{"id":141742,"date":"2015-03-26T14:19:55","date_gmt":"2015-03-26T08:49:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=141742"},"modified":"2015-04-02T10:46:01","modified_gmt":"2015-04-02T05:16:01","slug":"extracting-scent-from-bora-diya-pokuna","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/extracting-scent-from-bora-diya-pokuna\/","title":{"rendered":"Extracting ‘Scent’ From ‘Bora Diya Pokuna’"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Malinda Seneviratne<\/span><\/a> \u2013<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Malinda<\/a>

Malinda Seneviratne<\/p><\/div>\n

Three reasons made me accept the invitation extended to me by Satyajit Maitipe<\/span><\/a> to view his debut film, \u2018Bora Diya Pokuna<\/span><\/a>\u2019 (\u2018Scent of the Lotus,\u2019 he calls it in English) at the Goethe Institute. It is a film that is gathering cobwebs in the corridors and shelves of the minds of those who people the Public Performances Board and this is a natural incentive to watch the film. Indeed, it is no secret that some directors get multiple orgasms when the PPB sits on their little masterpieces.<\/p>\n

The second reason is the title. \u2018Bora diya\u2019 or \u2018muddy waters\u2019 coupled with the lotus makes for a very Buddhist metaphor, so much so that the sub-heading \u2018a Buddhist parable in three parts\u2019 was unnecessary. There was some philosophical\/cosmological exploration promised and that was reason enough for me. The third is Satyajit himself. A man with a mind and a mind that knows word, colour and form and something of juxtaposition.<\/p>\n

\u2018Buddhist parable\u2019. Okay. To be honest I didn\u2019t know quite what to expect. If a short hand was to be employed to capture the plot, one could say \u2018young love\u2019 and this, like anything is eminently suitable for parable treatment, so to say. Satyajit could have been inspired to employ any number of meanings, subtle, profound and\/or obvious, weaving these into a fairly commonplace, believable, interesting story. I confess I lost out on the \u2018parable\u2019 business not too far into the opening frames. The story was compelling enough to stand on its own strength with or without \u2018parable promise\u2019 as a prop.<\/p>\n

The \u2018Buddhist\u2019 was recognisable of course. I would even say there were many \u2018Buddhistics\u2019 (to coin a term); some clearly intended and others read as such thanks to prior readings. I reflected on this and remembered Satyajit telling me once that he is greatly inspired by Buddhist philosophy. It would naturally percolate into the script and much else then, I thought. the classic preoccupations of youth, were the nodes around which Satyajit weaves his parable(s).<\/p>\n

\"bora<\/a>Three young girls, their different approaches to and encounters with men, relationships, love, sex, life and self, over time: these constitute the meat of the story. I shall not go into that. The synopsis is given in the website and goes like this (for those who are interested):<\/p>\n

\u2018Three rural, working class, garment factory girls \u2013 a pampered prima-donna (Mangala), a saferunner (Swineetha) and tormented vixen (Gothami) go through certain trials and tribulations. Lovelorn Gothami makes life difficult for everyone around her and creates her own tragedy by falling in love with Mangala\u2019s sexually frustrated lover, Vipula. The friends go their own ways. An accidental meeting of the two girl\u2019s years later results in a confession that shocks Gothami. Gothami thus learns something about life, about winning and losing, suffering and emancipation, in a completely different perspective that she did not know existed.\u2019<\/p>\n

It took some telling, this story, and this fact took away from what I believe is a very keen perception that Satyajit has of the dhamma and also his rare ability to let the parable reveal the underlying philosophical lesson. Satyajit frames the questions that he explores in the film in simple and compelling ways. But a parable is not an epic and even if an individual\u2019s life is by definition of epic proportion, the Buddhist story-telling tradition is characterised by economy. There was enough \u2018message\u2019 with respect to impermanence, the paticcasamuppada, the jathi, jara, and marana, the anitta, dukka and anatma, and of course the all-pervading lessons of the Satipattana Sutta. There was too much. I didn\u2019t quite get the \u2018three parts\u2019 of the break up he promises in the title, but it occurred to me that perhaps Satyajit ought to have considered a trilogy.<\/p>\n

There are limitations that young film-makers have to contend with of course and perhaps he didn\u2019t have the luxury of making such a decision. We know, after all, that his film is still languishing in the PPB for whatever reason. Still, I believe that Satyajit has the perception and the creativity to do more with the little story. Here he ends up doing less with the grand narrative. Saying-it-all is the business of the Sammasambuddhas. Satyajit gives insight but overwhelms with detail to the point of erasure. The longer it dragged, the more apparent became the denouement and this robbed the effect of subtlety. A pity, I thought.<\/p>\n

Let me explain it this way. In \u2018Love in the Time of Cholera\u2019 Garcia Marquez gives us almost an almanac on love. We recognise ourselves on every page. \u2018Of love and other demons\u2019 is a novelette. It takes a small incident, a small unfolding, and sheds light on a large universe of emotions and meanings. The latter tells us more about love, in a deeper, more abiding kind of way. The former makes us grin from ear to ear, leaves us with loads of anecdotes that can liven up any conversation. \u2018Bora Diya Pokuna\u2019 should have been a film version of the \u2018Of love and other demons\u2019 kind. The parables would have appeared clearer and in a more telling manner. I think I missed most of it.<\/p>\n

Kaushalya Fernando\u2019s performance in the lead role was nothing less than brilliant; in comparison what she did in \u2018Sulanga Enu Pinisa\u2019 is pedestrian. The script, as in the \u2018parable\u2019 intention, might just have been \u2018Gothami\u2019s story\u2019. She captures the parable(s) or at least what I managed to extract from the film, in her face, her expressions and nuances of gaze. Satyajit didn\u2019t have much to do, I told myself, for the story was all there, embedded in an exceptional portrayal of a troubled and therefore troublesome character.<\/p>\n

Overall, Satyajit has handled his cast very well and for a long film economically too. With veterans such as VeenaJayakody, Chandra Kaluarachchi, LiyoniKothalawela, ChandaniSeneviratne, Iranganie Serasinghe, and Dharmasiri Bandaranayake, little could go wrong, of course. As for the \u2018young ones\u2019, Duminda de Silva and Dilani Abeywardena, they are certainly not outclassed by Kaushalya Fernando in terms of ability.<\/p>\n

Overall, I would say that \u2018Bora Diya Pokuna\u2019 is the first work of a mature mind. Whereas others like Handagama and Vimukthi were savvy enough to pick out short-cuts available in the political, Satyajit\u2019s promise rings more true. There is nothing contrived, no working in of controversy. His is a believable story, tastefully presented, and an overall work that reveals a film maker who has passed his juvenile years without much scarring.<\/p>\n

I want parable. Many more. I am sure Satyajit is capable of greater things, a story-telling that has a jathakakatha or dhammapada brevity, eloquence and therefore universal appeal. \u2018Bora Diya Pokuna\u2019 had too many lotuses or else, a few lotuses among all kinds of flowers on the altar of portrayal. It was, in the end, a scent that was hard to extricate. Or maybe I just didn\u2019t possess the nostrils.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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