BANGALORE: Acclaimed Sri Lankan director Prasanna Vithanage's seventh feature film Oba Nathuwa Oba Ekka (With You, Without You) is an adaptation of Fyodor Dostoyevsky's novella, The Meek One. It tells the story of a Tamilian girl Selvi (played by National Award winning, Indian actress Anjali Patil) and a Sri Lankan man Sarathsiri (played by Sri Lankan actor Shyam Fernando) against the backdrop of the Sri Lankan civil war. With the film set to release in Indian theatres on June 20, the director couldn't be more thrilled. "This is probably the best thing that could happen to me. I've always been so inspired by Indian cinema. I've grown up watching auteurs like Satyajit Ray and Shyam Benegal. It's a privilege to have my film released here," he says.
The film that completed shoot and post-production in 2012, had its world premiere at the Montreal World Film Festival, and has since then been screened at film festivals around the world. Some Bangalore audiences might even have caught it at the 2012 Bangalore International Film Festival. "The idea for the film first came when I was approached by an aspiring scriptwriter with a two page story, adapted from Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s novella The Meek One. At first, when I read it I didn't think I could make a movie out of it, as I thought it was a critique on consumerism and how masculinity affects relationships. I didn't see how it could fit into a post-war Sri Lankan narrative. However, I went back to the original novella and read it over and over again and realised the possibilities of the story and how it could be an allegory or metaphor for what the country has been through," he says.
According to Prasanna, the story focuses on what we thinks is the impossibility of reconciliation in a country that's seen civil war at its worst. The inability to see others' point of view and how views are finally polarised is what the film is all about. "When adapting this novella into a film, I based it upon the biggest issue of our country which is the ethnic conflict. We live in a society which still has unhealed wounds from a war that lasted for over 30 years, killing over tens of thousands of people," he says. Confrontation between a man from the majority Sinhalese and a woman from the Tamil minority then became the dramatic premise of the script. Their struggle with their own past was a metaphor for the struggles of the nation as a whole.
"The civil war has definitely shaped my life and my work. Coming from the majority background, my constant struggle is to reach out to the other. Art has no meaning if it doesn't reach everyone and is instead kept confined. Film-making is therapy to me," he further elaborates.
Prasanna Vithanage is no stranger to the Indian film industry. He has, on more than one occasion, had multiple Indian technicians working on his films.
With You Without You also has on board one of India's most prolific editors, A Sreekar Prasad.
Among other things, he bagged the maximum number of National Awards for Best Editor, and has worked with directors like Mani Ratnam, Santosh Sivan and Shaji Karun. "It was in fact Sreekar who insisted that I screen the movie in Chennai.
We screened it there a few months ago for few of our friends. It was there that another close friend, director and film critic Sudhish Kamath saw the movie and insisted that I get the film released nationally in India,” he informs. Post the conversation, Prasanna got in touch with Shiladity Bora from PVR who immediately fell in love with the movie and the theatrical release was finalised.
However, Sreekar is not the only Indian to be involved in the film. National Award winning actress Anjali Patil plays the female lead in the film.
“I was initially looking for a Tamil actress from Sri Lanka. However, our 67 year old film industry has predominantly seen Sinhala actresses, all though there are some Tamilian actresses who work in television and theatre. However, I didn’t find the kind of personality I was looking for. It was Tapas Nayak who finally suggested Anjali. He sent me a couple of photographs and when I saw her face I knew I had found my actress. She had the right look of vulnerability as well as strength that fit the character. Working with Anjali has been a great experience. She’s extremely professional and even picked up both Sinhala and Tamil fairly quickly, despite coming from a Maharshtrian background,” says Prasanna.
The film will release in Sri Lanka a few months down the line as the producers of the film want it released in the digital format and the theatres of Sri Lanka aren’t yet up to date with the current technology. Prasanna will be visiting both Mumbai and then Chennai for the film premiere. “Chennai is like a second home for me. All the post-production work for most of my films has been done here. It will be great to go back there and catch the film again,” he says.
The Tamil-Sinhalese film is set to release with English subtitles in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad and Pune on June 20. It will be screened at the PVR theatres of the cities as part of their Director’s Rare series.