Malaka Dewapriya's 'The Undecided': Tragedy of a generation floating on the surface

SRI Lankan film maker and visual artist, Malaka Dewapriya's movie, reported to have been completed some seven plus years ago, 'The Undecided', was screened for a selected audience in Colombo last week.

- 

It had been sponsored by the Colombo University's Alumni Association of which university, Dewapriya has been an alumnus himself.

According to the story that unfolds before the viewers, all the characters have been 'those failing to decide' for themselves. Hence, its English title in the plural form is more apt to the story than the Sinhala title, Bahuchithavadiya, which refers to a single person failing to do so. Though the movie has not been screened for public view in Sri Lanka, it has won at least a half dozen international awards. Therefore, the fame of the movie comes well ahead of the public screening for diverse audiences in Sri Lanka.

Young people drifting on the surfaceThe movie posits the tragedy faced by young people in Sri Lanka who float on the surface with so many life aspirations but fail to have them realised due to the hostile social, political, and economic circumstances. Being frustrated about what the extant Sri Lankan society could offer them, they choose to leave the shores of the country for greener pastures elsewhere, specifically, in the Western world which has been shown to them as a live heaven on the earth. When their dreams become illusive and elusive, like the youth in the rest of the world, they seek solace in drugs and sex. In that way, they become a distinctive subculture within the mainstream culture of the country.