The screen loves a woman’s story, and we do too. From the groundbreaking first Sinhala talkie, Kadavunu Poronduwa (1947), right up to modern films like Ayu (2025), female characters have not just been in the picture, they have often been the picture. This series, Beyond Victimisation dives into the nuanced world of feminine subjectivity, agency and identity across selected Sinhala films. This series is not just about what women do on screen; it is about what they feel, think, and see captured by the lens.
Gamperaliya:
Lester James Peiris’s 1963 film, ‘Gamperaliya,’ is a thought-provoking work often critiqued as a reflection on the decline of feudal society and the rise of a market economy, accompanied by the growth of the new middle class. While this thematic critique aligns strongly with Martin Wickramasinghe’s original novel, the film presents a clear contrast, focusing more intently on Nanda and Piyal’s love story.
Economic change and female subjectivity
The film vividly delves into how the economic transformation influenced the subjectivity of noble women, who were raised within highly conservative and feudal norms. Through Nanda’s character, the film offers greater opportunity to examine the complex female perspective on love and class dynamics.
Peiris beautifully summarises the film’s premise in its very first scene: Nanda receiving English lessons from Piyal. The book Nanda is reading prompts her to wonder how an ordinary man could marry a princess. Piyal’s response, “why not, if the man has money he can marry a princess”, powerfully establishes the central conflict and the new social order driven by wealth, which the entire film hinges upon.
The film frequently critiques how the values and customs of traditional feudal society influenced women and guided their actions, emphasising how they preserved these traditions and legacies until the end.
‘Gamperaliya’ reveals the constraints faced by women in rural society who adhered to traditional social values and customs. It illustrates their challenges in making decisions about their future in line with their feelings, hopes, and desires, as these decisions were often dictated by societal norms and principles.
Nanda’s evolving subjectivity and societal agents
The film effectively captures the changing nature of Nanda’s feminine subjectivity. Her initial wedding to Jinadasa, marked by her depressed demeanour and subsequent sickness, vividly displays her desperation with the impoverished life she is forced to endure.
This emotional turmoil reflects a deep-seated nostalgia for the feudal, patriarchal norms of her upbringing.
Simultaneously, her hidden desire for Piyal reflects a yearning for the upward mobility offered by the new economic class and the affluence it promises.
In any society, women often function as key agents who support the survival or advancement of a system. They possess a remarkable capacity to adapt, making them easily identifiable as agents of the system’s propagation.
Market economies are often designed to appeal specifically to the perceived fragile, fluid, and impulsive nature of feminine subjectivity, ensuring their engagement and adoption of the new economic order.
Cinematic departure and realism
In contrast to the book, Peiris portrays a completely changed version of Nanda on her wedding day with Piyal. She appears happy, relaxed, and fully adapted to the new, comfortable life that Piyal has provided her.
This cinematic depiction emphasises her successful, albeit reluctant, adherence to the emerging wealthy merchant class and the subsequent abandonment of the restricting, impoverished feudal past.
‘Gamperaliya’ is justly recognised as the pioneering film in Sinhala cinema to realistically portray the evolving subjectivity of women raised within traditional feudal values.
Nanda’s grounded aristocratic subjectivity
The character of Nanda stands out as the first female protagonist in Sinhala cinema who is realistically grounded in the female subjectivity of the aristocracy during the feudal era.
The film frames her character strictly within the conventions of traditional feudal society, where her initial actions and behaviours adhere to the norms of that time.
Similarly, the other female characters in the film, Matara Hamine, Anula, and Katirina, are also realistic figures, developed in relation to their specific socio-economic backgrounds.
This approach marks a significant shift from the earlier era of Sinhala cinema, where characters were often purely imaginative constructs, moving them instead towards representations of real individuals in society.
https://www.sundayobserver.lk/2025/12/21/spectrum/68591/nanda-from-feudal-chains-to-market-desires