A fine team effort
How satisfying it is to walk out of the cinema hall happy that you have seen a good film. It is a rather rare experience these days as the quality of the Sinhala film is so poor. However, the feeling was good when we came out after the Press show of 'Sakman Maluwa', Sumitra Peries' latest creation.

A simple story, good acting, clever direction, above all, a decent presentation where the family can sit together and watch, make 'Sakman Maluwa' stand out. Suspicion, jealousy and mistrust form the core of the story based on human relationships. These are subtly presented with a cobra playing a key role indicative of impending disaster.
The film is based on 'The Garden', an English short story by Godfrey Gunatilaka.

ester James Peries has written the screenplay with Tissa Abeysekera doing the dialogue. Also in the team are other veterans - Pandit Amaradeva doing the music, K. A. Dharmasena handling the camera and Ravi Guruge ( better known for his involvement with teledramas) responsible for the editing. The final product then cannot be bad unless something drastic has gone wrong. No - it has not happened!

To me there are no actors in the film. They are so natural in their performance. In her peerless style, Iranganie Searsinghe turns out yet another memorable performance. She is superb as the mother of a mature son in his forties, played well by Sanath Gunatilleka.

She is happy when the son announces his intention to marry a relative who is much younger. She is fond of the daughter-in-law, Kanchana Mendis, who shows her potential in becoming a leading lady of the screen in the coming years. She is tolerant of the gardener, Daya Tennakoon who tends to overact sometimes yet shows his usual flair. She loves the younger son, the new 'find' Dinindu Jagoda, who in his maiden effort convinces us that he will go a long way just as father Dhamma did. In short, she is the pivot in the whole story and portrays the different moods as situations arise, extremely well.

The lovely garden is in itself a leading player with the luscious foliage and greenery so pleasing to the eye. So much happens in the garden, which is carefully tended by the master whose world revolves round plants. Even when the younger brother, a medical student, returns from Moscow on a holiday he has no time for him. He prefers to attend to his plants. Naturally the malli confides in the sister-in-law who listens and is sympathetic towards him. This leads to jealousy and suspicion which reaches bursting point.

Ceylon Theatres has done right in inviting Sumitra Peries to do a film to celebrate their 75th anniversary. She has ensured that it is a fitting climax to a long history of involvement by Ceylon Theatres in cinema.

Goodbye, my friend!
I remember him walking down the Marrs Hall hill and passing Jayatilleka Hall where I was, for lectures in the mid-fifties. We were contemporaries at the Peradeniya campus. We kept in touch right through the past four decades due to our common interest in theatre. Last week he bid goodbye and left this world in his customary quiet way.

Bandula Jayawardhana was identified by Parakrama Niriella, fellow dramatist and currently Chairman of the Sinhala Drama Panel of the Arts Council as the sole dramatist who devoted his entire life for the development of Sinhala theatre. Paying 'namaskar' to Bandula and Iranganie Serasinghe in the Panel's official journal, 'Abhinaya' , the last issue of which was a tribute to both of them, Niriella wrote: "I say it with all seriousness. He not only took part in theatre, he served voluntarily in the Sinhala Drama Panel for many years even beyond his capacity preparing numerous plans and programmes for the bureaucrats to take action, all the time trying his level best to serve the theatre".

Bandula believed in silent service doing his bit in the best way he could. He spent the past few years trying to do something useful in the name of that great artiste, Professor Ediriweera Sarachchandra. He took the initiative in forming the Sarachchandra Sahujjana Sansadaya. The annual memorial orations held under the auspices of the Sansadaya in the last four years were a meaningful contribution towards assessing the work done by Dr. Sarachchandra.

The presentation of two orations - one in Sinhala and the other in English - at every commemorative gathering was also significant. In this task Bandula was ably supported by Jayasumana Dissanayake, another enthusiast who believes more in deeds and less in talk.

Bandula's last creation was 'Swarnamali Natakaya' (1999) - "not a historical play but a reinterpretation to produce a play of contemporary relevance", as he put it, taking the building of Ruvanveli Seya as its backdrop. Between 1950 and 1999 he wrote and produced six dramas and wrote another two, which others produced.

Back to Top

Back to Plus

Copyright © 2001 Wijeya Newspapers Ltd. All rights reserved.