Hemal in the role of Nayananda and Senali plays Niilamani
Studying W.A Silva’s historial romance Vijayaba Kollaya for OL syllabus was a refreshing experience in my young adult days. True, there were other texts by renown writers like Martin Wickremasinghe, G.B. Senanayake in addition to Colombo era poets and Sandesha poetry, but it was the love triangle of Nilamini, Asanga and Nayananda that stole our hearts weaning us away from cheap romance and horror stories of Demon Ananda et al.
The only other historical epic that reached the similar popularity was Martin Wickremasinghe Rohini which I read for my eighth grade test. This romantic saga between Rohini and Athula was set against the backdrop of violent battles between King Dutugemunu and King Elara to ascend to the Sri Lankan thrown.
Based during the time of tension between Potuguese invaders and Kingdom of Kotte, Vijayaba Kollaya, loosely translated as Plunder of King Vijayaba’s Kingdom, the voluminous novel came under criticism for going too far in its poetic license to present a fictional romance. It is quite natural for a master story teller like Silva to create popular fiction for the masses at a time when many talented authors tried to make their mark in the literary scene bourgeoning after 1956 political upheavals. A pioneer of Sinhala novel, Silva published his debut Siriyalatha in 1907 and Vijayaba in 1938. He passed away in 1957 at the age of 67.
Several of Silva’s fiction have become successful films (Siriyalatha, Handapana, Daivayogaya, Deyiyange Rate, Hingana Kolla, Kelehanda) and it was refreshing news for Sinhala film and literary fans when Prof. Sunil Ariyarathne accepted the challenging task of bringing Vijayaba to silver screen.
Speaking to Sarasaviya film weekly Prof. Ariyarathne says his literary career was partly inspired by Vijayaba which he read for his OL while studying at Nugegoda St. John’s College. That massive interest in the 16thcentury epic also prompted him to write a novel titled Alakeshwara based on the same historical period.
“There had been many attempts to make a film based on the epic. The rights to the novel belonged to businessman Buddhi Keerthisena. He even toyed with the idea of making an Indo-Lanka joint venture but nothing came out of it. The script has already written by late Tissa Abeyesekera and when I expressed my intention, Krithisena readily agreed to give its rights to me. H.D. Premasiri who produced my last movie Yashodara is financing the film.”
Prof. Ariyarathne who had made two-dozen film is no stranger to historical genre. Yashodara was based on the love story of Prince Siddhartha and his wife Bimbadevi. He has several more epics to his credit. One was Chisthu Charithraya based on the life of Jesus Christ and Kusa Pabha, a Buddhist Jathaka tale. These films renewed an interest in historical epics and did very well at the box office.
The university don, who is a leading lyrics writer, and works at the University of Jayewardenapura, is meticulous in selecting the cast for his films.
He chose two Indian stars to play the lead in Yashodara. He is reluctant to cast TV stars though there is an explosion of talent in this area as the film fans like to see new faces on screen rather than watching typecast actors whom they see on social media too often.
“Objection to casting TV stars mainly come from theatre owners who complain that using such familiar faces fails to attract crowds,” the director told the film weekly. “In the past people saw their heartthrobs only in the papers but today the situation is quite different as the fans can interact closely with the stars 24/7. This familiarity is a big problem for many directors when they look for actors.”
Prof. Ariyarathne has selected Hemal Ranasinghe (Aadaraneeya Kathawak, Thaala), Ashan Dias (Sarigama), Senali Fonseka as Neelamani and Chulakshi Ranathunga.
“Senali has acted in one TV serial and I asked her not to act in other teledramas till the film is completed”. Her only other film was a historical epic, Somarathna Dissanayake’s Siri Perakum.
Hemal who plays Nayananada and Ashan in the role of Asanga are not always seen on TV and have limited interactions with their fans. So is Chulakshi who plays Hamidumma, the concubine of King Vijayabahu.
Prof. Ariyarathne is full of praise for Abeyesekera’s excellent script. “The voluminous novel could have easily run into at least four hours of screen time but Abeyesekera has limited it to 120 minutes without harming novel’s subject matter and the historical content.”
The film will be released at the end of May. – newstrails.com
