An investigative study on social issues depicted in the films Bambaru Awith and Ahas Gauwa

Abstract

A social problem can be simply defined as a condition existing in society that prevents the realization of well-being for a large number of people. These social issues can directly or indirectly impact everyone living within the society. From the inception of society to the present, human society has had to confront a multitude of problems. Prominent among these are prostitution, poverty, vagrancy, drug abuse, and unemployment. Filmmakers have endeavored to depict this social reality through both world cinema and Sri Lankan cinema. Dharmasena Pathiraja can be identified as a film director who presented the social problems emerging in Sri Lankan society to the audience. Furthermore, he is recognized as a director who steered Sinhala cinema toward the correct path. He attempted to direct the audience's mind toward realistic experiences that are deeply intimate to human life. The objective of this research is to study the social issues utilized as subject matter in Dharmasena Pathiraja’s films. The research problem explores what specific social issues Dharmasena Pathiraja focused on. The qualitative research methodology was employed for this study. As primary data, the two films Ahas Gawwa and Bambaru Avith were viewed, and their content was analyzed using the content analysis method. Additionally, local and foreign books were referenced as secondary data, while the internet was utilized as a source of tertiary data. The research findings revealed that these films depicted social issues such as the prevailing politics, unemployment, class division, and poverty of that era. Accordingly, the study concludes that these films portray how the youth of that time were marginalized by unemployment, alongside depictions of social class divisions, the lived reality of people suffering from poverty, and their oppression.