The rainbow of Sayapethi Kusuma (Frangipani)

 "Sayapethi Kusuma" (Frangipani), directed by Visakesa Chandrasekaram, is a seminal film in Sri Lanka, if not the entire region. The subject matter of Deepa Mehta's Fire was lesbian love, which some men may view as weird and meaningless, much like women's rugby, cricket, or fight culture. Traditionally, women are viewed as junior partners in the masculine sphere of sex.


"Sayapethi Kusuma" confronts male complacency by flipping the conventional wisdom by telling a narrative about a straight woman who consents to marry a gay man, then kicks him out and marries his bisexual friend, who ultimately decides to be gay. It's not just for formula-driven Sri Lankan cinema; it's also for Sri Lankan society, which is far behind the more developed regions of the world in terms of how sex-love is viewed and portrayed. This also holds true in the context of the non-heterosexual realm.

For many, the topic is still, let's say, queer. Sayapethi Kusuma is a significant film for Sri Lanka because of this. From a thematic standpoint, it is reasonable to say that it is the most audacious picture ever produced by a Sri Lankan.


 Lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgender persons have been referred to as LGBT since the 1990s. However, since that would make it an "alternative" to the mainstream, there is no demand for an LGBT-specific film. The film's theme appears to be undermined by the name "Sayapethi Kusuma," which translates to "a flower with sex petals."

Frangipani, also known as araliya, plumeria rubra, or plumeria obtusa, is a five-petaled flower. One of the characters in the movie reports that an araliya flower has six petals after picking it up. Therefore, "Sayapethi kusuma" suggests that this specific flower is an anomaly in the natural world. The movie's depiction of sexuality implicitly becomes that as well.

This perspective on same-gender sexuality is out of date. The notion that gay sex is abnormal is rejected by the contemporary perspective. "Sayapethi Kusuma" is a poignant drama that is exceptionally well-made for the director's first feature and far more sympathetic in its depiction of friendship and love than the recently released and highly anticipated "Motor Bicycle."


Chandrasekaram's use of a simple yet personal aesthetic is reminiscent of Rainer Werner Fassbinder's work, who was also a gay filmmaker but concealed it in his intricate and philosophically rich works. The three major characters (Dasun Pathirana, Jehan Sri Kanth, and Yasodha Rasanduni) exhibit a tenderness and sensitivity that is uncommon in our "heterosexual" film (girl-boy love story), despite the fact that their frustrations are evident.

Since the main struggle provides enough emotional intensity to keep the movie cohesive, the secondary transgender character who follows leads to a superfluous subplot. Although Shantha Pieris' musical soundtrack enhances Kularuwan Gamage's narrative and cinematography, its potency is constrained by its lack of thematic development. The screen appears dark most of the time, though, which is one issue. It's difficult to determine if this is the result of underexposure or, in analog words, underdevelopment, but it undoubtedly interferes with the enjoyment of the movie.








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