Gamperaliya (film)
{{Infobox film
| name = Gamperaliya (Changement au Village) ගම්පෙරලිය
| image = DVD cover of "Gamperaliya".jpg
| caption = DVD Cover
| director = Lester James Peries
| producer = Anton Wickremasinghe
| writer = Regi Siriwardena
| starring = Henry Jayasena
Punya Heendeniya
Wickrama Bogoda
Trilicia Gunawardena
| music = W.D. Amaradeva
| cinematography = William Blake
| editing = Sumitra Gunawardana
| distributor = Cinelanka Ltd.
| country = Sri Lanka
| released = {{Film date|1963}}
| runtime = 108 minutes
| language = Sinhala
| budget =
}}
Gamperaliya is a 1963 Sri Lankan drama film directed by Lester James Peries, with screenplay, dialogue and script by Reggie Siriwardena and Tissa Abeysekara; it was adapted from the novel Gamperaliya by Martin Wickramasinghe.{{cite web |url=http://www.sundaytimes.lk/070603/TV/tv_1.html |title="Gamperaliya" to be saved at last |publisher=Sunday Times |accessdate=11 December 2019}} The film stars an ensemble cast of several eras together including, Henry Jayasena, Punya Heendeniya, Wickrama Bogoda, Trilicia Gunawardena and Gamini Fonseka.{{Cite web |title=All about the blockbuster film "Gamperaliya" |url=http://www.sarasaviya.lk/story/2019/07/18/7222/අන්තිමේදී-ජිනදාස-භූමදානය-කළේ-මගේ-සල්ලිවලින් |access-date=2021-01-23 |website=Sarasaviya}}
The film was internationally acclaimed, receiving the Golden Peacock (Best Film) at the 3rd International Film Festival of India and the Golden Head of Palenque in Mexico.{{cite web|url=http://www.srilankafilmcorp.com/promote/index.htm |title=Untitled |access-date=2007-04-17 |year=2006 |publisher=National Film Corporation of Sri Lanka |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070308054600/http://www.srilankafilmcorp.com/promote/index.htm |archive-date=2007-03-08 |url-status=dead |df= }} The film won the Best Director and Best Film awards at the 1965 Sarasaviya Film Festival.{{cite web|url=http://www.lesternsumitra.com/lester/filmo61gamp.htm|title=Filmography- 1960-1980|accessdate=2007-04-17|year=2004|publisher=Lester James Peries|archive-date=2007-09-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928072315/http://www.lesternsumitra.com/lester/filmo61gamp.htm|url-status=dead}} It was entered into the 3rd Moscow International Film Festival.{{cite web|url=http://www.moscowfilmfestival.ru/miff34/eng/archives/?year=1963 |title=3rd Moscow International Film Festival (1963) |access-date=2012-11-25 |work=MIFF |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130116210707/http://www.moscowfilmfestival.ru/miff34/eng/archives/?year=1963 |archive-date=2013-01-16 |df= }} It was shown in Cannes Film festival in May 2008 under the French title Changement au village under section 'Restored Classics'.{{cite web |url=http://www.sundaytimes.lk/080518/TV/tv-times00001.html |title=Restored 'Gamperaliya' honoured in Cannes |publisher=Sunday Times |accessdate=13 December 2019}} Subsequently it went out on general release in French cinemas. In 2001, the film was identified as a world heritage by Cinema Thek Institute (CTI) in France.{{cite web |url=http://www.sundaytimes.lk/011104/tv.html |title='Gamperaliya': world heritage |publisher=Sunday Times |accessdate=28 November 2019}}
Plot
Piyal (Henry Jayasena) is a handsome young teacher who is hired to teach English to Nanda (Punya Heendeniya), a member of an eminent family. They fall in love, but can not marry because Piyal is of a lower class. Nanda's parents instead push her into a marriage with Jinadasa (Gamini Fonseka), who is of the same class as them. With economic downturn in Sri Lanka, both families lose their status and Jinadasa leaves to try to make a better life for himself; he never achieves his goal and dies penniless. Piyal and Nanda can now finally come together. They have changed; the earlier idyllic nature of their relationship is not recaptured.
Cast
| class="wikitable" width="50%"
! Actor !! Role | |
| Henry Jayasena | Piyal |
| Punya Heendeniya | Nanda |
| Wickrama Bogoda | Tissa |
| Trilicia Gunawardena | Anula |
| Gamini Fonseka | Jinadasa |
| Shanthi Lekha | Nanda's mother |
| David Dharmakeerthi | Nanda's father |
| Tony Ranasinghe | Baladasa |
| Anula Karunathilaka | Laisa |
| Herbert Amarawickrama | Karolis |
| C. T. Fernando | Jamis |
| Eileen Sarathchandra | Piyal's mother |
| Mapa Gunaratne | Family doctor |
| G. W. Surendra | Vijay |
| Wijeratne Warakagoda | Rathnapura Doctor |
Production
Lester James Peries admired Martin Wickramsinghe's work and was inspired to attempt an adaption of Wickramasinghe's novel Gamperaliya into a movie in 1964. Wickremasinghe was initially reluctant thinking it wouldn't make a good movie, but eventually agreed. Scholar Regie Siriwardene was asked to script the film.{{cite web|url=http://sundaytimes.lk/000116/plus3.html |title=Bogoda achieved a rare feat |access-date=2007-04-17 |year=2000 |publisher=Sunday Times |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071008023714/http://sundaytimes.lk/000116/plus3.html |archive-date=2007-10-08 |url-status=dead |df= }}
Reception
Playwright Ediriweera Sarachchandra championed the film writing "At last a Sinhalese film has been made which we could show the world without having to hide our heads in shame. I want to say a great film has been made of a great novel." British director Lindsay Anderson hailed "its elegiac, near-Chekhovian grace."{{cite journal
| authorlink = Gunawardana, A.J.
| title = A Personal Cinema. An Interview with Lester James Peries
| journal = TDR
| volume = 15
| pages = 303–309
| year = 1971
| publisher = MIT Press}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb title|0059211|Gamperaliya}}
{{IFFI Best Film Award|state=collapsed}}
Category:Films directed by Lester James Peries
Category:1960s Sinhala-language films
Category:Films based on Sri Lankan novels
Category:Films set in Sri Lanka (1948–present)