Samanala Sandhawaniya/සමනල සනධ්වනිය - Butterfly Symphony - Movie Review

First of all I should start with a confession....I'm a movie addict. I have to watch at least one movie a day to have a good night sleep. I watch all kinds of movies from romance to action to thriller (but I'm not very fond of Horror films), to Sinhala, English, Hindi, Tamil, Telingu, Korean to even Chinese!
Second of all, I'm not very fond of Sinhala films because they have stupid story lines which are more often than not imitations of international films. 

The movie I'm going to review today came into my knowledge while watching another Sri Lankan movie which I do not want to mention because it isn't even worth to type it's name. Anyways, the trailer looked something of a mystery to me. If you are thinking "Ah....shouldn't the whole point of a trailer be just that?"Well, stop right there! You might not be a proper Sri Lankan film fan who has watched a movie trailer.....Sri Lankan movie trailers are mostly made on the basis that the trailer should provide almost whole of the film! So watching the trailer you can fit bits and pieces together and make up the whole story on your own. 

So, the film trailer was a mystery. Suddenly I was so curious that I tried to fit bits and pieces in the trailer together and makeup a story...It didn't work. I first fit it into the most common teacher- student story and the student infatuation story...none of them seemed to work. Then, I waited for months till the movie came into cinemas and bugged my mother into giving me permission to go and watch it (yeah yeah I'm old enough to go on my own but you should definitely direct that question towards my mother...you will start agreeing with her in seconds!). So we waited for a while till the weird advertisements and trailers for "Sri Daladawatha" and "One shot One - Part II - Ranja" (I mean why would you even go to the trouble of making a second part to that aweful movie...NEVERMIND!) rolled on......

The movie is actually pretty good!!! It has a very ORIGINAL storyline which is not directly copied from Hollywood or Bollywood (or any wood). It's not a typical teacher - student story, It's a story about a boy who mistakenly reads a letter which belongs to another and his infatuation with the writer of the letter. More often than not, we live in a world where we become infatuated with things which make us forget the real world. The whole film is interconnected to every event which takes place. Not only that, the main characters of the story (specially Punya) are given few lines as dialogues. 

The movie unlike other Sri Lankan films doesn't have time consuming fights or unrelated song dance sequences. The few songs played in the movie (not many) have a very deep connection and meaning to the storyline. The song "මට මගේ නොවන මගේම ආදරයක් තිබුනා .. " (I had a love which didn't belong to me) is played throughout the song. It has a connection to the whole story of the main character (Vaadeesha). This movie is not a complete waste of time. Trust me I know, I watch movies and I regret the fact that none of the reviewers were bold enough to say how much C**P the movie was.
So, I should be truthful and say, the movie was awesome but the song was played a lil too much (it was kinda annoying when it's ringing inside your head after the film). I guess the director thought that since Vaadeesha's song was based on his own life it's applicable everywhere but it was too much for me. Other than that, it was a good movie worth watching. Even if you dodn't like the story of the movie it has meaningful and GOOD music. So, it's worth the money and time you are going to spend on it.

The Professional by Ashok Ferrey - My Review

First of all, I must say that I'm not a professional critic, I just say what  I feel like about a book. I read the way I want to and I'm addicted to anything with romance in it. In that way I might be weird to you. You should read the book and let me know what you think about the book rather than listen to a person who is willing to waste time and write a review about a book rather than move from devouring one book after teh other. So, this is my review of Ashok Ferrey's "The Professional".

I first came to know about this book when a  friend of mine invited me to the book launch through Facebook. Needless to say I was not that interested to go to a book launch of Ashok Ferrey. I have to say that having read two of his books; I was not his biggest fan. During the book month, walking along the shops at BMICH, I saw many putting this book into their shopping carts and buying it with great enthusiasm that made me want to read it find out myself what the fuss is all about.

First, I thought maybe it’s because he’s famous and he’s got a TV show and everything. Then, I heard that the book was shortlisted for the Gratiaen prize I began to understand the trend of everyone buying this book. So, I took the risk of spending my hard saved money and buying the book.

 

 The cover itself was adorned with two quotations from two authors; Shyam Selvadurai, author of ‘Funny Boy’  and Seneka Abeyratne, author of ‘Mad People’. Reading Fifty Shades of Grey which defined the word erotic at a new level and then reading The Professional which was described as “Deliciously Erotic” by Senaka Abeyratne didn’t seem to even grasp the idea of erotic to me but, then again, people have different ideas and perceptions about eroticism. Throughout the book, I was searching for that element of ‘erotic’ which Abeyratne described. Selvadurai’s words “Wonderfully dark yet witty” on the other hand, was proven to be an exact concise description of the whole book in 4 words. The word play throughout the book, for example describing Aliya Ginger Beer (Elephant House Ginger Beer) as Nariya Ginger Beer was fascinating. 

 The protagonist of the book was a well thought-out character by Ferrey, who is a great example of the survival of the fittest category. Throughout the story he seems to fit into his friend Jonas’s description, “You’re just like water. You’ll take the shape of any cup you’re poured into”. From his ‘professional’ job to being friends with the two clients he met at Wimbledon, he fits into any ‘container’ he’s put into. The fact that he’s called a professional is a joke, other than for ‘the job’ he’s nothing like a professional; he’s messy, disorientated and disorganized. 

The element of ‘time’ is used spectacularly throughout the book. The author (the older Chamath) and the younger Chamath runs side by side during the run of the story; much like the railways – “The Finest thing the British did”. The play between the two Chamaths was kind of exhausting at first, but as you progress with the story you will find out that the story is a very well connected set of building blocks which fits perfectly at the end of the story. 

All in all, the witty, satiric book by Ferrey is in my opinion a book worth your time. It may seem little bit unfinished with the story ending so abruptly but I promise you, it will keep your mind entertained about the life of those who remain in the society and we try to ignore;  ‘the professionals’.