Maestro Lester James Peries and his movie treasure “Nidhanaya”

The greatness of Lester James Peries cannot be measured by the quantity of his output. It is the qualitative nature of his films that elevated him to commendable heights. Lester James Peries is acknowledged as the pioneer of authentic Sinhala cinema. It was he who first created in every sense of the term an indigenous Sri Lankan cinema in both substance and style. It was also Lester who first gained worldwide recognition for Sinhala cinema. Lester James Peries became a national icon identified with the sphere of Sri Lankan cinema over the years. His work influenced several generations of film directors who followed him

The 4K restored version of the award winning Sinhala movie “Nidhanaya” (Treasure) directed by Sri Lanka’s renowned filmmaker Lester James Peries was screened in Colombo at the National Archives auditorium on 7 April 2025. National Archives Director-General Dr. Nadeera Rupesinghe said that over 200 people were present at the screening. “It is one of the biggest audiences we have had for a film screening at the National Archives,” said Dr. Rupesinghe.

This was the first time that a 4K restored version of “Nidhanaya” was screened in Sri Lanka. 4K restoration is a process that revitalises older films by scanning their original film elements (negatives or high-quality prints) at a 4K resolution (3840 x 2160 pixels), repairing damage, and enhancing the image and sound for a more immersive, high-quality viewing experience.

Nidhanaya was restored in 2013 by Cineteca di Bologna/L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory, in association with The Film Foundation’s World Cinema Project and the Lester James and Sumitra Peries Foundation. The restored version premiere was at the 2013 Venice International Film Festival.

The screening in Colombo was made possible by The Film Foundation and Cineteca di Bologna, with special thanks to the Dr. Lester James Peries and Sumitra Peries Foundation and the Film Heritage Foundation of India. It was screened on the opening day of “Archiving the Image: From Conservation to the Screen” – a workshop on Film Programming and Photograph & Film Conservation. Incidentally the National Film, Television and Sound Archives was opened by Lester James Peries himself at the Sri Lanka National Archives on 5 April 2014.

Nidhanaya made in 1970 was entered for the 1972 Venice International Film Festival where the film won the Silver Lion of St. Mark award. It also received a certificate as one of the outstanding films of the year at the London Film Festival. Nidhanaya was also included in the global list of 100 best films to be ever made that was compiled by the Cinematheque Institute of France to mark the World Film Centenary.

The film won the award for being the best Sinhala movie in 50 years, at Sri Lanka’s Golden Jubilee of Independence in 1998 It has also won critical acclaim globally as one of the 10 top Asian films for all time.

I have declared on more than one occasion that Lester James Peries is my favourite Sinhala film director. Lester’s 106th birth anniversary was on 5 April 2025. I have written about Lester and his films in the past. It is against this backdrop that this column deviates from its customary focus on politics and beams the spotlight – with the aid of earlier writings – on Nidhanaya and its creator Lester James Peries this week.

Willie Abeynayake

Nidhanaya was the eighth feature film made by Lester James Peries. The black and white film is 108 minutes long. Gamini and Malani Fonseka play the lead roles and about 75% of the scenes revolve around the couple. Gamini plays Willie Abeynayake the superstitious scion of a rich family facing financial ruin. Malani plays Irene his trusting, devoted wife. Sinhala Cinema’s foremost acting duo play their parts to perfection in Nidhanaya.

K.L. Coranelis Appuhamy and J.R.L. Fernando act as Willie Abeynayake’s elder brother and father respectively while Shanthi Lekha acts as Malani’s mother. Other actors are Saman Bokalawala as Julius, Francis Perera as Juwanis, Trilicia Gunawardene as Dulcie, Thilakasiri Fernando as Diyonis, Kumarasinghe Appuhamy as Gurunanse, Mapa Gunaratne as the doctor, Thalatha Gunasekara as the Nanny and Barry Whittington as the Government Agent. Willie Abeynayake was one of the finest roles acted by Gamini Fonseka in his illustrious movie career. Willie living in an aristocratic mansion faces financial decline as his contractor business is a failure. He stands to lose the mansion he dwells in and is reluctant to let go of it. Being superstitious he believes in an Ola leaf prediction which says a treasure would be in his hands if a virgin woman with four particular birthmarks is sacrificed atop a particular rock at a particular time.

Willie comes across such a woman in Irene played by Malani Fonseka. He marries her but does not consummate the marriage as he wants her to retain her virginity. Willie falls ill and is nursed back to health by the loving wife. Nevertheless Abeynayake goes ahead with his original plan and kills his devoted wife at the opportune time and location because of his need and greed for the ‘Nidhanaya’ or treasure.

Ironically Willie does get a treasure in his good and devoted wife but does not realise it. He is prepared to sacrifice the living treasure to gain material treasure. His hopes are dashed when the predicted treasure does not materialise. He returns home disillusioned and commits suicide.

Flashbacks and voice-overs

The film is structured as a narrative with Willie Abeynayake prior to his intended suicide writing in his diary explaining the chain of events in his life that leads to his taking his own life. The story then is related in a series of flashbacks and voice-overs. Finally Willie hangs himself to death.

Nidhanaya is a film about both the decay of the prevalent social order and the disintegration of an individual. It is a dark, moody film and is shot in a style evocative of the term “film noir”. It is in a way different from most of the films directed by Lester James Peries.

G.B. Senanayake

Nidhanaya was based on an original short story by G.B. Senanayake the journalist, poet and writer who went blind in the latter stages of his life. Peries apparently paid Rs. 10,000 for rights to the story. The story was then reworked into a film script by Tissa Abeysekera who had to make a two-hour-long film-script out of a five-page short story. Tissa won an OCIC award for best screenplay for Nidhanaya.

As the script evolved it became obvious that the story had to revolve around Abeynayake, the superstitious bachelor. Lester could not think of anyone other than Gamini Fonseka to be the chief protagonist Willie Abeynayake. Malani Fonseka was taken to play Irene the female lead.

The cinematographer was M.S. Anandan. He used Ilford film instead of Kodak to bring out in sharp contrast the blacks and whites. Uditha Devapriya in a review praises Anandan’s cinematography profusely saying, “Nidhanaya is suffused with a chiaroscuro effect from beginning to end — teetering between white and black, light and dark, good and evil.” Apart from Nidhanaya, M.S. Anandan was the cinematographer for two other films (Golu Hadawatha and Akkara Paha) of Lester too. Nidhanaya is supposedly the only Sinhala film to be shot entirely in Ilford film.

Premasiri Khemadasa does the music score the highlight of which is a Western waltz composed by the music maestro. The three and a half minute waltz is danced by Gamini and Malani with seven costume changes. Lester and Sumitra Peries consulted “Twentieth Century Impressions of Ceylon” by Arnold Wright to design the costumes for the waltz and other scenes. Khenadasa master’s theme music for Nidhanaya was remarkable and lingers ib memory.

The film is one of the very few Lester films where his wife Sumitra did not do the editing. This was because she was then in France on a scholarship. In Sumitra’s absence Lester himself took the plunge and together with Gladwyn Fernando and Edwin Leetin did the editing. J.A. Vincent Perera was the art director. P.E.E. Anthonypillai produced the film on behalf of Ceylon Studios.

Rajagiriya

The bulk of the shooting was done at the archaic Obeyesekera-owned mansion in Rajagiriya that had antique furniture and caged peacocks as pets. Lester would often go to Ratmalana and pick up Gamini and then proceed to Rajagiriya. The house itself can be perceived as a pivotal character in the film around which the story is woven.

The shooting of the film took over seven months as both Gamini and Malani being busy film stars were available for only five days each month for Nidhanaya. Usually Lester shoots his films at a stretch without breaks but here it was not possible. Despite the long breaks in shooting, the continuity was maintained with great intensity by both Gamini and Malani, who complemented each other. About 75% of the film scenes featured both the Fonsekas only.

Slow motion waltz

Some of the great sequences in Nidhanaya relate to the thespian prowess of Gamini and Malani. In the waltz sequence both had to enact the dancing steps in natural slow motion as there was no second camera available to shoot in slow motion. So both coached by Keerthi Sri Karunaratne practised the steps and then danced for the camera in exaggerated slow movements. This was a feat that required perfect coordination and both Fonsekas rose to the occasion and did themselves and the film proud.

“Natural” acting

Another scene where Malani excelled was when Gamini suddenly slaps her and berates her. Malani acts startled and upset perfectly. What really happened was that Lester and Gamini did not reveal how the scene was going to be shot to Malani beforehand. She did not know that Gamini was going to slap and shout at her. So when it did happen, she was naturally surprised and shocked. The result was a superb piece of “natural” acting.

Lester and Gamini tried a similar ruse in another scene. This was the one where Gamini was to have an epileptic fit. Gamini himself had doubts whether he could act out that scene well. So at the right time Gamini suddenly pretended to have an epileptic fit. Since only Lester knew of this beforehand, the other actors and technicians were all taken aback at the sight. The actors lost their cue. The cameraman dropped the camera. As a result the entire scene had to be filmed again but Gamini was now confident he could pull it off and did so.

Birthmarks

Another bizarre happening was the birthmarks phenomenon. According to G.B. Senanayake’s story the virgin woman to be sacrificed had four birthmarks. In an unbelievable coincidence Malani Fonseka had the identical birthmarks in the exact places. When told of this G.B. Senanayake refused to believe it. Later he felt the birthmarks with his fingers and shed his disbelief.

Nidhanaya has been compared by some to ‘Jalsaghar’ by Satyajit Ray which is about the last days of a Zamindar or landlord in rural Bengal. Ray’s film made in 1958 illustrates the decaying collapse of the old order. Nidhanaya does likewise though Peries was not inspired in this instance by Jalsaghar.

Gamini Fonseka

Gamini Fonseka, according to Lester, was preoccupied about whether he was really acting the part in Nidhanaya and whether people would question the credibility of his performance. Lester in the book ‘Lester by Lester’ by Kumar de Silva has praised Gamini’s role as Willie Abeynayake in Nidhanaya thus: “Outside of Gamini, I cannot think of anybody else who would have played it with the same concentration. He was such a serious player. When given a good role, he put so much into it. He reminded me of someone like Marlon Brando who almost gets a bit too involved with the role.”

Lester enjoyed working with Gamini. The veteran director summed up the working relationship between both succinctly in an interview. Here is the excerpt: “To work with Gamini was an absolute pleasure for me. Other directors have problems because he takes over and directs himself. With me it has always been without a question. Occasionally he would ask whether to do something. Otherwise, I only tell him how the scene went. Sometimes I don’t even give him directions. He knows the scene and knows what to do. He is conscientious and the spontaneity in his acting is really remarkable.”

The collaborative effort of director Lester and actor Gamini resulted in the film Nidhanaya becoming a cinematic treasure. It is praised as the finest of the movies made by Lester James Peries.

Lester James Peries is regarded by many including this writer as Sri Lanka’s greatest film director. He was born on 5 April 1919. Lester as he was generally known passed away on 29 April 2018 just 24 days after his 99th birthday. His seventh death anniversary falls on 29 April this year.

“Rekawa” to “Amma Waruney”

In a film making career spanning more than five decades Lester James Peries has made 20 feature films inclusive of the short feature ‘Pinhamy’. The first of his feature films was the path-breaking ‘Rekava’ or line of destiny in 1956. His final feature was ‘Amma Waruney’ or an elegy to a mother released in 2006. Lester James Peries has also made 11 short films, most of them in documentary mode. The first of these short films was ‘Soliloquy’ made in 1949 and the last ‘Kandy Perahera’ filmed in 1973.

However the greatness of Lester James Peries cannot be measured by the quantity of his output. It is the qualitative nature of his films that elevated him to commendable heights. Lester James Peries is acknowledged as the pioneer of authentic Sinhala cinema. It was he who first created in every sense of the term an indigenous Sri Lankan cinema in both substance and style.

It was also Lester who first gained worldwide recognition for Sinhala cinema. Lester James Peries became a national icon identified with the sphere of Sri Lankan cinema over the years. His work influenced several generations of film directors who followed him.

Some of the Maestro’s milestone movies are “Rekava” (Line of Destiny), “Sandesaya” (Message), “Gamperaliya” (Changes in the Village), “Delovak Athara” (Between Two Worlds), “Golu Hadawatha” (Silent Longing), “Ran Salu” (Golden Robe), “Akkara Paha” (Five Acres), “Nidhanaya” (Treasure), “Ahasin Polowata” (From Sky To Earth), “Beddagama” (Village In The Jungle)”, “Kaliyugaya” (Era of Kali or Kaliyug), and “Yuganthaya” (End of an era). The only English film made by Peries was “God King”, a Sri Lankan-German co-production. With a blend of foreign and local artistes, the film was shot in Sri Lanka.

“Sri Lankabhimanya”

Lester James Peries was the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 31st International Film Festival of India in 2000. The French Government honoured him in 1997 with Commandeur (Commander) in the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Order of Arts and Letters). UNESCO awarded Lester the Fellini Gold Medal for Outstanding film career in 2003 at the Cannes International Film Festival. His own country, Sri Lanka conferred the “Sri Lankabhimanya”, the highest civilian honour upon Lester in 2007. I regard Lester James Peries as an “auteur” as defined by the French critic and director Francois Truffaut and associated with the French new wave films and the French cinematic journal “Cahiers du Cinema”.

Lester’s early training as a documentary film maker as well as his penchant for creative literature were reflected in his films. According to well-known writer and journalist Regi Siriwardena who worked as script writer in a few of Lester’s films, the twin hallmarks of the director’s auteuristic film-making approach were his stylistic “construction of narrative” and ability to “capture and project actualities in a realistic manner”.

Cinema of contemplation

Lester’s films described as the cinema of contemplation by reviewers, capture emotions and moods vividly on screen. These expressions are two-fold in the sense that they consist of clearly articulated or manifested emotions on the one hand and also of unarticulated, underlying feelings on the other.

His was the language of silence. Complex relationships, poignant moods, tense undercurrents, etc. are portrayed in auteuristic style that is simple and comprehensible.

Lester’s films do not have a very overt political content. The political message if any is quite subtle. As he explains it, “I cannot make intensely political films. Politics is there on the periphery, in films like Yuganthaya, where there is reference to the tension between labour and capital.”

“All my themes are about the Sri Lankan family. I use the family as a microcosm through which the problems of a larger world are reflected. I understand my limitations and work within this. To me the battles within the family are more important and far more intense than anything outside of it.”

Lester’s humanism

An excerpt from the Lester James Peries 2012 Oration delivered by Dr. Sarath Amunugama is relevant in this respect:

“If we adopt the Auteur theory to look at the body of work of Lester what stands out is his humanism. Humanism has been defined as ‘Any system, mode of thought or action in which human interest, values and dignity predominates’. While similar ideologies have prevailed in many regional traditions, we are here concerned mostly about humanism as it developed in western society after the Renaissance and became a strong influence on Lester James Peiris. While he progressively delved into Sinhala Society and culture he was also a cosmopolitan intellectual.”

(The writer can be reached at [email protected].)