Yashodhara My Honest Review (English)
This is my fifty cents on Yashodhara a.k.a Bimba Devi movie. This includes spoilers, but since Sri Lankans do not worry about the local film stories being spoiled, I hope this would not much hurt anyone's viewing pleasure. Before I start I must say this is not a typical review that an overly satisfied viewer does praising every second of the show as if it's the best movie in the entire universe to compliment the members of the cast and crew who are either veterans, new comers or friends. Therefore this is an honest review I have to put into words.
Starting from the film's title, using two names in a single title to mention the same person is sort of inappropriate. Simply put "Yashodhara" is beautiful and is more than enough, because people tend to remember simple movie titles. The repetitive use of similar names in the movie is also a problem. A movie doesn't have to be a naming tutorial to its viewers.
The concise version of the entire thing can be briefed into two words, a "Glamorous Failure". From the casting to visual effects, everything seemed like an unfinished piece of artwork. Since the direction was by Mr. Sunil Ariyarathna, a veteran film maker in the country, the usual expectation is high to experience some perfection up to a certain level. Compared to his previous attempt, "Paththini", Yashodhara has some serious issues that the audience may not have noticed due to their devotion for a well-known story and the supreme characters in it. However this ain't the time to compare his own movies, because at some point Paththini too was another unpolished work that couldn't establish a memorable place in viewers' hearts, though it won awards for the popularity. So let's move back to Yashodhara.
Starting from the very beginning, the main characters, Prince Siddhartha and Princess Yashodhara weren't presented to the audience in a dramatic approach emphasizing their majestic grandeur. It has nothing to do with the actors, but the screenplay. It reminds how the character of Princess Yashodhara was introduced to the screen in "Sri Siddhartha Gautama" movie back in 2013 and the glamorous presentation they've used there was not present here being a period film.
The next big issue is with the casting. Except the actress who performed the character of Princess Yashodhara, everyone else who lived in the palace seemed really boring with less or no emotions. For example when Queen Maya passed away and at her cremation, then again at Prince Siddhartha's renunciation, and later when Prince Rahula was ordained without parents' permissions, the emotions and the behavior of Queen Prajapathi seemed extremely poor or sometimes neutral. The connection between the story and the audience was damaged several times due to lack of correct and appropriate amount of emotions that must have expressed by the acting cast.
Moving on, If you ever get to watch the movie once, you'll realize that the writer has attempted so hard to squeeze and stuff every permutation of the detailed story found in books and sources in the movie during the screen time, dragging the story unnecessarily by trying to emphasize Princess Yashodhara's character and yet there were gaps. And for that, a poetic narrator has been used throughout the film to complete those gaps between scenes as well as to skip several must-see moments, feeding a doubt whether this film was made under a limited budget, and if not, leaving the question unanswered, if the costume department could spend more on backdrops, glamorous jewelry and clothing, why would not the art and visual effects departments succeed in bringing the massiveness to the palaces and interiors? Talking about the interiors, without much ado, none of the interior shots shown looked larger than a 10 by 12 foot room. Yes, this is an Indian palace. Believe it or not even the mansion at the Temple-trees has a huge hall.
From the technical aspect, music and background scoring of the movie sounded really good as well as the songs used for the poetic narrator's parts. The voice of the singer who sang those parts had the flair of Indian singer Kailash Kher. With the influence of Chathra Weeraman, the outdoor scenes were realistically blended with the Himalayan mountain range but however the lack of majesty in palaces was barely or poorly re-imagined. The dancing crew was awful and the dubbing artist used for the Prince Rahula did not sound right nor natural. The excessive use of traditional Sinhala language too was unnatural even for a period film.
So to conclude the review as it was mentioned at the beginning the movie wasn't a remarkable masterpiece. It was an Okay-type movie which we barely expect from a veteran film maker. However due to hype and continuous promotions, Yashodhara movie may run longer than expected bagging another popular award. For me "Kusa Paba" was a complete and a polished project with a number of beautiful songs, and less flaws to complain compared to Sunil Ariyarathna's last three movies, "Paththini", "Ali Kathawa" and "Yashodhara". Let's hope he would make a cleaner picture next time in the coming years packing a smooth narrative. Having said that, let's go back to 2013 to have a look at this depiction of Shaakyans; a better movie made back then, "Sri Siddhartha Gautama".
This is my fifty cents on Yashodhara a.k.a Bimba Devi movie. This includes spoilers, but since Sri Lankans do not worry about the local film stories being spoiled, I hope this would not much hurt anyone's viewing pleasure. Before I start I must say this is not a typical review that an overly satisfied viewer does praising every second of the show as if it's the best movie in the entire universe to compliment the members of the cast and crew who are either veterans, new comers or friends. Therefore this is an honest review I have to put into words.
Starting from the film's title, using two names in a single title to mention the same person is sort of inappropriate. Simply put "Yashodhara" is beautiful and is more than enough, because people tend to remember simple movie titles. The repetitive use of similar names in the movie is also a problem. A movie doesn't have to be a naming tutorial to its viewers.
The concise version of the entire thing can be briefed into two words, a "Glamorous Failure". From the casting to visual effects, everything seemed like an unfinished piece of artwork. Since the direction was by Mr. Sunil Ariyarathna, a veteran film maker in the country, the usual expectation is high to experience some perfection up to a certain level. Compared to his previous attempt, "Paththini", Yashodhara has some serious issues that the audience may not have noticed due to their devotion for a well-known story and the supreme characters in it. However this ain't the time to compare his own movies, because at some point Paththini too was another unpolished work that couldn't establish a memorable place in viewers' hearts, though it won awards for the popularity. So let's move back to Yashodhara.
Starting from the very beginning, the main characters, Prince Siddhartha and Princess Yashodhara weren't presented to the audience in a dramatic approach emphasizing their majestic grandeur. It has nothing to do with the actors, but the screenplay. It reminds how the character of Princess Yashodhara was introduced to the screen in "Sri Siddhartha Gautama" movie back in 2013 and the glamorous presentation they've used there was not present here being a period film.
The next big issue is with the casting. Except the actress who performed the character of Princess Yashodhara, everyone else who lived in the palace seemed really boring with less or no emotions. For example when Queen Maya passed away and at her cremation, then again at Prince Siddhartha's renunciation, and later when Prince Rahula was ordained without parents' permissions, the emotions and the behavior of Queen Prajapathi seemed extremely poor or sometimes neutral. The connection between the story and the audience was damaged several times due to lack of correct and appropriate amount of emotions that must have expressed by the acting cast.
Moving on, If you ever get to watch the movie once, you'll realize that the writer has attempted so hard to squeeze and stuff every permutation of the detailed story found in books and sources in the movie during the screen time, dragging the story unnecessarily by trying to emphasize Princess Yashodhara's character and yet there were gaps. And for that, a poetic narrator has been used throughout the film to complete those gaps between scenes as well as to skip several must-see moments, feeding a doubt whether this film was made under a limited budget, and if not, leaving the question unanswered, if the costume department could spend more on backdrops, glamorous jewelry and clothing, why would not the art and visual effects departments succeed in bringing the massiveness to the palaces and interiors? Talking about the interiors, without much ado, none of the interior shots shown looked larger than a 10 by 12 foot room. Yes, this is an Indian palace. Believe it or not even the mansion at the Temple-trees has a huge hall.
From the technical aspect, music and background scoring of the movie sounded really good as well as the songs used for the poetic narrator's parts. The voice of the singer who sang those parts had the flair of Indian singer Kailash Kher. With the influence of Chathra Weeraman, the outdoor scenes were realistically blended with the Himalayan mountain range but however the lack of majesty in palaces was barely or poorly re-imagined. The dancing crew was awful and the dubbing artist used for the Prince Rahula did not sound right nor natural. The excessive use of traditional Sinhala language too was unnatural even for a period film.
So to conclude the review as it was mentioned at the beginning the movie wasn't a remarkable masterpiece. It was an Okay-type movie which we barely expect from a veteran film maker. However due to hype and continuous promotions, Yashodhara movie may run longer than expected bagging another popular award. For me "Kusa Paba" was a complete and a polished project with a number of beautiful songs, and less flaws to complain compared to Sunil Ariyarathna's last three movies, "Paththini", "Ali Kathawa" and "Yashodhara". Let's hope he would make a cleaner picture next time in the coming years packing a smooth narrative. Having said that, let's go back to 2013 to have a look at this depiction of Shaakyans; a better movie made back then, "Sri Siddhartha Gautama".
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