TV Times

TV Times

Sudath's shows 'Shades of Ash'
By Susitha R. Fernando
"Bring a handful of pepper from a house that was not affected by war," says the filmmaker Sudath Mahaadivulwewa reminding us of the words of Lord Buddha to Kisa Gothami the mother lamenting over the death of her son, to fetch a handful of pepper from a house where there was no death.
‘Sudu Kalu Saha Alu’ (Shades of Ash), the maiden film of Sudath is a timely venture during a period there is no war and no peace, released on prestigious CEL circuit including Regal cinema Colombo from July 28.

"What is terrifying is not war, but the hour that dawns when it ends," is the main theme of the film set in a border village "Kalu Visa Pokuna" where the villagers are returning after they had fled the war.

The government has made arrangements to resettle this helpless group of people. Passing dusty roads they are brought in army trucks to the village which was once their heart. But as soon they return they realise that the village is not the one that they left.

The village is in chaos and with the war many evils becoming predominant. The tree at the entrance to the village at which Gambara Aththo (Sriyantha Mendis) used to ask for God's blessings is cut down to build the bunker in which two young home guards spend their time reading trashy pornographic newspapers and listening to cheap love songs.

The source of life and livelihood of the village, the lake, has been poisoned by the terrorists. It has already taken the lives of several well-meaning and innocent individuals. Hence, the villagers were compelled to be highly dependent on the water brought from outside to the village by a water bowzer on a regular basis. The external powers that creep into the village in different guises ruin and take full control of the village.

One of them, 'NGO Nona' superbly played by Iranganie Serasinghe comes to the village to build the commemorative plaque at the mass grave where the kith and kin including mothers, fathers, sons, daughters and even Buddhist monks had been buried in a mass grave.

The teacher appointed by the government to look after the educational needs of the village, Gunawardana Iskole Mahattaya (Wasantha Kotuwella) who is on punishment transfer for anti-government activity successfully gets the ownership of the village boutique in his favour. NGO Nona and he start selling artefacts, Puskola Poth (ancient scrolls with sacred writing) belonging to the temple to Antique dealers in Colombo. He sexually abuses the only boy student in the school, Ukkuwa.

Even the children are not spared the ravages of the post war situation. The most affected in Kalu Visa Pokuna are the two children Ukkuwa (Madusanka Mendis) and Ungi (Koshila Jayawardena) who develop an innocent intimate relationship but are separated by the evils of war. Ungi who is taken to the town by NGO Nona with the promise of a better future is sexually abused while Ukkuwa abandoned in the village becomes a cripple after stepping on to a landmine. The others in the list of victims of post war misery are Army Ajith played extremely well by Mahendra Perera. This young villager who was looking after the village lake joins the army as it is the most easily available job for the poorest of the poor in the war stricken society but deserts since he couldn't obtain leave for his honeymoon.

As "Army Ajith" returns home with lots of presents for his newly wed wife, Komala, she is with another man in her husband's room. He becomes a wreck as a result and this ruins his personal life, driving him mad. Due to his enlistment in the Army, the villagers are deprived of his service as the protector of the village lake.

Thus in his absence enemies poisone the lake making it of no use.
Komala (Dilhani Ekanayake) having no other option to feed Ukkuva, her mentally ill husband- army Ajith and blind father, starts to serve as a sex worker in the nearby town and eventually contracts a social decease.

These are only a part of the ravages that Sudath Mahaadivulwewa portrays in his film. The director shows us how human lives used to show the strength and demarcation of an endless war. The government resettlement plan is to show the extent of state power but in reality these people were forced to live in a place which was not suitable for human habitation. Now the village is not what it was when they left and there is no peace, unity or harmony anymore. Without exception both living and dead have become victims of war.

The film was completely shot in a specially built village inside a forest in Palugaswewa in Anuradhapura by the set constructor Jagath Imbulpe. The music with its powerful sound of silence in most of the scenes is by the veteran music director Premasiri Khemadasa.

And this was the first time that 'master' arranged the music score to the latest DTS technology. Elmo Halliday who has won the most number of awards for editing uses the digital technology for his role as an editor.

The cast which has no one single protagonist, hero or villain is Irangani Serasinghe, Sriyantha Mendis, Sanath Gunathilake, Mahendra Perera, Dilhani Ekanayake, Jayalath Manoratne, Rangana Premaratne, Tyronne Michael, Wasantha Kotuwella, Kumudu Nishantha, Dasun Madhushanka Mendis, Koshila Jayawardena and Gunadasa Madurasinghe.

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