Internationally acclaimed veteran filmmaker Dr. Dharmasena Pathiraja has returned to filmmaking with ‘Prince Sidhartha, the Buddha’, an international film on the early life of the Lord Buddha. Breaking the silence of seven years, the experienced director is to narrate the victorious journey from the birth of Prince Siddhartha to the enlightenment analysing the deep philosophical truths he realized. A joint international production to be done by an international cast and crew the film is produced by Navin Goonaratna for the Light of Asia Foundation.
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| Dr. Dharmasena Pathiraja |
After in-depth research for three years on several scripts of international script writers, a well crafted script had been finalized to be filmed in beautiful locations in Nepal, Thailand and Sri Lanka.
While the scenes in the Lumbini Park in Nepal where Prince Siddhartha was born will be re-created in a botanical garden in Thailand under the supervision of the chief archaeologist of Lumbini Park, a beautiful landscapes in the Kelaniya, Manelwatte is to be created permanently for the palace complex of Kimbulwathpura. The film is planned to be released during the year of Sambuddathwa Jayanthi celebrations starting on Vesak day on May 2011.
Winner at several international film festivals including in Bilbao, Bergamo, New Delhi, London and Rome and a Bronze Award for documentary from Berlin, Dr. Pathiraja, a fitting selection to direct ‘Prince Siddhartha The Buddha’ shared his views on this major production and the present cinema industry with the TV Times.
TVT: What challenges have you had to face when taking up the making of the film on the life of Prince Siddhartha?
Dr. Pathiraja: It is a challenging job as there are several different traditions about the character of Siddhartha. The Therawada tradition is different from Mahayana tradition, about the Buddha and His philosophy as a religion. Getting all these we have to do things to suit our tradition based on Therawada interpretation.
TVT: Having made a film capturing the different social changes in the
country, how do you see this direction related to a
religious theme?
Dr. Pathiraja: I am not doing this because I am a Buddhist. Siddhara was a character who went against the whole tradition. It is not about a religion but a struggle for humanity. So he was a rebel and it is interesting to learn how his character was developed. It was not that he just rose but there was a philosophical movement in the 5th century BC all around the world. He is a product of that kind of tradition. He was a person who went totally against the system.
If I give another answer I can quote a great Italian filmmaker Pier Paolo Pasolini. He was a communist and revolutionary and went against the establishment and finally was killed by the ruling dictatorial government. He did an interesting classic on Jesus Christ tittled ‘Gospel According to St. Matthew’. Then some critics questioned him as to why an atheist like him did that kind of film on Jesus Christ. The answer given by him was ‘Yes I am an unbeliever but unbeliever has a nostalgia for a belief’.
Siddhartha’s character has an effect on every religion and it has become a global phenomenon. And as a filmmaker it is an interesting theme to do a film.
TVT: Being one of the pioneers of Sri Lankan cinema what do you think about the present state of cinema?
Dr. Pathiraja: There is a question as to whether there is a cinema. Actually it is difficult to talk about the cinema as it is very confusing. Every aspect of cinema is declining, production wise and quality wise and also ideologically. There is a hope only in few filmmakers. There are only a few filmmakers and among them are Asoka Handagama, Prasanna Vithanage, Vimukthi Jayasundara, Prasanna Jayakody and Athula Liyanage. These people are also facing problems. The young filmmakers have no funds to make films and NFC also has no funds. On the other hand there are some filmmakers who make some kind of mediocre films and people think they are films but I don’t share that view.
TVT: What can we do to overcome this?
Dr. Pathiraja: We can’t think about industry. Mainly we don’t have a films school. I can remember March 2008 , the President had written to the Media Ministry and approved appointing me as the director of the National Film Academy but it has not come up yet. And there are no film archives and no films of my generation. Dr. Lester James Peries had been voicing this since the 1950s but nothing had happened.
TV Times: Is this due to lack of funds or interest
Dr. Pathiraja: They have funds for any damn thing. Look at IFFA. If they had an interest in IFFA why can’t they find funds for the film academy. In every corner of the world there are film festivals where we can learn about the films. Those facilities should be there to flourish the cinema. Day by day all the theatres are being closed. Even in major cities there are no film theatres. But there are a lot of artistes with the government and advising the government but there is no development in the cinema.
TV Times: Where can we have hope for the future?
Dr. Pathiraja: There should be state intervention. You can’t blame producers or directors. There is no proper policy. Sometimes problems are beyond the capacity of the authorities too . |
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