Gamperaliya is a 1964 Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...

n drama film

Drama film

A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...

 directed by Lester James Peries

Lester James Peries

Sri Lankabhimanya Lester James Peries is an internationally acclaimed Sri Lankan film director, screenwriter, and film producer. An active filmmaker since 1949, Peries has been involved in over 28 films, including shorts and documentaries...

; it was adapted from the seminal novel

Novel

A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....

 Gamperaliya

Gamperaliya

Gamperaliya is a novel written by Sri Lankan writer Martin Wickremasinghe and first published in 1944....

by Martin Wickramasinghe

Martin Wickramasinghe

Martin Wickramasinghe , MBE was a Sri Lankan novelist. His books have been translated into several langues....

. The movie was groundbreaking in Sinhala cinema

Cinema of Sri Lanka

Sri Lankan cinema encompasses the films made in Sri Lanka. It is a fledgling industry that has struggled to find a footing since its inauguration in 1947 with Kadawunu Poronduwa produced by S.M.Nayagam of Chitra Kala Movietone.Sri Lankan films are usually made in the Sinhalese language, the...

 shot entirely outside of a studio using one lamp and hand held lights for lighting. The movie exemplifies Peries's use of family tensions to symbolize wider issues.

The movie was internationally acclaimed, receiving the Golden Peacock at the Grand Prix International Film Festival in India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

 and the Golden Head of Palenque in Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

. The movie won the Best Director

Sarasaviya Best Director Award

The Sarasaviya Best Director Award is presented annually by the weekly Sarasaviya newspaper in collaboration with the Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Limited as part of the Sarasaviya Awards Festival. It was first given in 1964....

 and Best Film award

Sarasaviya Best Film Award

The Sarasaviya Best Film Award is presented annually in Sri Lanka by the weekly Sarasaviya newspaper in collaboration with the Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Limited at the Sarasaviya Awards Festival for the best Sri Lankan movie of the year....

s at the 1965 Sarasaviya Film Festival

Sarasaviya Awards

Sarasaviya Awards are the most prestigious awards presented to distinguished individuals involved with the Sinhala cinema, each year by the Sarasaviya weekly newspaper in collaboration with the Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Limited , Sri Lanka in recognition of the contributions made by them to...

. It was shown in Cannes Film fesitval in May 2008 under the French title "Changement au village." Subsequently it went out on general release in French cinemas.

Plot

Piyal (Henry Jayasena) is a handsome young teacher who is hired to teach English to Nanda (Punya Heendeniya

Punya Heendeniya

Punya Heendeniya is a Sri Lankan cinema actress who currently resides in England.-Filmography:*1954-1955 Asoka - dance sequence choreographed by MasterPanibharatha; Director Sirisena Wimalaweera...

), a member of a high class family. They fall in love, but can't elope because Piyal is of a lower class. Nanda's parents instead push her into a marriage with Jinadasa (Gamini Fonseka

Gamini Fonseka

Sembuge Gamini Shelton Fonseka was a Sri Lankan film actor and politician.Fonseka was born on March 21, 1936 in Dehiwela the third child of William and Daisy Fonseka. Starting school at a Presbyterian institution, Gamini moved on to S. Thomas' College, Mt. Lavinia...

), who is of the same class as them. With economic downturn in Sri Lanka, both families lose their status and Jinadasa leaves to try to make a better life for himself; he never achieves his goal and dies penniless. Piyal and Nanda can now finally come together. They have changed however, and the earlier idylic nature of their relationship is not recaptured.

Cast

Actor	Role
Henry Jayasena Henry Jayasena Henry Jayasena born in Bendiyamulla, Gampaha is a Sri Lankan actor and dramatist.-Early Life:Jayasena studied at the Gampaha branch of Lorenz College and at Nalanda College Colombo. Some of Jayasena's notable classmates at Nalanda College were Karunaratne Abeysekera, Dr Harischandra Wijayatunga,...	Piyal
Punya Heendeniya Punya Heendeniya Punya Heendeniya is a Sri Lankan cinema actress who currently resides in England.-Filmography:*1954-1955 Asoka - dance sequence choreographed by MasterPanibharatha; Director Sirisena Wimalaweera...	Nanda
Wickrema Bogoda	Tissa
Trilicia Gunawardene	Anula
Gamini Fonseka Gamini Fonseka Sembuge Gamini Shelton Fonseka was a Sri Lankan film actor and politician.Fonseka was born on March 21, 1936 in Dehiwela the third child of William and Daisy Fonseka. Starting school at a Presbyterian institution, Gamini moved on to S. Thomas' College, Mt. Lavinia...	Jinadasa
Shanthi Lekha Shanthi Lekha Rita Irene Quyn , better known as Shanthi Lekha, was a Sri Lankan actress. She played the role of mother in more films than any other actress in Sinhala cinema....	Nanda's mother
David Dharmakeerthi	Nanda's father
Tony Ranasinghe Tony Ranasinghe Ranasinghe Hettiarachchi Anthony Silva is a Sri Lankan actor.Ranasinghe began his career in theatre with a role in Ran Thodu in 1963 which won him the Governor General's Award for Best Stage Actor. This award was presented by minister T. B. Ilangaratne.Ranasinghe debuted in film with Lester James...	Baladasa
Anula Karunatilleke	Laisa

Production

Lester James Peries admired Martin Wickramsinghe's work and was inspired to attempt an adaption of Wickramasinghe's novel Gamperaliya into a movie in 1964. Wickremasinghe was initially reluctant thinking it wouldn't make a good movie, but eventually agreed. Scholar Regie Siriwardene was asked to script the film.

Reception

Playwright Ediriweera Sarachchandra

Ediriweera Sarachchandra

Ediriweera Sarachchandra was an Sri Lankan playwright, novelist, poet, literary critic, essayist and social commentator. Considered Sri Lanka's premier playwright, he was a senior lecturer at the University of Peradeniya for many years and served as Sri Lankan Ambassador to France .- Early...

 championed the film writing "At last a Sinhalese film has been made which we could show the world without having to hide our heads in shame. I want to say a great film has been made of a great novel." British director Lindsay Anderson

Lindsay Anderson

Lindsay Gordon Anderson was an Indian-born, British feature film, theatre and documentary director, film critic, and leading light of the Free Cinema movement and the British New Wave...

hailed "its elegiac, near-Chekhovian grace."