Arts

Film Review: Samara - questions traditional values

by Ranga Chandrarathne

Samara which is now being screened at cinemas throughout the country, is a film that seriously questions traditional values and strong Sri Lankan institution of family which is as depicted in the film and always serves as a social institution to carry on lineage.

What is demanded of that close-knit extended family is the protection of inherited properties, often through inter-family marriages. In those marriages that are more or less arranged marriages, the most primordial human feeling, love plays a secondary or minor role in arranged marriage with the objective of preserving existing property and to produce an heir for it.

Storyline

The story starts with Indu (Kanchana Mendis) Samara's mother being chased away by her furious father from her ancestral home on a cloudy, rainy night. She (Indu) is shown as a pregnant girl abandoned by her lover Shaine and she seeks refuge in granny's compound.

Now she is with a daughter Samara and dreams of becoming a teacher of music. Indu meets with an accident on her way to the practical test for the selection of music teachers.

In the accident her violin is damaged but she managed to get through the examination and become a teacher of music. In a another plane, Kalana (Kamal Addaraarachchi) the medical officer who is betrothed to his distant relation Ruwina (Semini Iddamalgoda) suffers due to the damage to Indu's violin and tries to present a new violin to Indu. Indu avoids Kalana who visits the school to present the violin.

The young doctor who is forced to marry a distant relation finds that she is a mismatch for him and starts to admire Indu, mistaking Samara (Sandali Welikanne) for Indu's younger sister and in fact, Samara is Indu's daughter born out of wedlock. Kalana befriends Samara and asks for Indu's hand. Eventually, Kalana falls in love with Indu and marries her against his parents' will and thereby loses a vast fortune that he is heired to.

Indu's happy marriage is haunted by her past when Shaine (Buddhika Jayaratne) a photographer who is her ex-boy friend starts to claim Samara. In a desperate bid, Shaine abducts Samara and hides her in his shanty room on the top floor of a shop. Samara falls sick and she is admitted to the hospital.

In spite of doctors struggle, Samara breathes her last at the hospital and her death affects badly an already estranged relationship between Indu and her husband. The couple begins to suspect each other, as Indu cannot get over the void created by the death of Samara and settles for a day-to-day life.

The story comes to its summit with Kalana wining a scholarship to England to earn his postgraduate qualifications from a prestigious university. This gives an avenue for Kalana to avoid Indu who is by now pregnant. At the last moment he cancels it and reunites and swears never to be separated again. The bond is further strengthened by the prospects of the birth of a baby.

Although the young film-maker compromised a bit with the picture quality, the film gives a wholesome cinematic experience and it is a film that the entire family can watch.

Sanjaya Nirmal from his debut has showed that he could make an artistic film with classical ingredients, which surely will be a commercial success. Sanjaya directed ten single episode tele-films including "Nonimi Yathra" (The Endless Voyage), "Avurudu Kumari", a single episode drama for Sinhala new year, "Divya", a sixty episode teledrama and short film "Atal Pavura". Sanjaya has also written scripts for a number of teledramas and stage dramas.

Institution of marriage

In a way, it questions the existing institution of marriage which is based on caste and other petty concerns disregarding love and the intimate bond that, in fact, is the true basis of a successful marriage. Here the arranged marriage between Ruwina (Semini Iddamalgoda) and Kalana serves the purpose of carrying on property for the next generation.

Iranganie Serasinghe, Sandali Welikanne, Nelum Perera, Buddhadasa Vithanarachchi, Nithanthi Wijeysinghe, Seetha Kumari, Ruwan Wickremasinghe, Tyronne Michael, Soma Mawalage, Piyumi Shanika and Neeta Fernando play guest roles in Samara.

Samara is produced by EAP films and edited by Rukmal Niroshan. Pradeep Bulathsinghala handles the camera. Music for the film is directed by Rohana Weerasinghe, while Senior Professor Sunil Ariyaratne and Bandara Eheliyagoda wrote lyrics for Samara.

Rukantha Gunatilaka, Uresha Ravihari, Grecian Ananda, Morris Wijesinghe and Nelu Adhikari have rendered their voices for playback music.

Quest at NAG

With her current exhibition, Quest, Sri Lankan artist Anoma Wijewardene provides a multi-media tour de force. The exhibition combines digital art with provocative words, music, performance and video installation. Quest offers " a glimpse of what is possible if we work toward peace and healing." Quest will be exhibited for a short time only at the National Art Gallery (NAG) from June 2-4 from 10-6 p.m. Admission will be free.

Quest, which has been three years in the making, is the internationally recognised artist's first exhibition of Digital Art.

The installation stems from Anoma's travels throughout Sri Lanka, from Jaffna to Matara to Colombo, and depicts the struggles of ordinary Sri Lankans in the face of both natural and man-made disasters. Some of the images have barely been altered.

Others are layered, fused, blurred, and sharpened. Quotes from philosophers, politicians, authors and ordinary citizens create a dialogue with the images. The quotes are in all three languages. Within an adjoining space, a multi screen video installation incorporating performance art is on continuous display.

At a time of declining hopes, Anoma offers a call for reconciliation that is both poetic and accessible. Together the words and images form an invitation to action, for each of us to take responsibility for our part in beginning the process of healing.

While this project began with the ceasefire agreement of 2002, its message now feels woefully urgent.