A bouquet for Handagama, with a post script.

by Renton de Alwis

Cleared of all my ills
not really but
my doctor's orders
a 'new' phone
erased of
past
rear right sensor
braking car
stop
thank you
fake reality
saw Iniavan
of lies life living
war what war ?
his
then now after
'Api jeewathwem '
Canadawe mallilata
kudu gena mamalata
no fences
Palmyrah
otherwise
stark reality
life living
race cast creed
slap in the face
big billboard
Jeewathe Lassanai
how big lies
brakes traffic
good friends
'Mouse'
one for the road
two for the day
fake hope
come recommended
it's official
Suruyawewe kollannta
Pranamaya!
all's well that ends well
is it?
Thank you! Asoka
for the spin
am still spinning
in the cesspit
of reality
stark true bare
i like that
keep me spinning
will try
fly with one wing.

 

Post script:
I wrote this verse on 09^th January, 2013, upon seeing ‘ Ini Avan’  (Him, hereafter / Let us live) in a not so plush cinema theatre, accompanied by a few other viewers. To be exact there were not more than twenty viewing the film that day. It was no blockbuster, but touched me deeply as an excellent work of art. Directed by Asoka Handagama, a Sinhala director on a screen play directed by him (he says he does not speak the language). He also said that feelings like sadness, happiness, joy, suffering, love and situations of intrigue, poverty, hunger for power etc had no language. They are universal and that is a truism we must understand in our way forward to achieve genuine national reconciliation.

My attempt that day to write this verse to offer Handagama this bouquet in verse, is aptly justified when last night the film won over five awards at the Derena / Lux Cine Awards 2012, including for Best Film, Best Screen Play, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor etc.  I am reposting this poem today as an appreciation of Handagama’s brilliant contribution to Sri Lankan Cinema.

Image from a promotion of the film