She
virtually lived in their chamariya to study their role:
Kaushalya, internationally acclaimed
by Dilshan Boange
The year 2016 has been a year in which actress Kaushalya Fernando (
stage and screen), has seen her onscreen talent recognised with more
than one accolade! After winning the award for Best Actress for her
performance in the film Bora Diya Pokuna at this year's Derana Film
Awards on May 14, Kaushalya's talent for the portrayal of a rural woman
who comes to the industrial zone in Biyagama to work as an apparel
factory sewing machine operator named Gothami, earned her international
recognition on June 6, when she was awarded the accolade for Best
Actress at the SAARC Film Festival. It must be noted that the very first
interview Kaushalya gave to a newspaper on winning the prestigious award
was to the Sunday Observer.
Kaushalya Fernando with her SAARC
accolade for Best Actress |
My first question to her was how did she manage to build herself into
the psyche of a character to bridge the gap vastly distant from her
personal urban middle class upbringing? "One's background doesn't matter
in serious acting. Where you come from is irrelevant," answered
Kaushalya, adding, "Sophia Loren was said to be from a very impoverished
background, but she performed roles depicting the very highest echelons
of western society." Kaushalya then gave an insight about the 'research'
that had been part of the film project. "The director, Sathyajith
Maitipe left no stone unturned and was relentless in finding sources to
gain information and personal engagement opportunities with women who
work in the industrial zone." I saw from the answers I received that I
was in the crux of a socio-psychological research. Director Maitipe and
his leading lady, committed to support him achieve this work from its
scripting stage, visited professionals who provide counselling to women
working in the industrial zone, to learn about their problems, as well
as speaking to workers of this stratum on a very personal level. "I even
stayed at some of their lodgings, commonly called a chamariya. Being
with them so closely gave me a good insight into their lives. It helped
me to get into this character and understand the context of their social
sphere," she said.
Interactions
How were her interactions with her co-actors and their characters, I
asked? "I wonder if it's wrong for me to say this, but the honest truth
is I didn't actually have much of an emotional bonding with many of the
other characters. I think, the main reason was because the director and
I worked on the project from script development level. I had my own
vision of how the story would be, and simply set out on my journey to
deliver the character. However, Priyanka Samaraweera who plays the role
of Suneetha depicted the image I had for the character and made me feel
more emotionally connected when compared to the others." Three women
came to the Biyagama zone, Kaushalya said, about the principal
characters in the film. The trio are said to thematically represent
-extreme austerity, hedonism and the middle path.
"Gothami
is the severely deprived one" explained Kaushalya, who admitted that she
was not happy with her performance in some scenes and felt she could
have done better, although overall she says, the audience responses were
overwhelming. "There were men who were teary-eyed coming out of the hall
where Bora Diya Pokuna was screened as part of the SAARC film festival.
They came up to me and said, how much they sympathized with the
character I brought to life. There were ladies who held on to my hand
and expressed how deeply they were touched by the character of Gothami
and her tragic life. So when I think of these responses I think the
performance was overall successful."
Competitive
About her experience of working under Maitipe's direction, Kaushalya
said, "He never complimented my acting, nor did he praise me, no matter
how hard I tried. Sometimes, he kept pulling me up, to be more
competitive, saying how well the other actresses performed. In some
instances I tried to prove to him that I could live up to what was
expected of me. He knew in that sense, how to play with the psychology
of an artiste to get the best output. She also spoke of Maitipe's wide
knowledge about cinema and how he was very resourceful in providing her
with material about screen acting and characterization.
On being awarded Best Actress at the SAARC Film Fest by an
international jury, which consisted of Fabienne Agnado (France), Andrei
Vasilenko (Russia) and Jinna Lee (Korea), Kaushalya said she actually
wondered whether she would have a chance to win against films such as
Masaan by Neeraj Ghaywan, being in the competition. A Cannes Award
winning film, Masaan had won Best Film at the SAARC Film Festival and
also had a brilliant actress playing the lead. "I honestly wondered
whether our work delivered effectively the nuances to convey our
cultural context to a foreign panel of film jurists." The answer of
course now is a proven resounding 'affirmative'. Bora Diya Pokuna has
delivered in no small measures.
A scene from Bora Diya Pokuna |
However, the humility in Kaushalya, as an artiste who knows the
journey that the film faced, being filmed nearly ten years ago, said,
the climax was when the film was finally allowed to be screened and not
shackled to the censor ban imposed on it for several years. She said she
had been with Maitipe from the very start of the project when he first
shared his idea, and went the whole nine years with him to secure
funding from the Film Corporation and fought the good fight against the
Censor Board when it was deemed unsuitable for public viewing. "To me,
the first award for the film was won when the ban was lifted and Bora
Diya Pokuna was allowed public screening. That was the essence of our
film's 'triumph' if I may put it that way."
Gratifying
Kaushalya admitted that the feeling of winning the award for Best
Actress, is truly gratifying. "Being appreciated for your hard work as
an actress is of course a wonderful feeling.", she said in true
humility, further emphasizing that it has been a long thorny road for
the film to go from its production phase about ten years ago, to gain a
place for itself in the stratosphere of world cinema. And one may adduce
that by the looks of it, Bora Diya Pokuna will traverse further on its
own journey among cinema goers and film lovers in the days ahead. |