Some Sinhala films one may enjoy

K.S. Sivakumaran

If we are talking about Lankan Cinema we are really talking about the Sinhala Cinema because there is no Lankan Thamil Cinema now. So, I see sometimes selected Sinhala movies commercially released to update my understanding of the cinema medium. Among the films seen during the past two years or so many were not up to standard; but there were a few that was out of the ordinary. The following come to mind:

Sankara (Prasanna Jayakody), Mr Dana Rina (Roy de Silva), Ran Kevita (Udayakantha Warnasooriya), Sankranthi (Anuruddha Jaysasinghe), Tharaka Mal (Milton Jayawardena), Aganthuthaya (Vasantha Obeysekera), Uppalawanna (Sunil Ariyarathne). Sikuru Hathe (Giriraj Kaushlya), First Love Pooja (Kusum Chandra Gamage), Aasai Mang Piyabanna (Udayakantha Warnasooriya), Nisala Gira (Tanuj Anawartha), Yahaluwo (Sumithra Peiris) and No Problem Darling (Kusumchandra Garage).

Heart FM (Senesh Dissanayake Bandara), Siri Raja Siri (Somarathne Dissanayake). Rosa Diganthe (Suresh Kumarasinghe), Aadhara Meena (Kirti Bandara), Machang and some other films I can’t remember the titles.

These films were not of even standard. However they had something that was not of poor taste. But even among them only a handful of them succeeded as near “Cinema” even though they might not have been a success at the box office considering the taste of the conditioned mind of the average cinegoers. Some so-called ‘arty’ and popularized films were amateurish. There again it is my own reaction and critics may differ from my choice and observations.

It is only those films that had won the appreciation at foreign film festivals. Such films exhibited social reality and cultural overtones with underlying philosophical concepts. Cinematically too they displayed professionalism. Directors like Vasantha Obeysekera, Prasanna Jayakody, Anuruddha Jayasinghe, Sunil Ariyarathne, Tanuj Anawartha, Senesh Dissanayaka Bandara, Somarathne Dissanayake for instance handled the theme more or less ‘cinematically’ proving their experience in film making.

Their contributions largely rested on the cinematography. Even in very popular films the handling of camera and in some instances aided by digital usage and graphic support was appreciable.

Palitha Silva, Ruwan Costa, Ayeshmantha Hettiarachchi, Suminda Weerasinghe, Dinesh Kumara, Jayanath Gunawardena, Pushpakumara Bandara Rajaguru, Channa Deshapriya, Yapa Wijebandara and others should be encouraged.

Then come the players. I found some of the actors both male and female had remarkable control in their performances. Particular mentioned should be made of Sachini Ayendra, Gayan Wickramathilake, Sange-etha Weeraratne, W. Jayasri, Saumya Liyanage, Chandani Seneviratne, Roshan Ravindra, Wijaya Nandasiri, Roshan Ranawana, Pooja Umashankar, Ravindra Randeniya, Neeta Fernando, Nimmi Harasgama, Kokila Jayasooriya and others like Raja Ganeshan

Rohana Weerasinghe and Navarathne Gamage provided pleasing and befitting music.

Even in other departments in the composition of the making of the film new artistes displayed their innate talents.

In sum the contemporary Sinhala cinema has come a long way despite frequent stupid films being made

ks.sivakumaran@yahoo.com