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Aba
Habara & Dumbakabutha
I had the chance to see Aba yesterday..so here's my review
Story
The story starts with Princess ‘Chitra’ (Sabeetha) giving birth to a baby & her 10 brothers waiting outside the birth house to kill it if it is a boy. The history of this is that Queen Badrakachchayana gives birth to 11 children.10 brothers & 1 sister who is ‘Chitra’. The Prophecy says that if the Sister gives birth to a boy, he will kill all of his 10 uncles & become the King of Lanka.
So the brothers put their sister inside a Tower & Chittaraja & Kalawela are entrusted to guard the Tower. But somehow Chitra gets pregnant so Both Chittaraja & Kalawela gets their heads chopped off for failing in their duty.
To save her daughter’s son, Queen Badrakachchayana finds another women in labor, switches her new born baby daughter with Chitra’s new born son & the new born prince is sent deep inside the country to live with a couple of cattle herders to escape execution.
The prince is ‘Pandukabaya’ & the film shows his childhood days in the village ‘Doramadalawa’ in the care of ‘Habara’(Played awesomely by Saumya Liyanage) & ‘Dumbakabutha’(Dulani) up to the point where he goes to train & learn from the Pandula Brahakmanaya.
In between this time the uncles get to know about the deception & searches the entire country killing all the children they get their hands on, so that they could kill the prince.
Positives
Now for the positives of the movie..This movie is a mixture of History mixed with Fantasy & Folklore. Don’t expect to see a historically accurate tale with facts….This is a lot like ‘Pans Labyrinth’ with all the Reality & Fantasy mixed together.. More of a Movie Opera..
The music is really awesome & you wanna see this in a DTS enabled cinema or you’ll miss out on a lot. There are about 2-3 songs, but they are really well done & flows with the theme & the story and they don’t feel out of place at all, mainly because its old folk music. Props for Jackson for getting this right.
Jackson said that the Training for Un-Gan Fighting & Dancing started a year earlier before the shooting of the movie and it shows.. For the first time the fighting looks real & impressive. So he really has made an effort to get things exactly right.
The story flows well & cinemagrophy is good. The visuals were stunning at times & you really can see the effort put in to each shot. But if I compare this with other Sri Lankan films, I’ll put this in par with ‘Aswasuma’ & ‘Iramadiyama’..But not in the caliber of ‘Sulanga Enu Pinisa’ or ‘Sankara’….’Sulanga’ with its bleak, desolate, wasteland views & Sankara’s visual treat.. it seems still they cannot be matched.
Acting wise ‘Saumya Dissanayake’s portrayal of ‘Habara’ is brilliant. He really should win the best supporting actor’s award for this. Really he carries the entire movie all by himself. He steals every frame he is in & man..this guy can act. Jackson Jr. also does a good job for his role of Aba…He does bring out the free exuberance of youth & is a good choice for Aba I think.
Language wise it does has its draw backs bt be prepared for some choice ‘Sudda Sinhala’ words..’Balli’ ‘Paratti’ & even ‘Puka’ flies around in gay abundance & it’s a treat…
its been a long time since anyone heard these kinds of words uttered freely in Cinema so be prepared for true rural Sinhalese of the olden days
Negatives
To start with.. the beginning of the movie is a bit of a confusion. If you don’t know your history, it’ll take some time to make heads or tales of whats happening. But as the story unfolds all becomes clear, but international viewers will definitely find things hard to grasp as characters like Badrakachchayana, Chitra, Chittaraja, Paduwasdev, Deega Gamini starts wooshing infront of you...
The biggest complain is the language. Most of the dialog (specially Royal people) is in ancient Sanskrit & if you have forgotten your old O/L Jathaka katha language skills, you’ll find it a bit hard to follow when the people starts to talk fast. There’s always English subtitles present, so you Will have to make use of them
So the other biggie is..Does the Money show ? Well this is supposed to be the most expensive (250 Million or so I think) film made up to now, so does it show ? Well in some parts it does..but in some parts in doesn’t. Specially the Palace. It’s a bit raw for a palace. Not enough richness. But the villages & everything else are perfect. Specially ‘Doramala’ Village. It’s a marvel. You’ll see for your self.
Don’t go expecting a ‘Mongol’. This doesn’t have much action. Maybe we’ll get it in the next movie.
One other for me is It ends suddenly. I knew before hand that this is just a part of the story & he has 2 more other films to make (Depending on how successful this is)..but it just leaves an empty feeling when it ends abrubtly.
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To conclude this Is an impressive movie & a much needed one for Sri Lankan Cinema.
Good Job Jacka.. 
Like 'kala dutu kala wala ihagan'. May be the 5 rupees going to the ticket man's pocket. It's a nice extra income for him as it's a full house & 4 show times per day)
