Theja Iddamalgoda’s feature film directorial debut Ashawari premiered on 22 February at Savoy Premier (Roxy Cinema) in Wellawatte.
A composer, writer, and director, Iddamalgoda is best known for his contribution in the field of advertising, contributing to nearly 800 television advertisements in his career and multiple music videos, including the music videos of Mihiraviye by Shihan Mihiranga, Amila Nadeeshani’s Oba Dannawada Danne Na, Nalin Perera’s Dawasakda, and many others.
Having created short form content and storytelling for well over two decades, finally Iddamalgoda’s foray into feature films was born following a conversation with good friend and veteran photographer Ruwan Costa, who did the photography for this film.
Ashawari was directed and produced by Iddamalgoda and co-produced by Dr. Sanjeewani Rupasinghe, and the screenplay was done by Saddha Mangala Sooriyabandara. The film editing was by Yashodha Danupama and visual effects courtesy of Miran Damendra Perera and Praneeth Navaratne.
The film debuts Ishanka Jahanvi Da Costa in her first feature film role as the titular Ashawari, and Hemal Ranasinghe as the male protagonist. The rest of the cast consists of veteran Lankan actors including the late Jayalath Manoratne, Jayani Senanayaka, Semini Iddamalgoda, and Saranga Disasekara.
The film is set in Ohiya, a rural village located in the Badulla District and it tells the tale of a station master’s youngest daughter who falls in love with an officer training in the Diyatalawa Army Academy. The story is one we’ve all seen before – a wealthy man and a middle-class woman fall in love and they must overcome their class differences and the obstacles from their respective families.
Ashawari, for the most part, was an entertaining piece of media. However, the director’s inexperience in creating feature films was evident as the story transitions were quite choppy, and the narrative did not flow as seamlessly as one would expect. The writing too felt quite lax and the ending was abrupt – almost as though the writers simply gave up once the main act conflict was resolved.
The film does shine, however, in its cinematography as the visuals were simply stunning, showcasing some gorgeous landscape shots and framing the characters in their best light. The performances too were not terrible. While the two main characters were adequate with fumbles that could likely be due to bad dialogue, it was quite easy to pick out the veteran performers, as they were running circles around the acting of the rest of the cast.
Considering the recent surge in independent film makers, creating quality content with crisp storytelling and stunning visuals despite their budgetary constraints and having gotten so used to consuming these types of more modern content, it was quite jarring to see such a “typical” piece of cinema at the theatre. The film is very much in the mould of the standard Bollywood film with several musical numbers that don’t really help push the plot forward, and a first act that drags on for way too long and does nothing to establish the story conflict that is to come.
However, despite all of its faults, the film still manages to be moderately entertaining. The chemistry between the two leads was quite lovely and if you are able to push aside some of the more technical issues with the film, you will be able to immerse yourself in the story enough to have somewhat of a good time.