‘Pathi’ – A figure to remember

With the inception of local film industry in 1948, Sri Lankans were privy to enjoy a new mode of entertainment. The films were merely dubbed or adapted versions of South Indian movies but people got enthralled by those creations not for their content but the technical novelty. However, it took another few years for them to see a movie that depicted a truly Sri Lankan identity, through Dr. Lester James Peiris’s Rekhawa.   

Albeit, some movies that screened in the 60s were artistically brilliant, neither of them could grasp the conflicts and chaos of this post-colonial society which was hampered by economic, social and cultural deformities that its people had inherited from centuries of colonial rule. To fill this ever widening gap, a young filmmaker, then an undergraduate at the University of Peradeniya, stepped into the industry empowered with knowledge, passion and young blood. He was Pathi, and the rest is history.   

Entering the local movie scene as the assistant director to Sugathapala Senarath Yapa in Hanthane Kathawa Dr. Dharmasena Pathiraja later went on to create new wave in realistic cinema. His first feature film ‘Ahas Gawwa’ (A league of earth) talked widely about the unemployment problem of the mid-70s. He did not use the big stars of the era but true young talent to take his message effectively to the masses. The ever remembered Vijaya, Kalan and Wimal stand as testament to this.   

His first feature film ‘Ahas Gawwa’ (A league of earth) talked widely about the unemployment problem of the mid-70s

Arguably, widely considered as his masterpiece ‘Bambaru Awith’ (Wasps are here) dramatically portrays how the capitalistic forces invade a peaceful fishing village. The beauty of the movie is that by the end, the hero (Victor – Played by Vijaya Kuamarathunga) becomes the villain and the villain (Antony – Played by Joe Abeywickrema) becomes the hero. His masterly brilliance in story, dialogue and screenplay is finely demonstrated 
in the movie.   

In the early ‘80s he directed Para Dige (On the run), again going deeply into the subject of youth who were lost in the early stages of the open economy. A young couple struggling hard to collect the money required for an abortion finally resorts to marriage in turbulent societal and economic waters. 

 
Even though Dr. Pathiraja has many other movies, tele-dramas and stage dramas to his credit, I saw the oppression and desperation of Sri Lankan society at its best through the above mentioned creations. Once he told me in a casual conversation at the BRC, “Some of my films were not commercially successful because people could understand them only one or two decades after screening.” That proclaims the visionary thinking of this cinematic giant, and how ahead he was than the laymen of his times. 

Influenced and inspired by Bengali Cinema, he almost did here what Satyajit Ray did in India with his low budget masterpieces

 
Influenced and inspired by Bengali Cinema, he almost did here what Satyajit Ray did in India with his low budget masterpieces. As an academic, lecturer, filmmaker, opinion leader, humanitarian and more than all of that, as a warm and simple character, Pathi has left much food for thought, even though he won’t be with us in person anymore.   

Sir, ‘I know that you had to go… But wish you could stay some more…’