TV Times

TV Times

Sudath swims against the tide to London
By Susitha R. Fernando
Sudath Devapriya’s ‘Udugan Yamaya’ (Against the Tide) will represent Sri Lanka at the 48th London Film Festival. The film revolves around a bloody upheaval in the country round about1989 between a group of youth seeking social justice and the State. Nearly 60,000 mainly youth paid with their lives in the struggle.

This story is set in a remote village during that period. Sirimal, a nine-year-old boy, lives with his parents in this village. Sirimal’s father is the village ferryman. The suspicious activities of some rebel youth in the area and the occasional sound of gunshots do not go unnoticed. The Army visits the village looking for these youths and warns the villagers not to provide protection to them. The idyllic life of the village is slowly torn apart by the threat of sudden abductions and disappearances as the violence worsens.

One day Sirimal’s father goes missing with the ferryboat. Sirimal is shocked and ends up in a depressed state. His mother roams the country looking for her husband in every Army prison camp. She encounters the innocent made to suffer the pain and sorrow of civil strife. Schools are closed and normal life is shattered.

When the revolt is finally and brutally crushed by the State forces, the curfew is lifted, schools re-open and life slowly returns to normalcy. With the election of a new government a new era is born in the country. State officials visit the village, making inquiries about the disappeared and offering cash compensation to their families. Bodies are being found in unmarked graves around the country. When Sirimal’s father’s body is finally discovered, Sirimal does not accept the fact that his father is dead. For young Sirimal, his father is still alive and larger than life.

Udugan Yamaya stars Mauli Ferdinando, Tisuri Uwanika, Chandani Seneviratne, Suminda Sirisena, Richard Weerakkodi, Saumya Liyanage , Giriraj Kaushalya and Duleeka Marapana. M.D. Mahindapala does the cinematography, Rohan Samaradivakera is the art director, Kumara Karandeniya, who handles the costumes joins Sudath to write the story and the script. Vasantha Vittachchi did the make up while Kalinga Gihan Perera was the sound controller. Ravindra Guruge did the editing with Sarath Fernando doing the musical score. Enoka Fernado was the executive Producer.

Udugan Yamaya was produced with funds given by National Film Corporation. ‘Sudath Devapriya’ entered the world of art through the theatre. Having acted in a number of stage plays, he followed a course in theatre art for children and young adults conducted by the well known theatre personality Mrs. Somalatha Subasinghe in 1981.

Later he joined the Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation in 1983 as an Assistant Director and was responsible for the production of a large number of children’s dramas. In 1998 he directed a teledrama for children based on the popular novel ‘Amba Yahaluwo’ (The Friends) by well-known novelist T.B. Illangaratne. ‘Amba Yahaluwo’ was subsequently telecast around the world on 27 different channels and won the Honorary Jury Award at the Prix Jeunesse Television Drama Festival held in Munich, Germany in 1990.

His maiden film “Elivena Davasa”, won the award for the Best Screen Script at the Youth Festival organized by the National Youth Services Centre of Sri Lanka. His second film ‘Tharanaya’ (The Crossing) won two awards at the Sri Lanka Film Critics Forum Awards 1991 and was screened at the Faja International Film Festival in Iran and at the Sao Paulo IFF in Brazil. Udugan Yamaya produced in 2003, is Sudath’s third Film.

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