TV Times

TV Times

Vasantha returns with ‘Aganthukaya’
By Susitha R. Fernando
Having held the Muhurath ceremony at the National Film Corporation (NFC) few days ago, experienced filmmaker Vasantha Obeysekara with cast and crew has started his latest directorial venture “Aganthukaya” which is being shot on location in Kurunegala now.

This is the twelfth directorial venture of this award winning filmmaker. The film deals with the repercussions of politicising modern society. Here Mr. Obeyesekara handles a political theme. The film deals with politicisation of society and its impact on every individual.

“This is about one man’s lonely fight for what he believes is right. And here is a man who refuses to compromise and finally ends up as a victim,” Vasantha told TV Times describing the backdrop for the plot. “We are moving fast into a society full of cowards. We don’t resist corruption or violence…

Starting from 1977 with the Open Economy we are running into a terrible society. “When people lose integrity and the values they believe in they cease to be human beings”“What I wanted to depict in Aganthukaya is that when someone refuses to fall in with the majority and stands for what he genuinely believes in. The entire machinery of society comes against him. Yet going against the tide he may be willing to die rather than compromise.

The lead roles in ‘Aganthukaya’ are played by Saumya Liyanage, Sanath Gunathilaka, Chandani Seneviratne. In the technical crew Ruwan Costa is the cinematographer and Imal Shanaka the make up artiste and Lal Harendranath the art director. Rohana Weerasinghe will do the background music. Malcolm Mantara plays the production manager and Mahesh Nishantha still photographer. Daminda D. Madawela assists the director. The film is produced by the NFC.

“My directions are just the extension of my thoughts fighting to seek its own positions in visual expressions. I do this within the experience of my inherent Sri Lankan culture and ambience. As such I seek empathy with my audience.

They in return absorb my basic expressions of reality and recreate them in a dimension of social ethical concept in society”, said Obeysekera who is deeply concerned with social issues and the complex ways in which social and historical forces condition and inflect human life. Obeysekera’s latest film Asani Warsha (The Wrath and Rain) is now being screened at EAP circuit cinemas.

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