தவறவிடாதீர்கள்..!உடனே பதிவு செய்யுங்கள்

By LIEUTENANT DUMINDA SENARATH

Sri Lankan cinema rarely dares to look into its darkest corners. But the movie "Vihanga Premaya" does. And the world noticed. This Sri Lankan-Italian co-production made in collaboration with Pilgrims Film Company is based on a painful and urgent expose: a racket where Sri Lankan babies are sold to foreigners.

It is not an easy subject, and it is not a comfortable one to watch. But it is a necessary story to tell, and director Sanjeewa Pushpakumara has told it with an artistic seriousness that forced audiences in Tokyo and Venice to listen.

The film centers on Amila, a 19-year-old young man played by Akalanka Prabhaswara. Amila was born in a small village in the Eastern Province and has lived his entire life amidst extreme economic hardship. Through his eyes, the film reveals how poverty and desperation can be exploited by larger, organized crimes. Pushpakumara avoids sensationalism. There are no loud speeches or cheap thrills. Instead, the storytelling is quiet, realistic, and deeply human. Amila's journey is personal, but the tragedy it exposes is national. Akalanka Prabhaswara gives a breakout performance. He does not play a hero. He plays a young man from the East whom the system has forgotten, and you believe every moment of his hunger, confusion, anger, and quiet dignity. The acting of veteran Mahendra Perera as a Deputy Inspector of Police is also really notable. He portrays an officer who pretends to have a good record on the surface, but at the same time is involved with a trafficker who is engaged in child trafficking. He takes bribes from her to facilitate her involvement in smuggling. Perera plays this duality with restraint. You see both the uniform and the compromise, and that makes the corruption in the film feel disturbingly real. The contrast between Amila's vulnerability and this compromised authority adds another layer to the story.

One of the strongest aspects of Vihanga Premaya is its visuals. It is observed that the cinematographer of this film has succeeded in capturing the story in a very excellent way. The frames of the Eastern village, the texture of poverty, and the stillness between characters are all presented with great care. The camera does not just record the story, it helps tell it. This visual strength is a big reason why the film was able to communicate across cultures and win international recognition.

What makes Vihanga Premaya historic is how the world received it. The film won the "Best Artistic Tradition" award in the main competition section at the International Film Festival in Tokyo, Japan. It is the only Sri Lankan film in the past fifteen years to win an award at that level in a festival of such stature. With that, it has already entered the history of Sri Lankan cinema. In addition, the screenplay of Vihanga Premaya was specially selected for the Script Development Program of Biennale College Cinema at the Venice Film Festival. To have both the script and the final film recognized by two of the world's most respected cinema institutions is rare for any country, and especially for Sri Lanka.

Tokyo honored the film for staying true to our cultural roots while speaking a universal truth about exploitation and human dignity. Venice selected the script because it saw originality, social relevance, and artistic potential that could speak to a global audience. The collaboration with Italy's Pilgrims Film Company also shows a way forward for our industry. It proves that we can tell difficult Sri Lankan stories, work with international partners, and still retain our identity. We do not have to dilute our stories to travel. We only have to tell them well.

However, it would not be fair to call the film flawless. There are some shortcomings on the part of the director when this film was released, mainly because it seems that he was unable to determine the timelines related to this storyline. When watching certain scenes in this film, it becomes very clear at times that they are not realistic. The best example of this is that some of the scenes in the film were clearly seen to have been filmed during 2012 and 2016. However, if such large-scale nursery and child trafficking as depicted in the film did occur, it could only have occurred between the early 1970s and the late 1980s. It is clear when watching these scenes that the director has little understanding of these child trafficking cases and the time periods in which they are said to have occurred in Sri Lanka.

At other points the narrative also jumps or lingers in a way that makes it unclear how much time has passed in Amila's life. This confusion over time and context slightly weakens the impact of an otherwise powerful story. A tighter handling of the historical setting could have made the emotional arc even stronger and more credible.

Despite this, "Vihanga Premaya" remains an important film. It is not weekend escapism. It is slow, it is heavy, and it is meant to disturb you. That is its purpose.

For too long subjects like baby trafficking have been whispered about but never confronted on our big screen. This film breaks that silence. It puts a human face on a national shame and asks difficult questions about responsibility, poverty, and what kind of society we want to be. That takes courage from the director, the producers, and the cast. It also takes maturity from us as an audience to support cinema that chooses truth over comfort.

In the end, Vihanga Premaya honors Sri Lankan artistic tradition not by looking only to the past, but by having the courage to confront the present. It is a landmark achievement, a proud moment, and a reminder that our stories matter. When a Sri Lankan film is awarded in Tokyo and developed in Venice, it tells the world that our art is alive and that our filmmakers can compete anywhere. This is a film every Sri Lankan should watch, not just for entertainment, but for pride and for reflection.