JACKSON ANTHONY TALKS ABOUT HIS LATEST
CREATION ABA
We encounter in international arena a myriad cinematic creations
based on epics, myths and great legends. In a country with 2500
years history and in which many fear to handle such a daunting task,
with his latest creation ABA, Jackson successfully confronts the
enormous challenge of dealing with a grand cinematic creation. In
this interview, Jackson talks about many aspects of ABA which marks
a distinctive high point in his long journey of creative endeavor.
Tell us something by way of introducing ABA
ABA is based on the story of Prince Pandukabhaya. It deals with a
series of events that took place about 2400 years ago in the
Panduvasadeva palace in the City of Upatissa. Information and data
for this story come from archeological sources, folklore and
legends. Also there are controversies among the historians about
Pandukabhaya on many issues. It is quite reasonable to treat
Pandukabhaya as the foundation of the Great Hela Dynasty in the
country. Mahavansa mentions of a nation founded by Prince Vijaya,
but neither the archeological evidence available to us nor the
history of the Ruhuna Dynasty supports that claim. Even our stone
inscriptions mention of a royal dynasty founded by Aba. Therefore,
there is reason to believe that Pandukabhaya was the first sovereign
king of the country.
Vijaya was an Indian immigrant and following his arrival in the
country, there was a succession of migrations especially from India.
Consequently, there was a time when the political power of the
country was in the hands of the Sinha clan that came from India.
This land was governed by Sinha clan from Vijaya, to his nephew
Panduvasadeva and his son Abhaya. Original inhabitants of this land,
the Yakshas, staged revolt after revolt to drive out the alien
rulers and regain their rightful legacy. The time of Pandukabhaya’s
birth marks a crucial phase in this conflict. I make the conflict
between these two parties the focal point in my story. This is not a
clash between two ethnic groups—it is a conflict between two clans;
two tribes. It is Pandukabhaya who brings the conflict to a
successful conclusion. After Pandukabhaya, there were no clashes
between Sinha clan, Yakshas, or Nagas. Pandukabhaya was the hero who
ended it all.
This creation should be valued not only for its story with its
incredibly ornate tapestry; it also gives us a perspective of our
rich history. Not only does he finish off the incessant power
struggles for the reign among the clans and tribes, Pandukabhaya
also builds the City of Anuradhapura as a symbol of political
stability. King Mutasiva was Pandukabhaya’s son and Devanampiya
Tissa was Mutasiva’s son. Mahinda Thera arrives in Sri Lanka during
Devanampiya Tissa’s time and it was during this period that this
country experienced an unprecedented cultural resurgence.
In the movie Doramandalawa, the village where ABA grows up, has
been constructed with stunning magnificence.
ABA is Unmada Chitra’s son. He was born in the shadow of death.
According to Chitra’s horoscope, this child was destined to secure
the political power after slaying all his ten uncles—Chithra’s
brothers. Fearing that this prophesy would come true, uncles plot to
kill both Chithra and her son. It was because of the intervention of
Bhadda-kachchayana, Chithra’s mother, this assassination attempt was
thwarted. Bhadda-kachchayana was Pandu Sakya’s daughter and was,
therefore, a relation of Prince Siddhartha, who later achieved
Buddhahood. In order to assure the safety of the child, she secretly
dispatched him to the village known as Doramandalawa.
In fact, Doramandalawa was a very prosperous community; one that was
self-sufficient in every way. It was not a pre-historic village
where people lived in rock caverns. Members of that community
produced all they needed for their sustenance. It was a village of
glory and I tried to recreate this magnificence with intense
vibrancy.
We believe that your movie contains the largest set ever
constructed after the Sandesaya (fortress).
It is not only the sets that make this movie a gigantic enterprise.
Everything about ABA is gigantic. Past is more gargantuan than the
present and, therefore, recreating such a past in visual terms is in
itself a gargantuan enterprise. The importance of the background in
these visuals cannot be overstressed; not even a blade of grass from
today’s environs can creep into a background that existed thousands
of years ago. I had to go to great lengths to maintain the integrity
of these compelling visuals.
How difficult was it to discover the location for this
background?
I spent almost two years on this task. Udeni Subodhi Kumara, the Art
Director of this movie, helped me tirelessly during this entire
period. We traveled length and breadth of the country looking for
the most appropriate spot for this background. We walked day and
night in places such as Kudumbigala, Bambaragastenna, Kotadamupola,
in the Eastern province but, sadly, couldn’t use any of these
locations due to security reasons. Finally I chose locations such as
Rajanganaya, Nochchiyagama, and Kala Oya, situated to the south of
Anuradhapura. I wanted a location to build a royal palace. Ancient
kings went in search of lands of triumph, so to speak, to build
their palaces. I also did the same. I wanted a land with a colossal
and sprawling rock. Security of the king was a major factor, a key
consideration, in ancient palace architecture. I find such a
location in Rajanganaya which is an archeologically significant
region—one built by King Parakramabahu under southern rule.
For the village, I had in mind a vast area surrounded by the jungle
and sheltered and speckled by the canopy of the tree cover. Thus I
find the Ittikulama tank. When we found it, the tank had run bone
dry. In the midst of the dried out tank was a massive grouping of
kumbuk trees. We decided to build the Doramandalawa village on that
location and that is where much of the action takes place.
We know that an army of actors, thousands of them, play roles in
this movie. Casting for the movie must have been a nightmare
experience.
Given the nature of the story we had to find real people to cast in
the movie; real sons and daughters of the soil - strong,
sun-scorched and conditioned by natural elements - and engaged in
agricultural and other productive endeavors. We needed about 570
such people and we traveled for long periods of time looking for
them and photographing them. In addition to that, I use almost 2,000
more people as extras.
Recreating costumes, jewelry etc., relating to the 4th century
B.C. would not have been easy either?
Vasantha Srinath had already sketched all these things on drawing
paper. It was hard labor for him to do it as I envisioned them. I
had been on a quest of an epoch and a culture where people were
dressed in the glory of the colors of the rainbow. Nilhan
Seneviratna is a highly creative dress designer in the country. It
is he who traveled across India for weeks on end, searching for
costumes, fabrics, jewelry etc., that would do justice to our
project, and I highly value his contribution in this regard. The
skilled hair stylist by the name of Lalith Dharmawardene did the
same in search of wigs to fit a people who had let their hair grow
long rather than cut them. All these people used the prototypes
developed by Vasantha and sketched on paper. Vasantha Vittachchi,
our make-up artist also got all he needed for his trade from India.
Even the dances in the movie are contemporaneous to the period they
portray. Chandana Wickramasinghe is the creative choreographer who
handled this difficult task. His free-flowing style succeeded in
finding a synthesis, a fusion, with my thinking and my research in
this regard. I must also mention about the fighting in the movie.
Our traditional martial art form is known as ‘Angam.’ For this I
sought the services of Guru P Karunapala who is an ace in this art
form. He is quite acquainted with the elementary form of his trade.
Mostly, I used his talent and skills to train Sajitha Anuttara, who
is playing the role of Aba, and Saumya who is playing Habara, and
also Dulani Anuradha, my new-found, who is playing a main role in
the movie. I guided all these players in fighting as well as
dancing.
Renowned international directors and also some prominent
directors in the local scene, use story boards in planning their
work. It is believed that story boarding was used extensively in
making ABA as well.
This creation is one with a strict and exact grammar. In the movie,
I am exploiting much of the inventive techniques and grammar that
have been found so far anywhere in the world in movie making. I
chose this arduous course for a good reason; even a slight slip-up
would become a massive blooper in a gigantic movie of this nature. I
drew all the story boards myself. When I went on the set, it was
never my intent to just shoot ‘something’. I always had a definite
and precise objective in my mind. Suminda Weerasinghe, my
cinematographer, brilliantly came off in capturing on film what I
already had ‘filmed’ in my mind.
You used computer technology in making this movie?
That’s right. My editor is Ravindra Guruge. He imported some
dedicated computer equipment to do the special effects of this
movie. All the 3-D and graphics of ABA is done in Sri Lanka in his
TVT lab. This movie is a one hundred percent Sri Lankan creation. We
seek Indian support only for printing and sound mixing. From all
this I expect to produce a first-rate Sri Lankan movie that will be
unqualifiedly acceptable to the international audience. My
expectation is to gain access to the international market. This was
my objective even before I first sat down at the table to write the
first sentence in the script.
Earlier you told me that there were interesting experiences while
making this movie.
Yes. The first thing I did was to visit Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi in
Anuradhapura with the script in hand. Together with Mr. Belagamage
and Ms. Jayasinghe, my two producers, I dedicated it to the Bodhi.
During the dedication process, I requested the monk who performed
the ritual to give me a leaf from the bo tree. He said that he would
give me one after we had finished the ceremony. But lo and behold,
at that very moment, a leaf from the Bodhi falls right in front of
us. In any case, I am one who has great reverence for Jaya Sri Maha
Bodhi and the Sacred Tooth Relic. I even start my shootings after
the chanting of Pirith. Ittikulama tank where we built the
Doramandalawa village is notorious for going under water even after
a slight rain. We built the set on the dried out tank and started to
shoot when the heavens above began to gather ominous dark clouds and
threatened to flood the village. I had no alternative but to seek
the help of the monk in the village Buddhist temple. He took me
straight away to the shrine room of the temple where he chanted
Pirith and blessed the project. He also took me to the Vishnu temple
and made a plea. It may sound rather bizarre but believe me, when I
came out of the temple, all the signs of a deadly downpour that
existed before, had disappeared altogether with the sun smiling down
again.
This is not all. Torrential rains started coming down on the
Ittikulama tank just after we had completed the last scene on the
last day on that location. By that time we had loaded all our stuff
on to the trucks to move out. In no time the tank went under water.
It was so bad that we had to pull the trucks out of water using
tractors. If one wants now to see where the Doramandalawa village
once existed, it is not there any more. It disappeared completely
with the deluge.
Shooting. How long did it take?
73 days, to be exact. Ashok, the technician who worked as the
assistant cameraman for the Hindi movie ‘Ashok’ did not believe we
could pull it through in such a short period. Ashok came from Prasad
Labs in Chennai who hired us the cameras. His estimated that a movie
of this magnitude needed at least 110 days to complete. But he
congratulated me when I finished the movie in 73 days. Ashok was the
person who worked with us as the person responsible for the camera
equipment we got down from India and also as assistant to Suminda
Weerasinghe, our cinematographer.
I must also remember with utmost gratitude, the contribution made by
people who have not been mentioned here; skilled and prominent
artistes such as Malini Fonseka, Sabita Perera, and Ravindra
Randeniya. These people gave their magnanimous best under very
trying circumstances lending their talent, energy, and reputation to
make ABA a great Sri Lankan movie. I thank them profusely for this.
Also, I have launched the web site www.aba.lk in order to transact
with the international. It contains much of the information you wish
to know about the movie. This is an attempt to take to the
international arena the pride of our history, our nation. Heroes in
ABA are not inept and inconsequential ‘heroes’ one customarily meets
in the contemporary cinema across the world. These are real
full-blooded heroes who laid down their lives to build this nation
of ours.
And it is in this context, more than anything else, that ABA
qualifies to be a movie of true epic proportions.
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