Cinema
The Hunt
දඩයම
Vasantha Obeysekera · 1983
Synopsis
The film follows Rathmali, a young woman from a village, and Jayanath, the man who has seduced her; around them, Rathmali's mother and elder sister, and, in the city, the world of a brothel.
Context
The screenplay is inspired by a case from 1959, tried all the way up to the Supreme Court. Ravindra Randeniya plays Jayanath and Swarna Mallawarachchi plays Rathmali, a role that makes her a star; Donald Karunaratne is behind the camera, Premasiri Khemadasa writes the music, and Canfo Films produces. The film is later banned by a court in Colombo, which judges the story to be drawn from a book by the former judge A. C. Alles; the court of appeal rules in the director's favour in 2002.
Who it is for
A film in Sinhala, grave and tense, which treats melodramatic material as serious drama; to be seen in a subtitled copy.
Prizes and reception
Presidential awards for best film, direction and screenplay; a great box-office success, ranked among the ten best films of the half-century.
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