Not yet another love story

Sudu Kapurupethi - agony of our generation:

by Ranga Chandrarathne

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A heart-rending, unconventional and indisputable love story connecting 'estranged' communities forms the central theme of the teledrama "Sudu Kapurupethi" which is now being telecast over Sri Lanka Rupavahini.

From time to time, the character of idealistic grandmother exists only in the author's imagination surface and a thread of aesthetic expression of love sprints through the episodes that budge on with a slow motion diction well synchronized with the plot.

The teledrama is interwoven around hapless men and women who had never been involved in any organization and did not believe in fencing the mother earth. It is they who were sandwiched between ferocious war and containment of racism and incessant struggle they engaged in, leading a life in the midst of uncertainty.

Set against the contemporary discordant North and Eastern Provinces and Country's predominantly Sinhalese South, the "Sudu Kapurupethi" explores hitherto unthread territory of human relationships transcending man-made barriers of language, religion, ethnicity, nationality, perhaps , in some occasions, cast, creed, region, class in search of soul mate and true love, the very foundation of human existence under extremely odd circumstances.

Based on an award winning novel of the same name, the main characters of the novel a female Sinhalese medical student and a Tamil Engineer represents two social sectors, two extremes and communities that are driven apart by decades of conflict between forces and the Terrorist outfit in the North and the East.

The theme also depicts the fact that the highly politicized conflict had further distanced the already linguistically separated communities in this resplendent isle though share almost similar cultural roots.

According to the writer, the old and kind grandmother tells her about the people who moved from south to north and north to south.

She laments over the scourge of killings, lootings, bribery, rape and racial conflagration. The grandmother represents a matured and well mannered old Sinhala Buddhist lady who educates others on migratory routes, with sense, better than a racial minded-scholar who pours venom between the lines. The character reminds one of Nehru's letters to his daughter, on how early history was written and migration routes.

The director tries to portray the difficulties posed by language that eventually separates two communities. Through the eye of Anjali, who launched an excursion into unknown territory fortified by strange language in search of her lover Abhijith, depicts the women's suffering in general in a war situation.

Director believes that there is only one race; the human race but at birth human beings are labelled by convention and culture. The tears that are shed in Jaffna and Hambantota both are cold and the hunger and thirst are the same. Though they differ in forms, the problems faced by the two communities are the same.

However society is oblivious to this reality. In a scene, a boy eats a piece of bread and suddenly it was snatched from him by three boys. This strongly suggests the kind of freedom citizens enjoy in this parlous state. There is absolutely no freedom even to partake a piece of bread without risk of it being snatched away.

The director has exploited the visual medium to its utmost limits and he has deliberately created a lot of spaces or gaps between slowly changing scenes and episodes that viewers always have something to ponder on at the end of the each episode.

There are gaps between dialogues and footages. However, he noted that Sri Lankan audiences are fairly used to fast moving images and stories not to slow rhythm which is a pathetic state of affairs.

For instance, high quality and insightful songs have slow rhythm with a deep meaning. Therefore, "Sudu kapurupeti" is different from cheap teledramas that can be followed without watching them and only listening to the story even from the kitchen.

To compare it with other teledramas is similar to compare the song "Pille padura henata Aragenayanava "sung by Pundit W.D Ameradeva with Jotipala's "Gangavai Mahamuhudai".

Watching "Sudu Kapurupeti" is almost similar to solving a complex mathematical equation; difficult at the beginning but exhilarating as it goes on. The teledrama offers the audience with the same feeling of fulfillment and the understanding of life that one derived from reading classics like those of D.H Lawrence's "Women in love", Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice" and Mansfield Park".

There is always something puzzling to be discussed following each and every episode of the teledrama. This is an essential component of a master creation. As the visual effect of the medium has been exploited to the maximum, one should watch it with intent in order to understand the social issues and the universal problems the linguistically segregated communities face and highlighted underneath the superficial storyline.

The principle character Anjali, goes in search of her soul-mate. She has separated from her parents. She is desperate and could not take decisions as quickly as any other ordinary person in a perfect social set up.

The story unfolds against the uncertain landscape of war filled with shattered and bombed out constructions and people with shattered lives. In such an eerie theatre, all most all human activities go on with a slow rhythm. Like in the post world war dramas with long pauses; sometimes stretching up to fifteen minutes in which a character gazes silently at the empty sky, the "Sudu Kapurupethi "has also taken up a slow moving rhythm well-synchronized with the plot.

Director's other creations include "Maha Oedepus, Bertolt Brecht's "Pasmaha Balum" and "Patilage Katawa" which won international awards.

The fast moving creations gained ground with the scratched off literature from school curricula in 1978 and embracing of wrong practices of market economy into the lives of the people resulting in law public taste. The director should be commended on, for trying to improve public taste. For, a creator of a work of art should always be ahead of the general public. For instance, "Sergeant Nallathambi" was a crowd-puller whereas "Singhabahu "attracted little crowd".

A creator should strive to improve public taste and when public taste improves, creators should be ahead of them. This teledrama portrays the reality of harsh life that civilians grapple with in war-torn areas.