Nonimena Pahan
Narrating a non-combatant tale…
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By Randima Attygalle
Among the scores of events, marking the 59th anniversary of the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN), the 30-minute documentary titled Nonimena Pahan, by veteran filmmaker, Dr. D.B. Nihalsingha promises to be a refreshing experience. Breaking the silence of over a decade, Dr. Nihalsingha has returned to film-making in Sri Lanka through Nonimena Pahan, making the documentary certainly a novel labour, devoid of ‘voiceover’ approach. “I was hesitant to return to filmmaking after a decade in Malaysia, but the Commander of the Navy, Vice Admiral Tissara Samarasinghe prevailed on me, giving me complete freedom to interpret the Navy’s contribution to the Sri Lankan people. When I saw what a great contribution the Navy was making, I felt that it deserved to be placed before the Sri Lankans,” Dr. Nihalsingha said.
Nonimena Pahan is indeed a milestone, making it perhaps the first to be shot in ‘full high-definition’ (HIGH-DEF) video coupled with a novel narrative form, free of a voiceover commentary. “HIGH-DEF gives a higher clarity than standard video. Admittedly, it is still shown on standard definition, but it is scaled down, not up. So the clarity will be so much better,” explained Dr. Nihalsingha. The objective of the documentary is to showcase the multi-faceted, non-combatant contribution the Navy makes to society, taking the audience beyond the general perception that the Navy ‘sank the LTTE ships and prevented their cadres from escaping.’ “Certainly the huge contribution the Navy made to cripple the LTTE supply and prevent cadres from escaping is legendary, but the agenda of the Navy towards the civil society is so broad, and there are so many other facets of it which are generally unknown, and those will be the focus of the film. This unknown tale of the Navy was one reason which tempted me to do this production,” cited Dr. Nihalsingha.
Shot in a widespread region of Trincomalee, Nilaveli, Karainager, Point Pedro, Kankesanthurai, Talaimannar, Mullikulam, Mannar, Wilpattu etc, the documentary had many challenges in abundance to offer, besides travelling in a Dvora fast attack craft at 90 km/hr from Trinco to KKS and then to Talaimannar! “The challenges were the vast canvas and the huge amount of material of different sorts. The journey in the Dvora fast attack craft was quite an experience,” elaborated Dr. Nihalsingha, adding that, narrating the story without adopting the voiceover approach, made the effort doubly challenging.
Taking the director’s cinematic journey onto a different path, Nonimena Pahan has proved to be a ‘first’ in many perspectives. “Now that I found myself being able to cope, and having got a firsthand feel of the ground situation of all the production and technical difficulties, I am encouraged to think of a long-form. I am looking at several options… nothing definite yet,” concluded Dr. Nihalsingha.
The production team of Nonimena Pahan comprises Nilendra Deshapriya as Associate Director, Pushpakumara Rajaguru as Videographer and Janaka Inimankada as editor. Lyrics of the theme song composed by Rear Admiral Somathilake Disanayake, have been given the musical touch of Nararatne Gamage. Nonimena Pahan will be telecast on several television channels commencing with ITN on December 9 at 8:30 p.m.
Courtesy: www.nation.lk (06/12/2009)
