TV Times

TV Times

‘Randiya Dahara’ showers new experiences on Kamal
By Susitha R. Fernando
Kamal Addaraarachchi playing the role of a soldier in Sri Lankan Army, who is traumatised by the abuse he underwent, while he was in the hands of his captors (the Tamil rebels) gives a star class performance in Udayakantha Warnasuriya’s film ‘Randiya Dahara’ (Shower of Gold) now being screened at CEL circuit cinemas.

Depicting a character that had no precedent Kamal had to resort to his versatile acting ability under the expertise of director Warnasuriya. Playing opposite an actress who was much senior to him and more experienced in the Sri Lankan film world it is interesting to recount his experience as Captain Samantha.

Kamal described to the TV Times the challenges he faced and experienced playing the role of Captain Samantha, the army officer in Randiya Dahara.

Can you describe how you were challenged by the character Captain Samantha?

The character I played here is not one, who was suffering from any kind of a syndrome that could be learned from any book. Captain Samantha had undergone so much pain and torture. I had to act the role of a person whose memory was lost due to the unbearable torture he underwent. Here it is not a question of brain damage or haemorrhage.

This role was definitely a challenge to be faced as speech was not available and as such I had to be active or inactive. I had to concentrate on facial expression and body language. In this case there was no precedent to follow.

What are the challenges you faced performing the role of Captain Samantha?

Actually the challenge in any character depends on how you execute the behaviour of the character. That is, how you bring to life your character, analysing and experimenting while recreating.

For me the most challenging part was to keep up the momentum. There were situations that were gradually developing from a state where the character had completely lost his memory to one in which he was returning to normal. While the shooting schedule was on it was in a way jumping to different stages of development of my character. As a result I had to maintain and stabilise the process of recovery, consecutively. Shooting, as you know, is not done progressively according to the script.

What kind of guidance did you get from your director?
The director’s script itself had vital ingredients that were necessary for the development of my character. He set the necessary background for my character and though he could not bothered with be burdend every character. Anyway the support I got from Udayakan-tha was very helpful.

What about the rest of the cast?
Most of the cast in Randiya Dahara were professionals and they were very supportive. Usually it is very easy to work and also to give a successful performance when you work with such a cast. And more importantly you get to learn the different areas of acting while working with them.

You had to act opposite Geetha Kumarasinghe, an actress, who was more experienced in the film world as she has had a long successful film career. How did you cope?
It is not a question of acting with different actresses of difficult calibre.
It is the question of being deeply in touch with your role and how you are planning to recreate it making it come alive. In this situation, the age and beauty or other superficial features don’t matter. What matters is your capacity to execute the role productively.

Are you satisfied with your performance in this film?
Most of the time after every performance you feel that you could have done better.
I don’t know why but this notion of unsatisfactory mentality is there with me after most of my performances. This might be the usual reaction, where any other actor is concerned.

Do you think your performance was award winning?
I cannot comment about that. It would be selfish to say that I did better than the other. Then it could be unfair by the others. What I feel is that most of the others gave a good performance. For example Mahendra Perera though in a supporting role came up with a very good performance and as a result we have got a good response by the reviews we received. So it is up to the audience to judge and appreciate the performance of each individual actor or actress.

Any unforgettable incident you faced during the shooting?
I can never forget the location where the scene in which,I get caught by my enemies was shot. It was shot in a marshy land somewhere in Kotte. I had to crawl along the ground and this was a muddy kind of land. Actually the shot was a taken at a garbage dump close to Parliament road and the place was stinking and the smell was unbearable.

Though I was provided with a water proof suit, the stinking water was leaking into it and I had to go through this agonising and tormenting experience for five to six hours. I was really cursing the director Udayakantha.

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