Remembering Lester

By Rohan Abeygunawardena
abeyrohan@gmail.com

(“The Message” that came after “Line of Destiny”)
“Ask Lester to come and see me”

Continued from last Thursday

Two major documentaries Lester helped Keene with were Heritage of Lanka and Nelungama. He also directed Conquest in the Dry Zone, a documentary on controlling malaria and Be Safe or Be Sorry, a study on errant motorists.

Around this time, a cousin, Christopher Peries (a businessman) suggested that Lester start a company to produce Sinhala films. He left Government Film Unit in 1955 and created Chitra Lanka Limited (CLL) to produce two films, of course with the help of Christopher. However CLL managed only one.  Lester’s closest colleagues at the Government Film Unit, William Blake (a cameraman of Dutch descent), and Titus Thotawatte (an editor) resigned with him and later worked together on a number of films.

Their first film was Rekava (Sinhala for “Line of Destiny”). Few extracts from the book written by Kumar De Silva “Lester by Lester as Told to Kumar de Silva.” were useful to get an insight to Lester’s mind set when he took up the challenge on producing Sinhala films. They are…

“Some have wondered how an Anglo-Saxon English oriented person like me, could embark on a Sinhala film. …Language is the last thing one needed to make a film. One does not make films in Sinhala or Tamil, but in the language of the Cinema.”

“Most of us in the GFU did go and see Sinhala films. We made it a point to see practically every Sinhala film that was released, just out of curiosity. I think GFU was technically making the best Sinhala documentaries and newsreels at that time.”

“Film after film we saw gave us the feeling that the Sinhala cinema had been let down. In fact Asokamala (1947) was much better.”

“There was a nationalist feeling behind my thinking which I think motivated me.”

The story line in Rekawa Lester developed was a simple village story. It recounts the adventures of a small village boy and a girl as follows;

“A stilt-walker cum musician Miguel arriving in the village of Siriyala with a monkey that performs antics for the public. Two village thieves try to rob him and a young boy named Sena prevents the robbery. Miguel, who is also a palm reader, reads the boy’s palm and predicts that Sena will become a famous healer and bring dignity to the village. Sena and his friend Anula are flying a kite in a paddy field. Anula falls sick and realises that she is losing her eyesight. The village physician is unable to cure her but Sena touches her eyes, miraculously Anula gets her sight back. Sena develops a reputation as a boy with a magical touch and his father, a notorious money lender in the village, uses Sena’s talent to earn money. He commences organising healing campaigns among the villagers. A rich landowner brings his son for treatment, but the son died which triggers a public outrage against Sena. Even worse, the village suffers a severe drought. Later, peace and tranquillity returns to Siriyala with Sena’s blessings.”

Lester included some of the traditional beliefs of rural people like devil dancing and rituals from the Sinhala Buddhist Culture such as Vesak celebrations to make the simple story colourful.

“Rekawa” released on December 28, 1956 was considered to be the first truly Sinhala film, as it was the first to be made entirely by Sri Lankan filmmakers with a local cast and crew. The film explores themes of rural poverty, social hierarchy, and the relationship between humans, animals, and environment.

This film has deviated from the melodramatic film formula which had features of boy-girl romance, villain, fights, and comedy, generally present in Hindi and Tamil musical films as well as Sinhala films of the day. As a result, filmgoers attending theatres showing Rekawa were dwindling from the second week. So Rekawa didn’t make money and was a financial flop.

Then came the interview given to ‘Sunday Observer’ by Austrian actress Maria Schell who has seen ‘Rekawa’ at the Roxy Cinema. The headline of that interview was “Rekawa should go to the Cannes Film Festival”

Pragnasoma Hettiarachchi’s charming wife Collette (a French girl) translated the dialogue of Rekava from English to French in time for the International Film Festival at Cannes in 1957. After it was shown at the Cannes and included in the main competition the film was well-received internationally. Though Rekava was not a commercial success it got the international recognition. With that educated class in Sri Lanka looked at it favourably. And the film was regarded as a landmark in Sri Lankan cinema history even today.

Yet, there were no offers coming Lester’s way to direct a film for nearly three years.Kanagasabai Gunaratnam & Cinemas Limited

A young man from Athiyadi, Jaffna, who had come to Colombo hoping to get a job in the film industry, had made his mark as a reputed producer of Sinhala films in the early fifties.

He was Kanagasabai Gunaratnam, one of the pioneers in the Sri Lankan Film Industry who established Cinemas Limited in 1950.Gunaratnam was the youngest son born on 20th July 1917 of the merchant Manikkam Kanagasabai and Mrs. Manikkam Murugesu.

He studied at Jaffna Central College up to junior class and came to Colombo. Like other youngsters in Ceylon his dream was to get into the film industry. Gunaratnam worked for two years as an agent for a film distribution company called “Windsor Talkies.” The company was bought over by Sir Chittampalam Abraham Gardiner (a pioneer Cinema Promoter in Sri Lanka) and brought under the management of Ceylon Theatres. Young Gunaratnam was not happy working under new management and left within three months.

He took over a soft drink business at New Chetty Street and later went into an ice-cream manufacturing business known as Nelwani & Co. at the same premises. He became a partner of a film distribution company called Wallington Talkies. In 1948, he was appointed Chairman of the company.

Gunaratnam set up the ‘Vijaya Studios’ in Hendala’. Some in the film industry felt that the Vijaya Studio was the best black and white film developing unit in entire Asia. He also built and operated film halls like Gamini in Maradana, Plaza in Wellawatta, Wellington Cinema in Jaffna and several others.In 1941 he married Padma Selvadoray. However, she died untimely and later married her sister, Kamala.

He was fond of Horseback riding and was also a good tennis player.  He was an active member of the Tamil Union Sports Club and the Orient Club. Gunaratnam asked his friend famous Indian actor and director Raj Kapoor to direct a film to commemorate 10th anniversary of Cinemas Ltd.

Raj had seen Rekawa when it competed with his movie “JagtheRaho” at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in Czechoslovakia. He told Gunaratnam “Why not Lester?”

“Yes, why not Lester.”

When Willie came with Gunaratnam’s message, Lester went to see him and explained the storyline that he had in mind. He named it “Sandeshaya” (The Message).Gunaratnam told Lester to write the whole script and gave his word that he was going to back it.

Location scouting or finding a proper place to serve as the fictional locations described in the film’s screenplay was also a difficult task. Lester discovered his dream land close to Belihul Oya Rest House while taking a walk with Willie Blake, Charles Perera (production manager) and A.S. Weerakkody (art director). It was a pictorial range of mountains with a forest cover in between.

To be continued