This article was originally published in Daily News on June 23.
Ariyaratne Atugala has done it again. He has already accomplished what could have been unaccomplished under normal circumstances. If we are familiar with The Legend of Kung Fu and the Red Theatre in Beijing, the theatre production and the theatre ‘colosseum’, we cannot just dismiss our own Nelum Pokuna Theatre and the like of Mahasamayama staged atop that regal territory. Mahasamayama was not Atugala’s only prodigious stage production. He produced another Maha-prefixed massive production titled Mahasupina. Stage productions aside, Atugala has authored quite a few teledramas as well. All this deserves note, as Atugala is no mere creative artiste. He is an academic, holding a professorial position at Mass Communication Department, Kelaniya University, which means a life already packed with commitments.
This is precisely why his newest achievement is noteworthy. Saho is Professor Ariyaratne Atugala’s maiden attempt at novel and cinema. So to say, his latest creative contribution is now available as a novel (Sarasavi publishers) as well as a movie. The movie made it to the second round of the Cannes Film Festival, competing in the feature section.Dr Lester James Peries marked his name with his debut at the prestigious film festival. His Rekhava (Silver lining), made in 1956, was nominated for the Palme d’Or at the 1957 Cannes Film Festival. Vimukthi Jayasundara was the first Sri Lankan to win the prestigious Caméra d’Or (Golden Camera) in 2005 for his film Sulanga Enu Pinisa. We can, of course, agree with Chandran Rutnam who termed this as a milestone achievement. Yet we can only keep fingers crossed as to when we get to savour Saho on the silver screen among a host of other hopeful cinematic works.
Cinema and novel are two mediums. Privacy could perhaps draw the boundary line. The novel is very much a private exercise whereas movie-making requires a good deal of team effort. However, both mediums offer inspiration to the creative artiste. That was so for Professor Atugala. The CoViD pandemic came forth as a blessing in disguise. Confined to home, inspiration was overflowing in him so as to feel a vacuum of something left unexpressed. Words and thoughts began to tumble over one another that he felt the visual medium could not express the whole he wanted to.The four young rebels in Saho, two male and female each, mourn the death of their Saho (vernacular for comrade or chum) who was sacrificed in their struggle. The death comes as a shock for the mourning group. Education and finance issues spring up in the bemoaning. Extramarital affairs and drug addiction are yet another facet. In the subtext, Atugala touches on what numerous social science theses could have taken up.
Yet the issue is how he struck a balance between the two mediums: novel and film. There is more to it than mere home-confinement inspiration. It is a universally acknowledged truth, with due respect to Jane Austen, that the novel is a medium much richer than film in terms of expression. Thoughts transformed into words bring the readership into an infinity – something an audience in a theatre is deprived of. This same phenomenon cannot be applied to the cinema medium. It will not only make the cinematic work boring, but it would also no longer be a cinematic expression at all. Harangue-like paragraphs are unique to the novel which will lead us into a delightful infinity of a welcome stratosphere.Saho plot was brewing in Atugala for many years. Halfway through the editing of the movie, Atugala thought why not give the literary expression a try. The most sensitive expression he had been deprived of now surfaced on pages one by one.
Be that as it may. We shall not hasten to weigh the novel against the film or vice versa. That would not only be unfair by the two different genres but the author himself. Atugala has finished his work. The Saho that remains before us is a profound meditation on youthful frustration fused into innocent dreams undone by known and unknown exterior forces. It is their story.
Let us then read, watch and savour their story.
Hey chum, hey Saho, wait up!
