OscarNonis said:
Rankewitak dakalawath nehe?
Internet eke thiyenawda balanna?
When we peruse the Lankan Film history it seems that films produced specially for children are still lagging behind World Cinema for children.
A ray of hope emerges from the horizon of film industry where Sri Lankan Cinema for children is concerned when we see Udayakantha Warnasooriya's latest cinematic creation 'Ran Kevita' (Golden Stick).
There are several reasons to drive that point home. The stories in most of the films for children were based on pets such as a calf, pony or a baby elephant. But Udayakantha has deviated from this traditional frame of creation and gone towards a different direction.
Two pen pals, one from an rural area, the other (both are school students) from town meet each other in the village during a vacation. Both the students were inquisitive of a demon believed to be visiting ranches at dawn to milk the cows. This idea was conceived in the minds of the boys after listening to a story related by a Buddhist novice in the village temple.
They succeed in stealing the stick from the devil's hand. The boys do wonders with the help of the stick that has a magical power. A thug in the village gets to know this and robs it from the boys. But the boys again manage to take the possession of the stick from Wilba, the thug.
The director has developed this plot adding different sequences in a very entertaining manner much to the amusement of children as well as adults. Creating snakes from 'Snake and Ludo' game mat on New Year day is ludicrous.
In a scene at the temple the novice comes out in a dialogue that the village boy was a class mate of him before he was ordained.
But the novice seems to be very much elderly than his classmate friend.
The film director has in his film animated a replice of the devil that is in the temple. Therefore Udayakantha has for the first time introduced animation to the field of films that was only common to cartoon television programmes.
The animated devil seems to prefer curd to beef when he passes the beef stall ignoring it and turning toward pots of curd. There is a common belief that devils are carnivorous.
The director has dragged the scenes too much in which Wilba and his friend are wriggling in the mud. Lyrics of the songs are based on devils. It has given a new life to the film.
The story and screen play of 'Ran Kevita' has been written by Udayakantha himself. K.D. Dayananda has been able to catch the scenic beauty of the village selected for the locations.
Nisham Samsudeen, Harith Beddewela, Vijaya Nandasiri Srinath Maddumage, Semini Iddamalgoda, Benette Rathnayake and several others play their roles.