‘Poetess of Sinhala cinema’ Sumitra Peries was recently conferred Order of the Rising Sun by the Japanese Government. The first Sri Lankan film artiste to have been decorated with this coveted 145-old Order, sits with the Sunday Island to recap her treasured memories of the ‘Land of the Rising Sun’ …

by Randima Attygalle

When the new bride Sumitra Peries impulsively changed her return ticket home from Mexico, having clinched the Golden Head of Palenque for Gamperaliya directed by her soul mate Dr. Lester James Peries (and edited by her) at an international film festival and set foot in the Land of the Rising Sun in 1966, she was “completely bowled over” not only by kimonos, platform slippers and deftly crafted tea ceremonies, but by a ‘cultured nation’ at large.

For young Sumitra who sailed to the University of Lausanne chartering unknown waters as a young girl, exploration of the unknown comes as the most natural. Carrying only the motifs of the dreaded Mount Fuji Volcano and the air attack on Colombo during the Second World War by the Japanese Navy with her, the avant-garde young cinema-maker booked into the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo reputed to have withstood many earthquakes! “Next day when I went to the Sri Lankan Embassy there, our people were horrified to hear of my outrageously expensive choice of accommodation, claiming I had to be just out of my mind. My only concern was that it would be a buffer against a possible earthquake,” recollects the poetess of the Sinhala cinema decked with The Order of the Rising Sun 2020 more than half a century later since she had her first taste of Japan.

Established on April 10, 1875 by Emperor Meiji, the Order was the first decoration awarded by the Japanese government. The badge features rays of sunlight symbolizing energy as powerful as the rising sun in harmony with the Land of the Rising Sun Japan is known to be. The order is conferred on those who have left a footprint in international relations, promotion of Japanese culture, advancements in their fields and development in welfare or preservation of the environment. “Interestingly it was only 20 years later in the same era that the Lumiere brothers first presented moving pictures to an audience with the help of a projector in Paris, sowing the earliest seeds of film-making. For over a century women were not eligible to receive this Order,” reflects Sumitra, the first Sri Lankan film artiste to have been decorated with this 145-year old coveted Order. Former Speaker, Karu Jayasuriya was honoured in 2017.

Followed by her hits Gehenu Lamai, Ganga Addara and Yahalu Yeheli, Sumitra took the silver screen by storm, with Sagara Jalaya madi henduwa oba handa an adaptation of Simon Nawagaththegama’s short story Ohu mala da pasu. The golden couple of Sinhala cinema once again captured the imagination of a nation transcending national boundaries. With Dr. Lester James Peries credited for the script, Lal Piyasena for his editing, Donald Karunaratne for his cinematography and Pandith Amaradeva for his musical score, Japan embraced it and celebrated it. Despite the protagonist Heen Kella’s pathos (played by Swarna Mallawarachchi) threading the plot and the film-maker’s milieu taking a shift to a rustic setting in Sagara Jalaya madi henduwa oba handa, the visual sophistication which is Sumitra’s strong suit is unmistakable in it. “Perhaps it was the kind of lifestyle which was beyond the imagination of the contemporary Japanese living that arrested them to it,” reflects Sumitra. The film which clinched her the Sarasaviya Best Director Award and Swarna, the Best Actress Award was telecast by the NHK in 1990, capturing the hearts of many a Japanese.

The invitation extended to Dr. Lester James Peries to sit on a jury of a film festival of documentaries in Yamagata in the mid-90s further solidified the Japan-Sri Lanka bridge. The communal bonding the couple shared with the rural Yamagata folk still warms Sumitra’s heart. “It was the first time the villagers had seen a ‘coloured’ person, so much so I remember them stroking my hands to see if I had actually applied some paint!” chuckles Sumitra. The ‘Japanese connection’ as she avers, was further fuelled by close friends such as Joy Fernando who came to work as an assistant to Lester and Sumitra. “Joy had studied in Japan and many of his acquaintances which later became mutual friends strengthened our bonding with Japan,” says Sumitra who came to be effortlessly assimilating into its culture over her many visits to Japan. She fondly recollects sleeping on tatami mats, yet laments that she could never master the Japanese language.

The iconic Japanese film director Akira Kurosawa whom Sumitra dubs as “a wonderful craftsman who projected the soul of Japan to the world,” offered her immense inspiration. His landmark creation Rashomon which shone at the 1951 Venice Film Festival, winning the Golden Lion, enabled the Japanese film industry a window to the Western film markets. “An energetic and a visually rich” architect of cinema as Sumitra alludes to him, Kurosawa first crossed her path in the 1980s, around the time when her box office hit Ganga addara and Lester’s Beddegama toured in Japan.

While Kurosawa inspired Sumitra, it was Yasujiro Ozu whom she found “close to her rhythm of narrative.” Her experience as a juror at several film festivals in Japan including the ‘South Asian Young Film Makers’ had widened her horizons of the Japanese way of life. The film director and screenwriter, Nagisa Oshima of Realm of the Senses fame whom Sumitra befriended at one of such festivals, adds to her list of globally renowned Japanese film acquaintances. “I remember him to be quite bashful man sporting a t-shirt with the slogan ‘Oshima Gang’ which I complemented. To my surprise, I found an ‘Oshima Gang’ t-shirt delivered to me a few days after my return!” smiles Sumitra.

The Fukoka City Public Library which is a repository of a sizable collection of films including several local films and the Japan Foundation are lauded by Sumitra as bridges connecting Japan to the rest of the world. Sumitra who counts several visits to the Fukoka City Public Library lauds it to be “a far sighted institution, opening doors for the entire South East Asia” including students of cinema, film makers, researchers and critics. Sumitra’s evergreen hit Ganga addara had been preserved by the Japanese Foundation. Loku Duwa and Sakman Maluwa are among her other work acclaimed by Japan.

Sumitra’s association with the ‘Bunka Awards’ presented to mid-career artistes by the Japan Sri Lanka Friendship Cultural Fund is a long one. Today only she remains out of the four original committee members. Prof. A.J. Gunawardene, Prof. Ediriweera Saraschandra, Dr. P.R Anthonis were among the rest.

A woman who had always championed ‘human conditions’ transcending gender stereotyping, Sumitra was one of the earliest Sri Lankan women to have shattered the glass ceiling. Behind the camera, she proved to be as good as any of her male counterparts. “I was never given the conventional margin for being a woman, for which I’m thankful,” says the iconic artiste who had never felt inadequate in a male domain. A strong advocate of the mantra, “create for your people first”, Sumitra’s notion of ‘global appeal’ is an extension of this acceptance locally. “If your creation is accepted by your own people and if it has some ripple effect somewhere else enabling the rest of the world to log on to it or have some contact, then you can be content that it had impacted the world outside.”