Sri Lankan Art – Teek wechcha ape kalaawa!

In recent conversation with my fiancé, the point came in to the surface whether I’m losing my depth in art or not. Simply my answer was that now I’m more influenced by the stuff like Kill Bill, Demon Ananda’s pulp novels and Cowboy Bebop, so my motive now is to bring that atmosphere and tone in to our audience in any way I do art. That’s why I tend to look for Monroe and Jimi Hendrix in the stencil graffiti and more unorthodox concrete style in my poetry.

In Sri Lanka, virtually every art form is dominated by the work which consists of certain degree of visible depth and similarity to the reality. In films the applauded ones are reality based dramas directed by well renowned, award winning directors. The mainstream films lack everything, even a moderately good, original plot. In Sinhalese Literature the good ones are tend to be the translation of famous novels, and better original work is mainly popularized by the reality based themes. You can’t see western best selling kind of paper back thrillers or sexy pulp novels here. In drama – it’s same, In TV- it’s same, In paintings and drawings- it’s same. Damn-I’m bored… Even the Sri Lankan English Language drama and literature scene is not getting enough attention though they are trying to be different and more creative than their native counterparts. Why Sri Lankan film makers not doing horror movies? Why they are not going for simple romantic movies which are set in suburbs and based on ordinary people without sticking to weary bollywood formula? Why don’t writers try raunchy subjects and thrillers? Where’s Sri Lankan original techno, rave, trip hop, electronic or computer instrumental music?

What is the reason for this homogeneity? Is it because we are intellectually bankrupt? Or lack of finances for the innovation because of less audience and market scope? I don’t know… but the point which is important is that Sri Lankans try to be on the middle path to get the maximum benefit- not going to the extreme experimentalism or to the massive meaningful crowd pullers. Even if they go for either sides (very few) most of them are incorrect approaches or being neglected by majority which is not the case in other art-rich countries.

I hope somebody would break the shekels. I hope I will see the work similar to Quentin Tarantino here, the turntabilism, the pop art, simple romantic (not bollywood-formula bullshit) and trashy horror movies, and more street art too…

Oh baby! I have a dream…



(P.S. - Thanks for Somea and my fellow juniors in Uni for popularizing the word “Teek” and the word and usage borrowed from them.)

Elvis; the King and the Reality TV

They say that he’s the king of rock and roll. A master craftsman, the way I like to put it, in singing as well as in shrewd performance. He surely changed the whole concept of American pop culture and will be in the hearts of millions in years to come.

But my question is can we see another Elvis in future? Whether you agree or not my immediate answer will be a big “NO”. Why is this? The main reason is today’s growing reality TV trends. America started the big commercialization of the subject and it went on like a plague through out the world.

It’s true that the programs like “American Idol” paved they way for hidden talents and a lot of people got a chance to showcase their talent (or misery) for millions of viewers around the world. But the thing is that as the season changes you tend to loose track of previous guys and then focus on the new breed. Nowadays artists are like commodities; Commodities which are sold in your local supermarket. As the days go by, when the season changes people tend to look for the newer products.

The new generation of artists are more dependent because of their heavy marketing campaigns, PR gimmicks and heavily paid record deals and they can’t see out of this system. So it’s doubted that whether they can stay in the hearts of people for ages like their retro counterparts.