Reeling under lack of creativity

Three free spirited village girls in white sarees are dancing and singing their hearts out in the rain, on mountain tops, in the fields and across the streams. They encounter a handsome young man from the city. He bonds with the prettiest girl of the three. Boy meets girl, girl meets boy; love at first sight.

Naturally, problems arise, and their love is put to the test. Enter ‘the other guy’. Girl leaves boy. Everyone cries. Not long afterwards the other guy decides the girl never really belonged to him anyway, and he himself takes her back to her true love. Being the righteous man he is our hero readily takes her back with open arms and they all live happily ever after. End of story.

That is basically the entire plot of the latest feel good Sinhala movie to hit the theatres, Aasai Mang Piyaambanna by acclaimed commercial film director Udayakantha Warnasuriya. Simple, fun, warm and effective: exactly what the audience wants from a good family movie. And this one delivers; but it is one of the few that does. It is also one of the few movies of late that have found commercial success. Where did the others go wrong?

Any movie critic will tell you that Sri Lanka’s art movies are of high quality. More than a handful of our films have clinched some world class awards; one of them even made it to Cannes. But art movies alone are not enough to keep the industry running. Good quality commercial films are essential for its survival, but not many appear to be coming out of our production houses. Why is this so?

Director Udayakantha Warnasuriya says it’s because we lack strong commercial directors.“Some time back a lot of successful commercial movies were made, because there were so many talented directors around. But today, even though more and more producers are expressing an interest in making good commercial movies, they’re hard pressed to find a good director,” he says.

“We do have the talent, and the technical capacity to make good movies. Movies like Sikuru Hathe, Anjalika, Suriya Arana and my own movies Hiripoda Wessa and Aasai Mang Piyaambanna have so far done well in the market. Today’s movies are made using Cinemascope and DTS technology to achieve maximum possible quality. Producers and directors need to be mindful of this fact,” he says.

Legendary film director Lester James Pieris opines that commercial movies are necessary for the film industry’s survival.“My view is that commercial movies are necessary, but they must be commercially popular,” he says. Case in point: Bollwood. Sri Lanka’s film industry has reached a stage where it has to compete with Bollywood productions to survive. Bollywood Cinema has become a global phenomenon with its audience that used to be limited to the subcontinent now slowly but surely expanding to the rest of the world. Even Hollywood has realised its potential and is trying to tap the billion rupee Hindi movie market. A good example is the recently released Saawariya by Sanjay Leela Bhansali which is distributed by the American production house Columbia Pictures.

Bollywood is a success story and its secret is, without a doubt, its highly successful commercial cinema. Even though they’re made to appeal to a wider audience with the producers wanting to make a fortune out of them, the writers and directors still maintain a high level of creativity. But, sadly, most of our commercial moviemakers appear to have neither money nor creativity.

Bollywood is financially secure, so it’s not surprising the industry is thriving, says Mr. Pieris. “Bollywood has plenty of money. There is an excess of finances flowing into the industry,” he says.“When I was making The God King in 1972, I had to shift post production to London so we could use their Dolby technology. Dolby was installed in Sri Lanka only three years ago,” says Mr. Pieris.

However, the local television industry, on the other hand, is flourishing, Mr. Pieris points out.“There are 14 TV channels in Sri Lanka whereas France has only six national channels,” he adds with a hearty chuckle. The country’s TV stations are equipped with the best digital technology and are advanced.

Can our film makers hope to achieve that same advancement in technology some day? Who will back them? The government, perhaps…? Chairman of the National Film Corporation Ashoka Serasinghe concurs. “We have focused our attention on developing commercial cinema, which we believe is indispensable to the well being of the local film industry,” he says.

According to Mr. Serasinghe tax exemptions up to Rs 35 million have been granted for movie productions. This has resulted in an increasing number of private companies and individuals investing in films. Movies like Weda Beri Tarzan, Sikuru Hathe and Aasai Mang Piyaambanna have benefited immensely from this tax relief.“The budget proposals include Rs 10 million for refurbishing old movie theatres and 50 million for constructing new ones,” he says.