Sunday Observer Online
 

Home

Sunday, 15 March 2015

Untitled-1

observer
 ONLINE


OTHER PUBLICATIONS


OTHER LINKS

Marriage Proposals
Classified
Government Gazette

Aloko Udapadi:

An epic biopic

“To be ignorant of what occurred before you were born is to remain always a child. History is the witness of the times, the torch of truth, the life of memory, the teacher of life, the messenger of antiquity”.
Marcus Tullius Cicero
(106-43 BC)
- Roman Statesman

The expression “biopic” is a neologism, that has entered into the international discourse on cinema, in fairly recent times. The arrival of this term, in contemporary film colloquies, has been determined by a perceptibly prominent cinematic trend.

A significant number of films, built around the lives of historical personalities or exceptional individuals, has begun to rise into high profile at film festivals, award presentations and in many instances, at box office as well.

Hollywood-still a global trendsetter in cinema (at least obliquely or reluctantly) ostentatiously embraces the ‘biopic’ genre at highly significant moments. (Incidentally, as the dictionary defines it, ‘biopic’ implies ‘a film or movie about the life of a particular person’).

Historical era

Very often, a biopic is quite likely to have a historical era, as its backdrop. This enables the elaboration of the story with an impressive vividness, as the past period in which it takes place has to be dramatically recreated.

The glamour of the by-gone days, engenders an exotic appeal in the viewer. This explains the escalating popularity of the biopic mode. In Sri Lanka, the biopic genre possesses several dimensions of mass appeal. It appeals to their sense of profound patriotism. Invariably, the spiritually moving, for most filmgoers.

This is specifically true of the average Sri Lankan biopic. Most of the central characters in Sri Lankan films of this genre, possess at least a touch of spiritual heroism, since there is hardly any other country that can yield such a plethora of patriotic and spiritual heroes, as Sri Lanka’s long history is capable of.

Strangely enough, in spite of the presence of such a rich and astonishing mother lode of pre-eminent characters, exceptionally suitable for epic biopics, hardly a decade has passed since our film-makers discovered this genre.

Personalities

“Aba” is a pioneering cinematic effort in this category. This was quickly followed by a whole series of films, centering on personalities, stupendously larger than life. Among these, the epic biopic Sri Siddhartha Gautama escalated to a height, that has not been paralleled yet.

The glamour, the mass appeal and even the material gains ensured by this kind of film, resulted in the appearance of an enticing parade of biopics, in quick succession. ‘Vijaya and Kuveni’, ‘Mahindagamanaya’ and the most recent ‘Maharaja Gemunu’ are impressive cases in point.

But, these observations are a mere preamble to introduce one of the latest Sri Lankan biopics, that, to my mind, would register a stirring impact on all those, to whom cinema seriously matters.

Alien invasions

Titled Aloko Udapadi (Light Arose), this cinematic work represents the wholesome synthesis of variegated abilities of a group of individuals, distinguished by their unswerving commitment to their avowed creative task.

The central personality of the film is King Walagamba, who ruled the country in two separate sessions. His first session lasted merely five months, as alien invasions drove him to temporary exile. Vanquishing the invaders, he returned to the throne in 29 B.C. and ruled the land for 12 years until 17 B.C.

Our traditional historians, have not been able to recognise and assess adequately, the role played by King Walagamba (Vattagamini Abhaya) in the history of this land.

He began his rule, at one of the darkest hours in Sri Lankan history, when the peace and harmony of the land were threatened almost to the point of their non-existence. He restored those values, an extended patronage to an event, that has had a lasting impact on the totality of mankind’s culture.

He had the teachings of the Buddha, committed into writing, to counter its possible disappearance, after it had been brought down by oral tradition for 38 generations.

The biopic epic Aloko Udapadi, presents this momentous human triumph, in an unparalleled audio-visual idiom. This is in high contrast to the generality of Sri Lankan film-stories, which tend, by an large, to cleave to a form of literary idiom, rather than an audio-visual style of presentation.

Outcome

This praiseworthy outcome has been possible, primarily because of the creative utilisation of the sustained audio-visual training and discipline of its young director Chatra Weeraman.

He earned his Bachelor of Multi-Media Degree, with first class Honours in Film and Animation at the Multimedia University of Malaysia. He won several international awards for his work, but luckily for Sri Lankan cinema, he did not yield to the temptation to seek his film fortunes at the Global Cinema Shrine Hollywood.

His co-director, Baratha Gihan Hettiarachchi, shares his director’s qualifications. And, these two young people, have proved a duo of talent repositories, which could fully blossom forth, ushering in a new and genuinely cinematic period of film creation in Sri Lanka.

A versatile personality of Sri Lanka’s film-field Saman Weeraman guided the production to exceptional success, as script-writer and consultant director.

All told, Aloko Udapadi, is an exceptionally beautiful moment in Sri Lanka’s film history. The meticulous – utterly committed contribution of all those involved in the making of Aloko Udapadi has provided the Sri Lanka film-goer the blessed opportunity of viewing a truly cinematic work, whose aesthetic impression gets embedded in the inner recesses of the spectator’s soul.

Universal

Thematically, it’s universal. The quintessential core of the film is the writing down of the Buddha word.

This is an outstanding event in the whole of human culture. The selfless commitment of the Bhikkhus who had memorised the Buddha’s word, is cinematically chronicled as a homage to the Bhikkhus, who played the role of custodian of the Dhamma, with no thought of their own lives.

But in a way, the hero of this epoch – making film is its producer – Thusitha Wijayasena. He has made an investment to elevate the spiritual and cultural well-being of generations to come.

He has admirably eschewed the opportunity to earn quick shekels, through a commercial investment. Besides, he never, even minutely interfered with the decision of the creators of the film.

When Aloko Udapadi dawns in the public domain, the filmgoer will experience a profound cinematic ecstasy.

When the Buddha’s word was committed with writing under the patronage of King Walagamba, the resultant ola leaf books stood, nine-elephants’ high. When the discriminating viewers exult at the work – celebrating contributions by actors, actresses, lyricists and other artistes – their praises may not stand that high. But, the filmgoer will invariably experience a fresh aesthetic joy.

 | EMAIL |   PRINTABLE VIEW | FEEDBACK

LANKAPUVATH - National News Agency of Sri Lank
www.batsman.com
Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka (TRCSL)
www.army.lk
www.news.lk
www.defence.lk
Donate Now | defence.lk
www.apiwenuwenapi.co.uk
 

| News | Editorial | Finance | Features | Political | Security | Sports | Spectrum | Montage | Impact | World | Obituaries | Junior | Youth |

 
 

Produced by Lake House Copyright © 2015 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.

Comments and suggestions to : Web Editor