The Wind Bird.
ගැහැණිය යනු කව්දැයි හදුනා ගත හැක්කේ තවත් ගැහැණියකට පමණක් වන බව ඇතැමුන් කියතී. සුදු පිරුවට, ආකාස කුසුම්,අම්මාවරුනේ, නිසල ගිර, සුල0කිරිල්ලී වැනි අනර්ඝ සිනමා ණිර්මාණ එම කියමන තහවුරු කරන්නේ, ස්ත්රියත් සමාජයත් අතර තිබෙන සැබෑ ස්වරූපය ලොකයට පෙන්වා දෙමිනි. These stories cover issues such as domestic violence, prostitution, war, crime and of course such a delicate subject to us all, love. Love – in each case is central to each of the female characters as much as they are central to the entire story. හරියට ගලින් නිමාවූ නමුත් ආදරයෙන් ජීවය ලබාගත් නිර්මාණයක් වගේ.
To those who are looking for the meaning of love, these characters will teach you, that it’s not only warmth, affection ,care and everything so tender. It is also pain, suffering, endurance, strength and destruction. It will teach you that a woman is not just a structure of flesh and blood, but a being that breathes love in all forms. කාන්තාව ඉතා තැන්පත්, නිහතමානී, සමාජයට බය, ලැජ්ජා ශීලී අයෙකු විය යුතු බව බොහො දෙනාගේ මතයයි. එයින් ඔබ්බට යෑමට තැත් කරන කාන්තාව සමාජයට නින්දාවක් වෙති, එහෙමත් නැත්නම් පුරුශාදිපතය්ය වැලද ගත් සමාජයක් සමග ගැටෙන්න උත්සහ කරන පරාජිත ප්රතිපලයක් බවට පත් වෙයි. Of course, a woman too has aspirations, she will long to achieve them, she will dare to knock down all barriers in the hope of succeeding. Be it her parents or lover, a woman if she’s determined can shake the world. But unfortunately there is always a limit, because as much as she needs to achieve what she wants, she is also either a devoted wife, a beloved mother, an obedient daughter or a hopeful lover. These same commitments provide reasoning for a girl to become the unexpected. And then society becomes too quick to judge her. Maybe that’s why they say to ‘only trust the one who can see the sorrow behind your smile, the love behind your anger, and the meaning behind your silence.’ If that’s the case, sure as hell only one woman will understand another.
After watching Sulang Kirilli (The Wind Bird) I couldn’t help but notice how beautifully, the woman is been portrayed. Her beauty, charm, elegance, innocence is attacked by all directions of society. Every girl’s life is a dream. It’s a fairy tale. From the time we can walk and fairly talk a few alien words, a baby girl starts cooking for her imaginary family, feeds baby dolls, dresses them, wash them and put them to sleep. There will be a man who loves her, father her children and protect her. I’m not saying every girl has the same dream. I’m writing from the movie’s perspective, because that’s what inspired me to write this in the first place. Rathi’s dream is so much similar to most of us girls I’d say. We all start off with innocent dreams, not too much to ask for, but the ruthlessness of society itself is what challenges women to become just as ruthless. We come from families with a strong foundation, most of us are safe, ’cause our families have earned that name and respect and we have them to look out for us. But Rathi’s background was a bit different.
In saying that, she did also come from a fairly well to do family and wanted to achieve something just like all of us. So she decided to find a job in a garment factory despite her parents, especially her mother encouraging her not to. Then a man came in to her life, a soldier, reportedly making promises that a girl would always dream of hearing. A dream was coming true and she believed every word that came out of him…just like music to a deaf man’s ears. ‘’ මන් ඔයාට ආදරෙයි රතී, ඔයා තමයි මගේ හැම දෙයක්ම, ඔයා ඇරෙන්න මට වෙන ලොකයක් නැහැ…’’. He came to see her on and off, leaving Rathi to find out she’s unmarried and pregnant. She’s happy and also scared, ’cause she didn’t know what to expect from him…but of course in her dream world, he said to her exactly what she wanted to hear…. ‘අපි බදිමු’’…”එතකොට ඔයාගෙ අම්මලා මේකට කමති වෙයිද?”…. ‘’කැමති වුනත් නැතත් මොකද අපි බැන්දල කොහෙ හරි ඈතකට යමු’’. She smiled at the thought of being wrapped around her lover’s arms when she broke the hopeful news to him. And then she came back to reality….a number of telegrams have been sent asking him to come see her, that it’s important …after weeks of waiting someone has arrived at the garment factory to see her..It’s him. She’s thrilled. She stays in his embrace the whole night, and as dawn breaks she tells him what has happened. The man of course, did not utter a single word, she dreamt that he would. Instead all events lead to Rathi finding out that he was married and had two children.
Like all his beautiful stories, he told her that he was forced in to the marriage and that he only loved her. He forced her to get an abortion, that he couldn’t be responsible for the unborn child. It went so far that he even said he didn’t believe the child was his. As shattered as she was she wanted to keep the baby, a mistake she cherished. And That’s why I think, a woman breathes love in all forms. He sent her money, to help her with the living, the abortion and also to keep him away from his family. Came to see her from time to time, not only to convince her to get the abortion done, but to fulfil his desires…and if she refused, he’d ask her if she wanted him to go back to his wife. The relationship between a woman’s love and hate is so pure and balanced that Rathi, realizing her boy friend’s wife is pregnant took all the money he sent, to the abandoned wife. That is exactly why a woman can hate you as much as she loves you. So next time if your girl friend/ wife screams at you saying she hates you…believe me it’s possible. Every girl has a different story, a different situation, different circumstances but the bottom line is the same…it’s always because you or rather society fails to understand her but as another woman.
Rathi is still bouncing between aborting and keeping the child. It’s not easy for her to make a decision, because after all whatever move she makes , only someone else (society) will make the final judgement. And then she’s taken to a counsellor. She weeps to a friend,
‘How lucky if I could kill myself..! Because even I don’t have the right to die..! I don’t’ have the right to give birth to another…can’t do what I want…Can’t even live my way…Why can’t I die then? Why don’t I even have that right? That’s illegal they say, what sought of bloody law is that? Tell me…what does it mean? It’s the father who doesn’t want the child..and the law does not allow to abort..Tell me whom shall I listen? I want my child..So why can’t the law make the father understand that? Why harass me so much. Is it because I’m the mother? I can’t understand all these….’’
Finally she decides for herself. In the midst of a lonely dawn she gives birth to a beautiful child, the baby screaming for attention as it sees the light of the world. Actually I’m not sure to say if it was crying to the light or the darkness. Either way the movie leaves behind a meaningful message to all women..
OH..Wind Bird !
Stop for a moment,
Without going with the blowing,
Tell the wind to turn,
And blow the way you want!!!
As for society, waiting to set rules, make judgements, take authority and everything else I don’t know what message I can leave here..but I know one thing for sure…In Rathi’s words I believe that, ‘Reality is cruel. Dreams are innocent and beautiful. If I cannot enjoy them in reality, I wish to live in dreams.’
p.s – I strongly recommend you to watch Sulang Kirilli, it’s available on youtube. Also if you don’t have the chance to watch the whole movie follow the link below and watch 06.23 to 07.21. It was the highlight for me from the whole movie. Just a bombaimotai thought : ).
