Lester James Peiris is a world recognized director. But his desire to wrap the main female characters in sari makes the films unrealistic. We could see this weakness in Awaragira, Ammawarune, Giraya etc which he directed and in Sakman Maluwa which he wrote the script. Foreigners may not see anything unrealistic on this as they might think about Sri Lankan society is similar to Indian society. But as Sri Lankans we see that is not realistic. Unfortunately, Sri Lankan critics are not paying attention to bad art direction. Specially they seem to be scared of criticizing the films of well recognized directors such as Lester and his wife Sumithra. The story of the film is contemporary to the civil war (After 1983). The family of Sumanawathie is very poor. Sumanawathie's casual dress (which she wear at home) is not suiting the family background. Premalatha's Dress is not the dress of woman at her age at this period. Apart of that, Sunanda is riding a ladies bicycle. Area at which this story is based seems like north central province. People in this area don't waste money on ladies bikes. Both men and women ride mens bikes (Bike with a horizontal bar between handle and the seat, on which a person can travel other than rider). It is very sad about the juries which give awards for these unrealistic creations, and the critics who don't criticize these. The reason for these unrealistic creations is that the directors, art directors, script writers, critics and juries of award ceremonies are based on Colombo. They are not aware of the rural life. They imagine that the rural life has not been changed for decades. Never placed their foot in a real village, they do their creations. This film shows an imaginary rural life which doesn't exist in real world. Good acting and direction and other creations have been spoiled with bad art direction. Lester should keep this art director away from his future films.
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