An actor’s philosophy which revolves around image

Renowned artiste Dharmapriya Dias talks us through his acting career which is dotted with many accolades, including the award for the Best Actor for his role in Hyena at the State Drama Award in 2003

Award winning actor Dharmapriya Dias believes that a fine comedy play is not merely an act which makes people laugh at low grade jokes and impersonation of famous personalities or speaking dirty.

“I don’t understand why people should laugh at mistakes made when speaking a foreign language or insults made on another human being. Saadaya Marai - Salli Hamarai doesn’t fall under this category. This is an attempt to create meaningful humor without using profanity or laughing at the expense of one’s culture,” Dias told The Nation while speaking about his latest stage play direction Saadaya Marai Salli Hamarai adapted from the farce Funny Money written by the British Playwright Ray Cooney.

Dharmapriya is known in the field for his commitment for acting. According to him he has been committed to acting from school days at Piliyandala Madya Maha Vidyala. “I was curious about acting since I was very young. I always wondered how children got to play different roles in Vesak Dramas played near Kesbewa Wewa. I wanted to know why I couldn’t play a role,” he recalled how he enjoyed theater as a child.

Young Dharmapriya was confused why the king from the Vesak play rode a bicycle to work. “The person who wore jewelry and shimmering costumes on Vesak day, went to work wearing office attire. This puzzled me,” he said that it was under his school drama master Premkumar Karunarathne that he learnt the ABC in drama. Their work including Muthu Etaye Geethaya which won many accolades in school drama competitions. 

Dharmapriya’s firsts contribution to popular theater was in Bandula Vithanage’s Romaya Gini Gani. “Working with this drama crew was like a practical workshop for me. I learnt much about popular theater,” he reminisced. With this debut drama, he received the opportunity to work with veteran dramatists the likes of KB Herath, Jayalath Manoratne, Rajitha Dissanayaka, Neil Alas, Pujitha de Mel, Sarath Kothalawala, Chamika Hathlawaththa and Thumindu Dodamtenna.

He specifically mentioned the roles he played in S Karunaratne's Hyena, Rajitha Dissanayake’s Apasu Harenna Be, Mata Wedi Thiyanne Nadda, Thumindu Dodamtenna’s Arundathi and Thilak Nandana Hettiarachchi’s Guti Kamata Niyamithayi as the roles he mostly enjoyed playing. His critically acclaimed role in Athula Pathirana’s Dolahak is also noteworthy. 

Dharmapriya has won many awards including Best Actor - State Drama Award for his performance in Hyena directed by Chamika Hathlawaththa in 2003, Best Set Designer for Ruwan Malik Peiries’ Dasa Mallige Bangalawa (Dasa Malli’s Bungalow) in 2004, Best Choreography in his production Gehenu Lamai Weda Arambathi and Youth Drama Festival’s Assistant Actor for Lanka Ishan Kankanamge’s Sanda Sewanella in 1997. Saadaya Marai Salli Hamarai is his second stage direction while Gehenu Lamai Weda Arambathi marked his debut.

His talent for acting is not limited to the stage. He said that he still enjoys his work as a radio and television voice artiste. He began working with radio and television during the early stages of his career. He considers the opportunities he received while working with teledrama directors Nalan Mendis, Sudath Rohana and DG Somapala as blessings. “Experiences gained on stage helped me immensely in adapting to teledramas and cinema,” he explained. “Having to act in Wimalarathna Adhikari’s Ingammaruwa was an extraordinary experience in the teledrama field,” he said remembering how teledramas employed radical themes, couple of years ago. 

Dharmapriya was regarded as the Best Actor for his first lead in the internationally acclaimed movie Machang by Oscar nominated producer Ubarto Passilini. Dharmapriya played minor roles in Vijitha Gunaratne’s Wala Patala and two other films Bora Diya Pokuna and Nahi Werena Werani, which have been awaiting release for past several years. He mentioned that Machang was a turning point in his personal life as well as his acting career. “I used to be double the body size I am now, I had no control over eating. I didn’t give body image much importance,” he recalled how he almost missed the role in Machang. “They told me that although I am suitable for the role, they can’t give it to me since my body image doesn’t match the character. They challenged me to lose weight that if I did they would give me the role.” Not only did Dharmapriya accept the challenge and succeeded, he wound up creating one of the most celebrated roles in the recent film history. Playing his maiden major role in this internationally acclaimed movie, Dharmapriya received the opportunity to travel to many countries. He also pointed out that physical and mental well-being is essential to becoming a successful actor. “This is rare in the Sri Lankan setting,” he said.

He further said that the experiences he acquired travelling across the world made him question the situation of contemporary Sri Lankan cinema. “I observed that in many other countries acting is a respected as well as a well paid profession,” he pointed out that most Sri Lankan actors are engaged in the field part-time as artistes while doing a fulltime job in a completely different field. “I’ve heard that there was a time in Sri Lanka when such value was attached to the profession. Too bad I never got a chance to witness it,” he lamented.

Speaking further about theater productions, Dharmapriya said that there has always been a stable audience for stage plays unlike cinema and teledrama. “Audience for stage plays has been considerably stable during both good and bad times. People came to watch plays even during the period of the armed conflict. There were fluctuations, but the dramatists were able to maintain the quality of the plays.” He said that the dramatists have attempted to give the maximum to the field using the limited resources they have. “Unfortunately, facilities in theaters have deteriorated. None of the responsible parties have looked into this.  This is a very sad situation,” he emphasized.

‘Our education system creates young dinosaurs’ - Ruwanthie de Chickera

Award winning playwright and director Ruwanthie de Chickera believes that there is no gender inequality in the contemporary Sri Lankan arts field and that the field is very open to women today. “Yet, however, other pressures of society – like judgment of women artistes, pressures of family life, prejudices and double standards of society pull women artistes down more than they pull male artistes down,” she said. “Within the industry itself, I feel that there is a lot of respect and space for women to work,” she said speaking to The Nation about her latest play and the path she traveled.

Working in the field for more than 15 years now, Ruwanthie’s plays have been produced in Sri Lanka, the UK, Japan, India, Australia and the Philippines. She reminisced that the influence she received from her school, Methodist College, Colombo, played a big part in setting the path in writing and theater.  She recalled the memories in the school theater. “Playing a female role for the first time in my final year in school is an unforgettable memory. Because of my height, I had been always cast in male roles,” Ruwanthie said adding how she wrote a play which finally allowed her to play a female role on school stage. “I wrote a play with only female characters. And that finally set things right.”

Ruwanthie was just 16 years old when she was first put on the professional stage. She says that she is unaware of the factor which inspired her to develop affection towards theater and art, yet whichever that is, it is deep seated and also continues to motivate her. She wrote her first professionally recognized play at the age of 19 and it was picked up by the Royal Court Theater in London’s West End and was first performed there. “I guess this was the turning point which pretty much decided my future,” she reflected.

Her first play won the British Council International New Playwriting Award (1997) and was performed at the Royal Court Theatre in London. In 2000 she was awarded the Gratiaen Prize. She is also the recipient of the 2001 Presidential Scholarship for Theatre from the Government of Sri Lanka. 

In 2000, Ruwanthie, with a group of friends set up the Stages Theatre Group which she considers as another significant milestone in her career. Stages Theatre Group is a theatre company committed to create socially conscious and cutting edge original Sri Lankan Theatre.  

 Ruwanthie’s first screenplay ‘Machang’ won several awards internationally, including Best Film at the 2008 Venice Film Festival and the Best Screenplay Award at the Durban I.F.F. She believes that Machang is a special movie because of the balance it maintains between a comedy and a tragedy. “I am a big fan of this mix.  I believe it brings out truths in an unusual way,” she said, admiring her work. “I was very lucky with Machang. I knew the movie would get made and shown. This is very rare opportunity for an artiste in Sri Lanka,” she added.

According to the critics Machang evidenced that Sri Lankan movie makers could still make films with powerful messages, meaning that there is a lot of potential in the field. Yet, the critics themselves condemn the field for not producing acceptable Sinhala films. When asked, Ruwanthie said that there is couple of reasons behind why we don’t see many fine Sri Lankan productions or powerful movie plots. “This happens mainly because our artistes have to struggle so hard, against such odds, for so long to make a movie. Then, even after they make it, they can't show it. There is no money and there is so little support,” she stressed that it is very frustrating situation.  

When asked whether she is satisfied with the effort made by the young artistes in the film industry today, she said that she doesn’t believe that the problem lies with the effort that is put into the industry. “There is a lot of people who are working very hard, completely alone, to make films.  However there is no support for them.” She reiterated.  

“What 'needs to be done' is a can of worms isn't it?” she asked. “Basically we need a complete re-addressing of our priorities as a society.  Unless we become a country and a people and a government that value good and quality art, who value the depth and the heights that art can take society to, we will always be in this rut of sporadic success stories in the midst of many, many failings,” she said. “If we support our artistes properly, we can then demand that they produce quality work,” she added.

Speaking further about the contemporary Sri Lankan theater, she pointed out that we do not have a strong culture of criticism which could help shape fine dramatists and take art to a higher level in society. She explained that a strong culture of criticism is necessary for art to survive and to penetrate deeper into people's lives and also for self-reflection and social change. “We don't have a strong culture of criticism. There are a few good critics but they also work very much on their own - and their work is not picked up adequately by society.  This is because we don't have a surrounding culture which supports criticism,” she pointed out.

As she elucidated, at a very basic level, in order to produce good critics, we need to produce people who are familiar with critical thinking - people who are drawn to the practice of 'thinking critically'. “Unfortunately our entire education system, which runs on ridiculous levels of reproduction of notes and memorizing, does not produce young people who are prone to critical thinking,” she said. . “In an age where exams are redundant and information is no longer a privilege, our entire education system runs on forcing millions of children to spend almost 20 years of their lives memorizing and memorizing useless notes in order to pass exams. Young people we are creating are dinosaurs; not equipped to be useful to society.  Because society no longer needs people who have stored up buckets of knowledge about things that already exist,” she added.

 “With a very few exceptions, most of our schools and universities are still producing people who can only reproduce what has already been taught them.  They cannot look at something and see what it could be, what is lacking, cannot connect it to wider and deeper issues, or think of anything original,” she expressed her dissatisfaction.

She reiterated that the problem of lack of critical thinking goes beyond arts. “We are very far behind, as a society, compared to where the world is headed,” she said. “This problem of lack of critical thinking is wider than an arts issue.  In fact the arts seems to be one of the few disciplines that even sees this as something important to instill in society,” she noted.

There are many fine Sinhala theater productions today. Yet, not many gets adapted to English or Tamil. Ruwanthie supposes that adapting the dramas to English would help them claim international recognition. “This is one of the reasons that we have stated working in both English and Sinhala. We want our plays to be both local and international, immediately.  This opened up many doors. You have to put in a little more effort for this, but it is worth it,” she emphasized.  

She also spoke about her latest play, ‘Walking Path’. This is a play that was devised along the several walking paths of Colombo.  It is a play that tries to understand what is happening to the city and its people as a result of the emergence of the walking paths of Colombo city.  It addresses the city’s new found interest in exercise and healthy living; it profiles the urban dweller’s obsession with technology and recreation.  It looks at the control and maintenance of these places created for public use. The drama was first staged in July this year.

She said that the drama is an examination of human behavior in the pleasure parks. “There is no plot.  There is a concept.  The concept is the impact of the walking paths and this intense drive to 'beautify' Colombo after the war, on society.  It’s an examination of human behavior in these parks. It’s simply about what this tells us about our people, and our country,” she said.

Yet, ‘Walking Path’ is a play without words. “Communication is not only through words.  In fact, words are often a big obstacle to communication. They often stand in the way of honest communication.  We pay far too much attention words when we communicate,” Ruwanthie said adding that removing words from the performance was a relief almost. “It left us with the basics of human communication - which is incredibly complex and subtle and open when it is not limited and defined by words,” she explained. Also, in these parks, all behavior is on public display.  We can see everything but we don't hear anything. The play reflects this situation of people watching people,” she added.  

Dr. Sunil Wijesiriwardena commenting on Ruwanthie’s play said that the play pushes the boundaries of the imagination about the lifestyles created by the contemporary socio-political base in the near future. The most dangerous suppression may not come in the familiar image of suppression, but in an innocent image beloved by you. When things you love are compiled and supplied by the system, look at it with judgment and suspicion.

Ruwanthie commenting on the audience’s response she received so far said that she is overwhelmed by it. “People have truly responded very strongly to the play.  They have loved its relevance; they find it timely and very insightful. They seemed to find it very politically interesting,” she said. “Also, they loved the form we chose, the 'no words' discipline of the performance. It seemed to have created a new theatrical experience for the audience,” she added. 

Capturing the hearts of youth with reel

Veteran teledrama director Ananda Abeynayake believes children are reluctant to listen to Dharma while being seated in one position for an hour, but they can be influenced to watch a teledrama on religion

Sansare Piyasatahan, popular Poya Day single episode Buddhist teledrama series directed by veteran teledrama director Ananda Abeynayaka celebrates 21 years

In an era where teledrama directors constantly get blamed for their commercialized tele-productions that do not fulfill the demands of the viewers and do not have expected aesthetic value and entertainment, only a few directors and producers get praised for their commitment in trying to maintain standards. They are the ones who try to protect the industry from downfall. One such personality is veteran teledrama director Ananda Abeynayake who believes that true satisfaction of teledrama or film directing comes from seeing the production contribute to the betterment of society.

Ananda is an old boy of Ananda College, Colombo 10. He reminisced that his interests in arts and creative writing began during childhood, when he started compiling his own children’s magazine as a hobby. “The only person who read my magazine was my mother. I sold my only magazine copy to her for 50 cents,” he said adding how he used his mother’s sewing machine to bind the magazine when the number of pages increased. Still, she was the only buyer of his small magazine.

However, his mother identified that he was a talented child. He was also interested in arts. Although there were no artistes in his family, his mother took him to the temple close to his house where veteran artist Jayasiri Semage and Thalangama Jayasinghe conducted an art class. “That’s how the foundation was laid. And I built my career on this,” he reminisced.

Later he got the opportunity to work with veteran dramatist Dharmasiri Bandaranayaka on ‘Eka Adipathi’ drama team. The First film he joined was Pembara Madu directed by Sugathapala Senarath Yapa released in 1977. “Not many know this fact about me, but I joined this film as a fight choreographer. I stunt doubled for Tony Ranasinghe in the movie,” he recalled. “As a child, I was keen on learning martial arts although I’m all out of practice now,” the veteran teledrama director recollected his introduction to the cinema. Abeynayake had been a talented martial artist who represented the first ever World Open Karate Tournament in Japan in 1975.

Abeynayake’s debut film production was Sagarayak Meda. Released in 1981, the film was directed by late Gamini Fonseka. Gamini also played the main role in the movie. “Experiences I gained working with Gamini was immense. I believe these experiences guided me to become the person I am today,” he said. Sagarayak Meda was the fourth Sinhala color film. “I was just 27 years old and I had to face many hurdles. But this also encouraged me to direct films,” he said explaining how he became a film director and then a tele drama director. His teledramas won many awards at prestigious awards ceremonies including State Drama Festival, Sumathi Tele Awards and Raigam Tele Awards.

In 1999 his Poya tele-drama; Kohomba Yakku won the Jury’s special award at the Japan Prize International Contest for Educational Media in Tokyo. The ceremony was organized by NHK. In 2008, his tele-drama There is a way won the best tele-drama award at the same ceremony. His most popular tele drama series Sansarae Piyasatahan has won over 20 national and international awards during the past two decades.

He spoke about Sansarae Piyasatahan, the pioneering Poya day single episode TV series in Sri Lanka which celebrates its 21^st anniversary this year. “I was interested in teledramas since my school days. The influence of the Buddhism, books I read as well as the Buddhist environment of my school, Ananda College nurtured a yearning to start a Buddhist teledrama series,” he said. “Meeting Somaweera Senanayaka and Raja Abeynayaka was another reason to initiate such a series. Senanayaka’s proficiency in language and religion made the single episode tele drama series a success,” he iterated. The first drama of Sansarae Piyasatahan series was telecast on a full moon Poya day in 1993. The debut drama was scripted by Somaweera Senanayaka and Jayalath Manoratne and Chandani Senveritane played the main roles. Since then, a new episode of Sansarae Piyasatahan is telecast on each Poya night at 7.30 pm.

Commenting on single episode dramas Abeynayake said that it is a fascinating thing to know the beginning and the end of a story within a day. “I knew that a single episode drama is capable of making a huge difference. I was inspired to do this because of fulfilling memories I had of reading Siththara strip cartoon newspaper and I used to enjoy Anura Shrinath’s single episode cartoon strip published in it,” he said.  

He also said that it was a challenge to continue the drama series since he was eager on maintaining the quality, creativity as well as the power of the message conveyed. “End result is always satisfying. I always receive positive feedback once an episode is telecasted,” he reiterated. He mentioned few incidents where people personally contacted him to reserve DVD copies to show their employee, friends or students who missed watching it. “I remember a depot manager called me once to get a copy of a drama episode which spoke about a child who lost his father due to a road accident by a drunken diver. The depot manager wanted to show in the bus drivers’ workshop, that he believed they would never drink and drive if they saw the episode,” he recalled.

He also mentioned about the scripts he chooses for the drama series. “We have never created a drama out of a Jathaka Story although it’s all Buddhist themes. Main criteria of choosing a script is that it include a striking moral message,” he explained. “Many veteran script writers as well as amateurs provide stories. In fact anyone can send a script or a story to me.  I’ll be more than happy to receive a fine script,” he added.

Abeynayake noted that his main goal of this tele series is to attract the young audience to watch the drama. “They are quite reluctant to listen to Dharma seated in one position for an hour. But it is easier for them to watch a teledrama,” he opined. “Young generation is quite distracted from the television today. But, I know, when they see a good production they stick with it,” he said.

Using three decades of experience in the field he said that he too had noticed the decline in the teledrama field over the years. “Many try to cater to the commercialized demands, but not to the nourishment of the human mind. However, it is the responsibility of any film or teledrama producer to help the society understand what is right and wrong while providing entertainment,” he emphasized. He identified limited budgets, lack of fine actors and actresses as well as lack of commitment to produce fine dramas as the main reasons for the fall of the teledrama industry. He also mentioned that he is thankful to Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation for allowing the Poya Night 7.30 time belt maintaining the standards.

 
Abeynayaka has introduced lot of new faces to the audience through his teledramas. He said that he always tries to select the best person for a teledrama character since he believes that not using the most suitable person would lessen the aesthetic quality of the drama. He further explained that today selecting fine actors for teledramas has also become a challenge. “Earlier the actors and actresses entered the teledrama field with academic experiences and a plenty of experiences on the stage. It was easy to work with them. Today, such people are rare and it is not helping the industry,” he expressed his grief. “However, we do not have any recognized education institution to study about teledrama deeply. Few places including state universities have a few short courses and on and off subjects. But they don’t seem to help much,” he pointed out.

Abeynayake reiterated that low quality teledramas distract the audience from the television. “There is an increase in the crowds who come to see films and stage plays. A reason behind this could be the frustration the audience has towards the teledramas,” he stressed. He also said that it is not impossible to restore the reputation of the Sinhala teledramas. “There was a time when the stage plays also fell from its grace. They identified the mistakes and they are in the process of regaining their power. Teledrama too can do this,” he further said. 

 

Pic by Ravindra Dharmathilake

A director who ignored all filmmaking taboos

Ang Lee admitted that he broke every rule in the book with Life of Pi. “There are a few classic advices in movies: never make a movie featuring animals, kids, water or 3D…We ignored all of them,” the Taiwanese-born American director has said at the premiere at the New York Film Festival in Manhattan.
If you are ever shipwrecked and get into a lifeboat, desperately searching for land, it’s hard not to lose hope if you were to share your boat with a large dangerous carnivore. Ang Lee’s magnificent new film Life of Pi, adapted from Yann Martel’s Booker prize-winning novel penned under the same name, revolves around a young shipwrecked boy’s voyage in a lifeboat with a Tiger.

In the movie version Ang Lee introduces a Canadian author, not included in the book, who is told by an Indian that there is a man in Montreal called Pi who has a story which will restore his faith in God. Pi or Piscine Molitor Patel (Irrfan Khan), who survived a shipwreck, is now a philosophy teacher. He relates his incredible story of his own extraordinary experiences, beginning as the son of a zookeeper in Pondicherry, the French enclave in India that wasn’t ceded until 1954.

The movie’s two central characters both obtained their names by humorous accidents. Piscine (played by Gautam Belur at five, Ayush Tandon at 12 and Suraj Sharma at 16) was named after his uncle’s favorite swimming pool, the Piscine Molitor in Paris, but changed his name to the Greek letter and numinous number Pi after fellow schoolboys makes a joke about ‘pissing’. He later became mesmerized by a Bengal Tiger in the zoo caught by the English hunter, Richard Parker who called him Thirsty. On delivery to the zoo their names were accidentally reversed and the Tiger became Richard Parker.

Growing up, curious Pi becomes attracted to religion and the meaning of life. The boy embarks on a spiritual journey as he rejects his father’s rationalism and follows Hinduism, Christianity and Islam at the same time. His faith is tested as an adolescent when his father is forced to give up the family zoo, where Pi realizes he has been as much a captive as the animals themselves.

In the film, Pi is too busy thinking about a girl he met at a dance class, who is not mentioned in the book. He fails to notice the troubles his father is facing with the zoo. This makes Pi’s travels away from his home and in India a far more painful separation when his father decides to move away from India and sell the animals. A Japanese ship becomes a temporary ark on which the Patel family takes the animals to be sold in Canada. But it’s caught in a storm above the Mariana Trench, the deepest part of the Pacific. Pi becomes an orphan captaining a lifeboat with only a zebra, hyena, female orangutan and the gigantic Bengal Tiger. Finally he is stranded alone with the Tiger after the other animals die.

He confronts thirst and starvation, struggles with the fierce tiger, endures a mighty storm, comes across a squadron of flying fish, a humpbacked whale, a school of dolphins and experiences a night illuminated by luminous jellyfish. A young Chilean director of photography, Claudio Miranda has created these amazing magical visions in the movie. In the movie, Pi never really manages to tame Richard Parker. In Martel’s book, Pi uses his zoo knowledge and understanding of circus practices to train the large adult Bengal tiger. But in the movie the boy and the tiger maintain a wary distrust of one another and the Tiger doesn’t seem to let Pi truly take control over him.

Both the book and the movie express a great deal of suffering during the voyage. And both the writer and director haven’t forgotten to add merely a few moments of beauty and glory which amazes the readers and viewers, especially in the lightning storm that appears in both the book and the film. However, Ang Lee’s vision of Pi’s journey is breathtaking, which makes you feel that Pi’s journey is worth all the suffering. The story does not seem to fulfill its promise in the beginning. Though Pi survives at the end, we cannot come to a conclusion whether to believe in God or not.

The end of the story is twisted. Pi’s adventure concludes in a Mexican hospital bed where he is interviewed by a pair of Japanese officials. The agents tell Pi that his story is too unbelievable for them to report, so Pi has to come up with a different version of the story which makes darker and disturbing variation of events. After both stories have been shared, Pi leaves it up to the audience or reader to decide which version they prefer. This makes the reader and the viewer both question Pi’s first story of his adventure.

Canadian Writer Yann Martel won the Booker prize for Life of Pi in 2002. In an interview, Martel said his inspiration was to find something that would direct his life. He spoke of being lonely and needing direction in life. He has authored six more books including We Ate the Children Last (2004) and Beatrice and Virgil (2010) which were not as notable as Life of Pi.

On the other hand, Ang Lee is one of the greatest contemporary filmmakers. Lee was best known for the directions of Brokeback Mountain, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Finding Neverland and Sense and Sensibility, which proves it is no surprise why Life of Pi was able to win four Academy awards last year (Original Music Score, Best Director, Best Cinematography, Visual Effect). So far the movie has won over 12 international awards.Many film critics’ say that Ang Lee’s adaptation of Life of Pi helps the viewers to restore their faith in cinema. However, the story of this young Indian boy and the Bengal Tiger is a story which shouldn’t be missed by any animal lover, nature lover, atheist or theist.

March 31,2013
Link : http://www.nation.lk/edition/feature-eye/item/16883-a-director-who-ignored-all-taboos-regarding-filmmaking.html

A novel worth watcing

Midnight’s Children
“Most of what matters in our lives takes place in our absence; and my life really began on the shore of the Dal Lake in Kashmir more than 30 years before I was born.” Looking back at his life, Saleem begins his story taking the audience all the way back to a time when India was still bound to the British Empire, where Saleem’s grandparents, British educated Aadam Aziz and beautiful Naseem fall in love, get married and move to Agra, the home of Taj Mahal. They are blessed with three daughters - Alia, Emerald and Mumtaz.

A special screening of the movie Midnight’s Children took place in the National Film Corporation theater last week. The event was organized by the Film Team Sri Lanka, Nawala.By the early 1940s, India was ready to celebrate the joy of independence at the same time suffering the misery of partition. The Aziz family gets involved in the assassination of Mian Abdullah, who was a progressive political leader who campaigned against the partition of the country. Mian’s aide Nadir Khan was to hide in Aziz’s home trying to escape and ends up secretly getting married to Mumtaz. The marriage was not meant to last as Nadir had to run away leaving behind a letter of divorce, leaving Mumtaz to remarry Ahmed Sinai, change her name to Amina and move to Bombay with her new husband.
Saleem Sinai, the hero of the story comes into the world at the strike of midnight in August 15, 1947, when India received its independence. A nurse in the maternity clinic, Mary, who was severely influenced by her lover Joe’s politics switches Amina’s baby with another baby boy born to a poor woman and street performer named Wee Willie Winkie. Amina names her son Saleem and Wee Willie names his Shiva.

Saleem grows up cheerfully in a Victorian villa and the nurse who switched the babies becomes his nanny. Saleem, incidentally, has a unique gift which he realizes at the age of ten. By sniffling he could summon the spirits of hundreds of children who, like him, were born at the exact hour of India’s independence. Among these is Shiva, the Sinais’ biological son, who becomes his sworn enemy, and the spell-weaving witch Parvati who Saleem becomes romantically involved with. The other Midnight’s Children, all born in the first hour after India’s Midnight Independence are scattered across India and possesses special powers. But the strongest are Saleem, Shiva and Parvati.

No one suspects the secret of Saleem’s birth until an accident at school leads to a surprise blood test. This turns Ahmed’s love into hatred and sends Saleem away to Pakistan to his aunt Emerald, married to a military general, putting Amina in great suffering. Saleem continues all their secret conferences of the Midnight’s Children and practices their powers. Shiva is fierce and tries to take control into his hands but fails.

When Saleem is seventeen, his family forced to living in Pakistan and Saleem gets to live with his family again. His nanny is overwhelmed by guilt and reveals the truth. Amina fights for Saleem and stays with the family though everybody is shaken with the revealed truth.Saleem gets injured by debris falling during an air raid. He slides into years of unconsciousness. After years, in the after shocks of the civil war in the Pakistan’s east wing Saleem regains his memory becoming involved with the beautiful adult witch, Parvati against the background of Indira Gandhi’s brutal emergency measures bringing the Oscar award nominee Deepa Mehta’s latest movie ‘Midnight’s Children’ to and end.

The story was adapted by the novel Midnight’s Children written by Salman Rushdie. This was the second novel of Rushdie and it won the Booker Prize in 1981. The film began principal shooting in Colombo, Sri Lanka in February 2011 and wrapped up in May 2011. Metha kept shooting it in secret as she feared protests by Islamic fundamentalist groups. Deepa Mehta is known to create controversial movies and is most known for her Elements Trilogy, Fire (1996), Earth (1998), and Water (2005).

Metha has filmed the story beautifully with charming moments of humor and Rushdie himself slips some of his rich prose into the film’s voiceovers in his own voice. Many writers and reviewers have said that Metha has done justice to the story which was predicted unfilmable. Speaking to the Hindustan Times Rushdie has said that he is happy about the comments he received. “Nothing is unfilmable. Good films have been made of Anna Karenina, Ulysses and The Tin Drum, even the works of Proust. It’s just a question of finding the way, and that’s what we tried to do. There’s no magic trick, just hard work,” he has said to the Hindustan Times.

Indian-American actor Satya Bhabha plays the role of Saleem Sinai with Shriya Saran (Parvati) , Seema Biswas (Nanny), Shabana Azmi (Nazeem), Anupam Kher, Siddharth Narayan (Shiva), Rahul Bose, Soha Ali Khan, Shahana Goswami (Amina), Anita Majumdar and Darsheel Safary. The film was      premiered in September 2012 at the Toronto International Film Festival and Vancouver International Film Festival. The film is quite unusual, a bit of out of the ordinary which exemplifies a perfect combination of writer and film director.


Published March 17,2013
Link : http://www.nation.lk/edition/fine/item/16563-a-novel-worth-watching.html