JAYANTHA Chandrasiri makes a killing with the name of his second feature film. Coming as it is from Sri Lanka, the name Guerilla Marketing instantly grabs attention and surely enough headlines. But what you expect is not what you get from the film; the experience is more sublime.
A journalist-turned actor-director, Chandrasiri had debuted with a period film, Agni Daahaya (Fire and Earth). The multiple-award winning film was based on 17th century Sri Lanka, when the Portuguese dominated the country’s maritime provinces. Chandrasiri says the prevailing socio-political situations then aren’t far apart from contemporary realities.
Guerilla Marketing, however, is grounded in today. Chandrasiri explores how the society reacts to the trends in globlisation from which no community, no people seem aloof. “I could feel the pain and this film is my reaction to that.”
Why Guerilla Marketing? That is a question Chandrasiri has been answering ever since he screened the film in Sri Lanka. His answer is: “Guerillas destroy the society; so does marketing. ‘Guerilla marketing,’ the coming together of the two destroys the whole world.”
The film unravels the life of an advertising wizard, a schizophrenic actually, who engineers the election victory of an opposition leader to the post of president. However, the man has many internal demons to exorcise and when present-day realities become too much for him to bear, he shuts himself into a world of illusion and part-reality. And he has no escape. His only solace — to be normal — is to live with his dilemmas.
Despite the “heavy” thematic orientation, the film is also wickedly wacky. The “marketing” plan that the film’s hero, Thisara, draws out for the election is the stuff that makes poignant social satire. The television channel, perhaps state-run, that beams the election bulletins is named “O,” and all that scares away the modern-day politician are evocative drum-beats from the past. The scheming politician also makes some interesting wisecracks, effective potshots against globalisation: “We must sell our culture to protect it,” explaining his decision to sell a national monument.
And Chandrasiri infuses into the proceedings an interesting twist by integrating the rhythm of dance. The mind-games of Thisara too are well drawn out as is the love struggle between his wife and childhood friend.
Guerilla Marketing has a strong theatrical flavour; natural, because Chandrasiri is the author-director of many revolutionary stage shows. But he blends different narrative styles seamlessly to deliver hard-hitting cinema that puts humanity before any other consideration.
That is precisely the way he reacts to the trouble and turmoil Chandrasiri sees around him, in his own country. “As a filmmaker, I am influenced by all that is happening around me. But I know that the Sinhalese and the Tamils — the common men you see on the streets — they are not rivals; they have no enmity for each other. The issues are political and it is the people who suffer. For problems kicked up by the politicians, solutions too should come from them.”
His film therefore does not offer answers. He does not pack any message either. He simply treks through diverse levels of everyday realities and reacts through the movie frames. “I concentrate on human beings. I study love and hatred, the connection between politics and love. In fact, both my films have been discussing the same issues — from different contexts,” explains Chandrasiri. “I have only side: Humanity. My film is not about racial issues, not about extremism; it is an approach to humanity from an ordinary human being’s point of view.”
He moves back to history for his next film, which will be his take on the life of a Sri Lankan king Bimaladharma Soorya. “I love history but I am not a nostalgic man. I love the past because only the past can take you to the future.”
— Rajeev Nair
