human being. In such a backdrop what would have gone through the minds of the ‘censors’ when they with screened this fillm for more than a decade.

Was it a lack of comprehension or was it a fear that the contents might bear reprisals or was it both?

Undoubtedly, Bora Diya Pokuna is the first attempt in Sri Lankan cinematic history where the theme of feminine beauty has been outlined in detail.

Dynamics

The magic that I see in this film is how Satya beautifully and effortlessly nailed the dynamics so well about how exactly a woman feels about her beauty and physical attraction and also how it twists throughout her life, most of the times over-ruling all the other socio-economic factors.

While seeing Bora Diya Pokuna, the first idea that came to my mind was, ‘How does a man know this much about female emotions?’

With this in mind Montage interviewed Satyajit Maitipe, (as he says this in his strange, surreal sort of way) who has behaved like a mother who carried a baby in her womb for several long years while she sees so much happening around her and what happens to babies of other mothers and their families, their cries and laughter, their celebrations and heartaches.

Sometimes she learned too much about what happened to them and felt overwhelmed and sometimes felt a lot calmer than the others, simply because she has seen too much, while waiting.

But most importantly, patiently waiting for that special moment where her baby ‘enters’ this world.

Excerpts:

Question: Patiently waiting for more than a decade, finally Bora Diya Pokuna made its way to local cinemas. What’s the feeling of delivering the ‘baby’ you carried for so long?

Answer: I am obviously relieved in a certain way but I don’t know what’s in store and how the audience is going to react. Obviously I have a sense of apprehension and doubt if the audience rejects me.

However, so far the response is positive and it is too early to comment on it.

However, now it’s a new circle. The pregnancy period is one cycle and the moment you deliver you enter into another. I’m going through the period which is absolutely crucial.

Emotions

Q: How did you know so much about women and their emotions?

A: I don’t know much about women or their emotion?. When you are a child you see your parents, a man and a woman together. Fortunately or unfortunately I saw them together till I was seven.

The way we see and observe things around us gets formatted during that period.

Perhaps I have been brought up by my father who was relatively a calm person.

We were used to an unhurried, carefree life where we mixed and mingled with all sorts of people. That non-dramatic, harmonious existence has given me the opportunity to observe people.

With that unhurried pace, you are not trying to do things, prove or enjoy things hurriedly. I think that way of looking at things, interacting and observing people might have stayed with me.

I’m sure of a particular vision and a way that life operates or manifests. Some people may understand it. As I am humble, some might say I’m extremely manipulating and clever. It could be a mixture of both.

Generosity

However, I elicited from the actors what I wanted and partly it’s their generosity too.

Bora Diya Pokuna was successful partly due to Kaushalya’s generosity.

She gave so much of her talents. She went deeper and deeper, getting right into the character which sometimes brought tears to my eyes. She was so emotive!.

Q: The subject of ‘feminine beauty’ has not been discussed in detail in any Sri Lankan film ever before. In general, beauty or physical attraction decides a greater proportion of anyone’s life, irrespective of socio-economic conditions. How conscious were you about this when you were writing the script and also making the film?

A: I’m very conscious of power dynamics which is the broaderline that could be applicable to anything in life. Not being beautiful or ugly, is only one specific dynamic in relation to this power dynamics.

Everyone of us may have some issue with our self-image. However, when it comes to women, that’s a big issue. The way men see and get power is not exactly through looks while women’s struggle might be according to the body image they have. However, if you look deeply and if you have associated with good looking people - women or men, if you understand their struggles and issues then again you question whether it can delivery.

A woman’s entrapment with the two organs of her body, the womb and the female organ are extremely multifaceted and highly dramatic.

They are trapped into something which they cannot easily throw away and re-think life. People who have done that, have done it by either being extremely political or extremely spiritual.

I found this story interesting because of the female character’s complexity and the struggles they go through are varied, colourful, dramatic and emotional than what men go through.

Politics

My favourite characters are not from politics or from literature.

They come from religious literature; some are from the Bible and others are from the Thripitaka.

I’m extremely fascinated and forever impressed by complex characters, what they go through and how they struggle, what they achieve and what they lose.

Apart from the spiritual angle and the broader discussion about religiosity, I’m interested in their lives as people.

I find them so rich, textured and dynamic. If you dwell with them and pick a character from that existence, I think you are ready with such an extremely rich colour palette of humanness. That’s the way I operate and the way I write.

Q: All the female characters in this film have a connection with a child. How close is this woman and child concept to your life?

A: Being a human the most important and loving relationship is the parent-child connection.

That is the strongest and the ultimate position of love and of giving.

In Bora Diya Pokuna I’m not saying that women should have children or anything like that but I was focusing on the parental bond with their children which is a mutually dependent relationship. There I may have gone into detail about the woman and child bond.

I have seen the suffering of women where they have a sense of incompleteness, frustration and are vulnerable till they conceive.

They come to an inner settlement with themselves, only when they have children.

Again motherhood is not the ultimate for a woman or fatherhood is not the ultimate for a man. For instance, Kisagothami cried and went mad not only because her child died but as a human she got respect, love and acceptance only when she became a mother.

Suddenly it all broke into smithereens when the child died. It is a never- ending process.

Q: Talking about the cast in Bora Diya Pokuna, all the characters had a quite good understanding about their characters. What are the main characteristics that you considered when casting them?

A: If we talk about acting in technical terms, Duminda and Lakruwan were not on the same level as the others. They were struggling and trying hard to portray the character. However, in a certain way internally and externally they had certain organic links which are connected to the characters. The characters anyway demanded a certain rawness and gut feeling, especially the character portrayed by Duminda.

Masculinity

I needed a certain dumbness or stupidity with an ultra-masculinity. I found that combination in Duminda and could not get someone who is experienced in the field. I was following and tapping a certain organic essence in every character of the film which was quite important for me.

I was fortunate to have Kaushalya and Dilani playing the key female roles. Talking about Dilani I didn’t have to explain much as she already knew about life.

Also she’s less afraid than Kaushalya. Talking about Kaushalya’s versatility and talent there’s no question about that. But at that time Dilani had more experience in life than Kaushalya.

Priyanka doesn’t perform at all as her character was absolutely natural and she rarely had any hiccups. Kaushalya’s character is varied and dynamic. She had many issues of trying to get where I wanted her to. Dilani was smarter and cleverer as she knew the camera and lights better than the others.

However, Bora Diya Pokuna and its characters spiralled with the characters in the film as well as their real lives, then they got mixed up and enveloped people, their lives, marriages and relationships in complex ways which anybody could not get rid of .

Q: For more than a decade Bora Diya Pokuna was stuck in the process due to many reasons. It’s an injustice for you as an artiste where you had to waste your time and energy by waiting.

However, after so many drawbacks and decisions by the authorities, don’t you think your over-confidence or rigidness was the main barrier which took you so long to pave the way for Bora Diya Pokuna for local theatres?

A: I don’t feel depressed or sad because I feel I have not wasted my life. I never give up easily and I have seen so much and I can patiently wait. Some people might eagerly judge it as being my ego, which is not. In simple terms I see something that others don’t see and I have to talk about that. It’s not fair if somebody else decides on my story. I just demanded my right to tell my story the way I saw it, which I don’t refer to as ego.

Q: Bora Diya Pokuna’s storyline is connected with Buddhist philosophy. Are you a believer or a follower of Buddhist philosophy?

A: I believe in Buddhist philosophy. Putting it simply, life and society is complex and we are in eternal struggle in our day-to-day life.

You may find analyses; you may find explanations but those analyses or explanations may not have answers when you face extreme situations in life.

I cannot sleep in the night by analysing the tragedy of my life. I have to come to terms with it in a spiritual or emotional way which is longer lasting.

In a lighter and ironic manner I call Bora Diya Pokuna a Buddhist parable. In the same way I refer to my life as a joke. But thinking deeper, I think I’m driven towards my human struggle leading to spiritual illumination.

Because everybody wants peace of mind and I think Buddhism is the closest to reach it.