Saving the arts

President Mahinda Rajapaksa has appealed to members in the cinematic field to ensure that their creations would confirm to the ethos of the country’s cultural and social norms.

Meeting with film, teledrama and music personalities at Temple Trees to seek their input for granting of concessions to artistes in the upcoming budget the President regretted that certain cinematic creations in the recent past had caused a slur on the country’s war heros.

The artistes made several representations such as seeking duty concessions for importing advanced technology while veteran director Tissa Abeysekera stressed the need for using budgetary allocations to attract crowds to the cinema.

The President’s concerns should be appreciated in the backdrop of allegations that certain foreign funded NGOs were financing handpicked local film makers to produce films portraying the Security Forces in a poor light.

In any country where there is a conflict there is a tendency for themes for films in these countries to be drawn from such conflicts and Sri Lanka is no exception. We too had many films based on the on going conflict one of them starring the President himself, then an opposition Parliamentarian.

What the President meant was the damage that would be caused to the image of the country when certain films that seeks to harm our culture are screened abroad. This is understandable at a time when efforts are being made by sinister elements to tarnish the image of the Security Forces internationally.

There have even been subtle moves to distort our history and the majority religion in film portrayals chiefly for pecuniary gain rather than any artistic pretensions.

True, films attracting controversy have an eye for the box office which is normal since the cinema too is an industry with a profit motive.

There are also arguments that the art form which is a dynamic medium cannot operate in a straitjacket and is subject to the vicissitudes of change. Even in the past there were local productions that caused upheaval with some of them even having to be pulled out of screening.

There are also experts who will contend that in a vastly liberalised climate and unbridled consumerism the cinema cannot function in isolation and has to move with the times and hence the need to experiment with new themes.

There is something for this viewpoint as is even demonstrated by the liberal spirit adopted in most of our teledramas where whole family units view romantic episodes with unabashed fervour, something that could not have been imagined in the staid and puritanical past.

There is also the Western influence that has transformed the outlook on local cinema forcing film makers to adapt to these changes to cater to a new generation of audiences.

However, any changes should be introduced within certain confines that do not hurt the susceptibilities of any community or religion and not try to undo the country’s cultural moorings.

This is what was uppermost in the mind of the President when he made the remark. Therefore it will ideal if our film makers do not overstep certain boundaries when developing their plots and have the country’s image foremost in their minds.

While dealing with the content attention should be also focused on resurrecting the local film industry which is today in the doldrums as conceded by many veterans in the industry themselves.

Today film makers are confronted with many challenges unlike in the past where even low budget films were box office hits. They have to keep pace with technological advancements in the field and grapple with prohibitive costs to cater to the tastes of the new generation of filmgoers.

No doubt television has been a major contributor to the drop in cinema attendance making it an unviable project. All these matters should engage the attention of the film authorities who should address the total picture instead of dealing with only specific areas.

Film makers on their should strive to do something different that would bring crowds to the cinema as is the wish of Dr. Tissa Abeysekera. He would undoubtedly recall the 60s which is described as the golden era of the Sinhala cinema when armies of film goers thronged the theatres across the country.

Therefore it is hoped that Dr.Abeysekera’s pleas for additional allocation to produce crowd pullers will meet with favour with the President. It would also be useful in this context to ascertain the reason for the rapidly dwindling cinema halls in the country where even many landmark theatres are being pulled down for other commercial ventures.

This too should engage the attention of the planners of any blueprint to resurrect our ailing Sinhala cinema industry.