By Dimithri Wijesinghe
The Sri Lanka Film Directors’ Association recently made a request for the distributors of the Hindi language fantasy blockbuster ‘Brahmāstra: Part One – Shiva’ to remove its Sinhalese language subtitles.
Historically, according to veteran film critic Aruna Gunarathna, Sri Lanka has not provided Sinhalese subtitles for foreign films at the cinema. “This was largely owing to the State Film Corporation Act No. 47 of 1971, which prohibits Sinhala language dubbing of international films. This was enacted in the past owing to the growing concerns of the Sri Lankan film industry, which feared that these dubbed flicks would become substitutes for Lankan cinema creations,” he said.
However, he noted that Sinhalese subtitles were not included in this Act, considering that the technology at the time ensured that subtitling a film was an incredibly arduous process. Therefore, there is no legal objection to Sinhalese subtitles in a film, according to the Act. Gunarathna noted that this fear nevertheless persisted amongst Lankan filmmakers, and they remained concerned that Sri Lankan audiences would simply opt to watch Sinhalese subtitled intentional films, leaving the local industry with no exclusivity or means of attracting the said audience.
Sinhalese subtitles a necessary change
The request of the Film Directors’ Association has been largely criticised, and Gunarathna too noted that he felt that the Association was opposing a very necessary next step and a natural progression of Sri Lanka’s cinema culture. “A bunch of directors who struggle to make their own films are the ones making so much noise about this. We have never officially subtitled a foreign film in Sinhala for the past 60 years or so, with the exception of one film. Has that ever directly benefited Lankan cinema? It doesn’t appear to have had any impact whatsoever.”
Gunarathna stated that cinema culture was changing globally: “There are a multitude of platforms for the public to consume media; people do not frequent cinemas as a norm anymore, so if you wish to attract viewers then you must do something extra, something special. Sinhalese subtitles alone are not going to cut it, you’re going to need a lot more, but this is a good step.”
Similarly, veteran filmmaker Chandran Rutnam also vehemently criticised this request: “Is this the prevailing mindset? That, if this film has Sinhalese subtitles, the audience might be drawn to the cinema and then may not wish to go to the cinema again to see a local Sinhalese film? That this screening will take away from the allotted space and time reserved for local Sinhalese films which may or may not attract an audience? If this is how we think, then all that we are doing is displaying our ignorance, inability, and insecurities. Shame!”
He added: “Why not make better movies that will draw in an audience, rain or shine? Why not subtitle the Sinhalese films in English and Tamil to draw the maximum possible audience? We must not destroy the film industry with outdated ideas of so-called ‘protection’ of local Sinhalese or Tamil films. We must compete and create better movies that can draw the audience to the cinema.”
Film Directors’ Association response
The Sunday Morning Brunch spoke to Bennett Rathnayake of the Sri Lanka Film Directors’ Association, who shared that the Association had not issued this request. He also casually noted that there was an Executive Board to which the matter had been presented, and with the exception of one member, the collective had agreed that Sinhalese subtitles should not be included for this particular film.
“When the National Film Corporation was incorporated, it was decided that in order to benefit and empower the national cinema industry, it was necessary not to allow dubbed international films to invade the space dedicated to homegrown cinema,” he said.
“It is necessary to protect local cinema and create spaces for its advancement. Following the privatisation of film distribution, those conditions set out by the Act have largely been disregarded, particularly the condition stating that Lankan cinema should be given 60% of the collective screen time in theatres,” he added, noting that if at least this section was adhered to, they would not be quite as concerned about the encroachment of foreign films upon local film spaces since due support would be given to local players.
However, according to Rathnayake, as things stand now, Lankan films do not represent even 25% of the films being screened at the 40 major theatres around the island.
He further stated that Sri Lanka simply did not have the resources to compete with international contenders. “Our budgets are minuscule in comparison. International films have budgets worth millions of dollars, whereas we are barely breaking the Rs. 10-20 million threshold when it comes to our films. It is simply not a level playing field and we will be further disadvantaged if they are also allowed to encroach upon local language spaces as well.”
While Rathnayake maintained that Lankan cinema could not afford to compete with international films coming in and catering to local audiences, other creatives expressed that this was simply a bandaid on a larger issue, where Lankan filmmakers had somehow failed to crack the code of affordable yet impactful filmmaking.