When Sri Lankan filmmaker Prasanna Vithanage, known for his searing commentaries on war, was in college, he made quite a few Tamil friends. “They introduced me to Ilaiyaraaja, Bharathirajaa, Balachander… They set me on a life-long love affair with Tamil films,” says the director, whose latest film, With You Without You ( Oba Nathuwa Oba Ekka ), is to release in select Indian cities on June 20.
The film, adapted from Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s novella A Gentle Creature , originally written in 1876, has been recast to suit a modern-day post-war situation. It explores the relationship tangles between a Sinhala pawnbroker and a Tamil girl. The film is the final one in Prasanna’s war trilogy after Death on a Full Moon Day and August Sun .
Nearly a century and a half after it was written, the storyline of A Gentle Creature still seems strikingly relevant to current times. “It is a timeless classic. The two human characteristics it highlights are masculinity and consumerism, which are even more valid to contemporary society. The story has been adapted to the silver screen three times before (including the late Mani Kaul’s Nazar) in three continents,” he says.
For 30 of his 52 years, Prasanna has seen his beautiful country racked by a bloody conflict. Despite that, his heart still beats for reconciliation and peace. “The ethnic war has affected the common man — irrespective of whether he is Sinhala, Muslim or Tamil. So many have died, been wounded….” So, as a filmmaker, he tries to bring communities together, being objective about his works even though he is part of the equation. “It is hard to be objective when the country is polarised on ethnic lines; everyone wants a subjective take on a situation. But it is better when you set aside your dogmas and opinions… when you learn to see the world through another’s eyes. But to be truthful is not easy,” he says.
Prasanna would know. He has never been short on perspective. Each of these three films has been shot in a different time period. Death … was shot during the conflict, August … during the brief ceasefire and With … in the aftermath of the war.
What was the reaction to his films, which also focus on Tamils, at a time when there was bitterness all around? “It is strange, I admit,” he says, “everyone has lost something. But we must learn to look beyond our grief. My films speak from the heart. It helps that, personally, I believe in social justice.”
Happily, his films have allowed him to reach out to Tamils too. “We have always been in a relationship that has been strained. I’m happy I have been able to reach out to them as a person.” Making these films, says Prasanna, is also therapeutic, after all the agony of war. “It helps one look at the other’s story; it makes you realise you are not alone,” he explains. “And, importantly, if you don’t bother to look, how will you know? How will you grow?”
Prasanna is aware of where his country is right now, and says that it saddens him to see the slow reconciliation process. “I understand the past has overwhelmed most of us, made us take sides, but we must make the attempt.”
So, is the prolific filmmaker done with war films? Is the angst out of his system? “I don’t know,” he pauses. “There might be other stories from other fronts. I want to tell the stories of all the people of Sri Lanka. I’ve done workshops with the Tamil majority in the North, I believe they have a lot of stories to tell…” Next, the filmmaker is planning a docu-drama, in collaboration with Indian artistes, about the social justice system. He’s also looking at some scripts that will shortly be translated onto the big screen.
A lot of Prasanna’s technicians are from India. For With You…, he collaborated with award-winning editor Sreekar Prasad and sound designer Tapas Nayak, and the film was processed at Prasad Studios and Lab in Chennai. “Chennai is like a second home, I have so many friends there,” he says. “For many, Chennai is about petrol and diesel fumes and pollution. For me, it is like a breath of fresh air, a city that inspires me no end. And, you know, Chennai is also where the pirated DVDs of my films sell the most,” he laughs.
With You Without You stars Anjali Patil and Shyam Fernando in the lead, and the Tamil-Sinhalese film will be released with English subtitles in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad and Pune. The film has been lauded at many international film festivals.
