• Murderous freedom fighter Prabha

• 'civilised drinking' vs Kasippu trade

• Water - artistic freedom and freedom of expression

• No traffic congestion

Murderous freedom fighter Prabha

The Tamil national leader introduced by the TNA baby Tigers did not allow his own innocent Tamils to drink water and poor farmers to use water for farming their cultivations. The valiant soldiers, sailors and airmen had to sacrifice their valuable lives to provide water to the Tamils after a week long terrific battle at Mavilaru.

Mr. Sambathan and the other baby Tigers should understand that national leaders do not advise their men to bomb and destroy ambulances carrying patients, but it is much perturbed to note that this murderous national leader killed a LTTE patient, along with a State doctor and nurse.

The world famous killer did not permit the Tamil patients to take medical treatment and enjoy tasty foods. He unleashed a barrage of mortar fire on a huge fleet of vehicles (11 lorries carrying essential food items and drugs to the North and East.)

The barbaric acts of Prabhakaran very clearly proves that he is not least bothered about the well-being of his own Tamils. The best joke is that the TNA baby Tigers treat this butcher as their freedom fighter.

Prabhakaran kills, Balasingham apologises and Sambanthan begs. Forget all and purchase more and more cyanide capsules. The day that the hoisting of the Sri Lankan national flags all over the Jaffna peninsula is not so long.

MAHINDA NIHAL PERERA

Moratuwa

'civilised drinking' vs Kasippu trade

I refer to the letter entitled 'Cigarette smoking' by D. M. Balasuriya (DMB) which is a reply to my letter dated Aug. 15. I fully agree with DMB that (a) there are people who are allergic to vehicle fumes and industrial fumes and (b) that asthma can be precipitated by industrial fumes.

As I am only a Cardiologist and as my knowledge of Industrial and Chest Medicine is very limited, I am unable to provide statistics regarding incidence of asthma and allergy to vehicle fumes and industrial fumes.

I contacted senior consultant chest physician Dr. C. G. Uragoda who is a world authority on industrial medicine and I was informed by Dr. Uragoda that industrial gases such as those produced during manufacture of asbestos can rarely cause lung cancer and that he is aware of one such case in Sri Lanka.

I was informed by a retired consultant physician that my letter to editor quoted by DMB has given rise to some misunderstanding that Kasippu drinking is less harmful than 'civilised drinking' (drinking arrack, Whisky, Brandy etc.)

I apologise to readers if my article created such a misconception. What I actually meant was that according to my clinical impression supported by senior physicians attached to Teaching Hospitals, that complications due to consumption of Kasippu are very much less than those due to 'civilised drinking' at present. I fully agree with DMB that legislation against alcoholic drinks such as Arrack, Whisky and Brandy, will boost the Kasippu trade.

Therefore it is the duty of the Government to pass legislation against manufacture and consumption of Kasippu and other illegal drinks. As far as I am aware, at present, there are no statistics available about consumption of illegal types of alcohol in Sri Lanka.

With the present legislation against consumption of 'civilised brands' of alcohol, the complications following consumption of Kasippu and other illegal drinks may increase in the near future unless the Government takes some drastic measures before it is too late.

Dr. D. P. Atukorale

Colombo 7

Water - artistic freedom and freedom of expression

Responding to Hemantha Warnakulasooriya's article, one Ambika Disssanayake has expressed her views under the same title on Aug. 28. This brief note is a response to both.

Ambika's reading of Hemantha's article for me is a total confusion. That is a clear revelation of her lack of knowledge not only on various forms of cinema but also on cultural identities, similarities and taboos in different societies. Hemantha claims in his article that Deepa Metha's film has a historical significance to Indians and Sri Lankans.

Ambika, while disagreeing to it tables a counter argument that 'Our culture was never influenced by Hinduism'. That itself is enough to understand the degree of knowledge - poverty that she is suffering from. For those who have a little knowledge of similarities of cultural practices of Hinduism and Buddhism, Ambika's argument is a sheer joke.

Apparently what Hemantha implies by 'historical significance' to Sri Lankans and Indians should not be taken as a one to one correspondence. Even a child knows that there has not been a practice like Sathee Pooja here in Sri Lanka. But isn't there any other forms of social discriminations which have been evident throughout our history?

Deepa Metha could not shoot her film in India, but it was shot here. Not only that, the NFC officials who initiated the ban on Aksharaya here are the distributors of the film in Sri Lanka. Aksharaya which was banned here was shown to a full house audience in Delhi Osian's Cinefan Film Festival in last July.

The Davinci Code which has been banned here (nobody challenged it) is permitted to show in India and even in the Philliphines where the majority of the population is catholic. Ambika, to strengthen her argument, quotes Rushdie. That itself is a wrong choice.

Doesn't she know that Rushdie is branded as a traitor and has a death penalty on him by the Muslim world for his works? Isn't there any 'historical significance' to the fate of the Sri Lankan directors who are critical of some socio-political issues? Emails are circulated by 'non-resident patriots' branding Handagama, Prasanna and Vimukthi as traitors for being critical of the impact of the war in rural communities here.

Hemantha too does a wrong thing by comparing a main-stream film like Water to independent films like Aksharaya and Sulanga Enu Pinisa. Deepa Metha's makes films for a larger market and hence for a family audience. Pay TV or Satellite TVs are the potential buyers of this type of movies.

She by herself imposes restrictions to her creations for this reason. That does not mean that film makers who make movies for the adult audience is uncivilized or undisciplined. Are the filmmakers like Godad, Bergman Bertoluchi undisciplined? Is Mira Nayar who made Kamasutra vulgar minded?

Since it targeted a larger segment of the audience, Water could not go or explore the deeper roots of its theme. Instead it revolves around it. Alternatively a film like Bandit Queen directed by Sheshar Kapoor, based on a true character Phoolan Devi shows the brutality of the abusive act.

After exposing herself to a gang rape during her childhood, Phoolan Devi responded later in her life violently. Viewing is restricted to an adult audience since some of the scenes and images are disturbing.

The cinema has many forms and one cannot impose restrictions to the medium according to his or her own taste and knowledge. Some filmmakers tend to explore deeper and darker corners of personal and social life without romanticizing the theme while some others do so. Both are valid and necessary. Set in a concentration camp in Natzi Germany, Oscar winning 'Life is Beautiful' is a wonderful film made for universal viewing. Alternatively 'Ashes' is a dark and depressing one.

Mohsen Makhmalbaf's recent film 'Screaming of Ants' is a more recent example to an alternative cinematic approach to explore the soul of India. Completely shot in India, the film is rated for an adult audience. A girl who believes in God is in love with an atheist.

They decide to spend their honeymoon in India. The film revolves around a sequence of images of their journey across India. Unlike in Water, in this film the story is not so important always.

The power of the cinema as director says lies in its ability to create a universe based on images and sound. Viewing Indian philosophy from two contrasting view points the film goes beyond India to talk about the philosophy of universe and the meaning of life.

The film is with full of culturally shocking images, and will never be allowed to show not only in India and most probably in Sri Lanka as well. It is a serious move and hence need to be taken seriously. If the film is viewed as how Ambika sees a movie, it will be a vulgar expression by a undisciplined man. Living in exile, Makmalbahf is one of the all time great filmmakers from Iran.

A filmmaker who addresses issues like sexuality or sexual politics should be more disciplined than who handles a film for universal viewing (U). I personally believe that it is the audience who should be more disciplined while seeing a movie, because he is a member of a group of spectators in the dark.

A Director does a movie with limited crew members in an artificially created environment. (I don't think even a blue-film director goes beyond the limit while shooting a movie). But while watching it, a viewer should behave in a civilized way if he/she watches it in a theatre with some others.

In Sri Lanka, it is impossible for a lady to go to a theatre alone and watch a film, even if it is not an adult movie.

That is where the problem lies. Our audience is not disciplined enough to absorb the true taste of the sixth Art. Female nudity is a traumatic experience for most of them. It appears that Ambika is not an exemption. That is why she takes Hemantha from the wrong end.

MALAVIKA ARIYARATHNE

via email

No traffic congestion

The traffic congestion at the Borella-Devi Balika roundabout was causing numerous problems to schoolchildren as well as to pedestrians and the motorists.

It has now been resolved and thoughtful measures taken by the relevant authorities have eased all our difficulties, thanks to whoever was responsible for the brilliant job.

I do like to highlight a similar situation that prevails at the Welikada junction, for your kind consideration.

DR. DARSHINI WIJAYARATNE

Talangama