Eya Dan Bandala | එයා දැන් බැඳලා

 

Films or TV productions use a techneque known as flashbacks to show events that happened at an earlier time leading to the main story being presented now. Literary, dramatic, or musical work , on the other hand, often include a separate introductory section called a prologue which gives a fair account of the main art work.

Prasanna Jayakody's 2014 film '28' in that sense can be classed as a prologue to his later Tele Creation ' Eya Dan Bandala' or perhaps as a' long story told in short'. The time gap of close to 10 years between the two productions and the choice of alternative media formats is not that helpful in making the conventional connection. Nevertheless, in art there aren't set rules in terms of when you say the whole story and how.

28 was an award winning widely acclaimed movie which juxtaposes a few weird characters around a somewhat complicated reunion of a man from the village and his estranged wife, depicting prevailing social imbalances and struggle to deal with life's injustices, 'telling the long story short'. The husband arrives at a morgue with his nephew to take the dead body of his ex-wife, believed to be murdered, home to give her a ‘respectful’ funeral. The film in elocuant cinematic language portrays the eventful struggle the uncle and nephew duo undergo in transporting the body back to their home village.

In Eya Dan Bandala, Director Prasanna Jayakody, takes the viewers back to the past, unfolding a story that could have led to the events we saw in 28, 10 years ago.

The male protagonist Siri, played by veteran Mahendra Perera, seemingly a social misfit due to his lumpen upbringing, proposes to a prostitute, Suddi played adeptly by Semini Iddamlgoda, knowing her dark past. One may call it 'love at first sight.

Events that follow the ad hoc marriage between the two are perplexing. The drama unfolds the misfortunes the couple confronts, Suddi in particular, attempting to free herself from her tormented past , living in a nosy neighbourhood and dealing with the sadistic behaviour of the father-in-law. The situation turns from bad to worse when Suddi becomes pregnant where the father -in- law begins to take advantage over Siri's naivety and ignorance in helping Suddi to get through her pregnancy. 

 

As Suddhi's struggle to become a conventional housewife, loving her husband, is constantly threatened her emotional expression සිරී විතරයි මට ඇත්තටම ආදරේ කරපු එකම පිරිමියා…… මම ඒ ආදරේට කෑදරයි, sums up her true feelings and the fear in losing her newfound life.

Interestingly it is Mani, Siri's nephew (step brother?), brilliantly played by Pradeep Ramawickrama through whom Siri meets Suddi, once again through an awkward incident, who does his best to calm the waters with his affection to both. Describing his uncanny relationship to Siri Mama, Mani says අපේ තාත්තා කියන්නෙම කුණුහරපයක්.             

Elegant filmography and fitting music blends beautifully with the storyline and the theme song sung by Ajith Kumarasiri says it all.

Eya Dan Bandala is a well written, beautifully directed tele drama that we longed to watch every weekend. It’s success in capturing the Sri Lankan prime time TV audience with a marked shift form the conventional story telling is praiseworthy.  As an outstanding tele-production it has all the characteristics of a good movie that could easily be attracted to streaming platforms like Netflix and Prime.