The film adaptation of Dr. Martin Wickremasinghe’s novel Yuganthaya (End of an Era) is directed by Dr. Lester James Peries. It stars Gamini Fonseka as Simon Kabalana, Suwinitha Weerasinghe as Nalika Kabalana, Richard De Zoysa as Malin Kabalana, Ramani Bartholomeusz as Chamari Kabalana and Wickrema Bogoda as Tissa. It revolves around the lives of Nanda and Piyal’s daughter Nalika and her husband Simon Kabalana and their two children Malin and Chamari.
The film is set in Colombo in the mid 1980’s and begins with Malin Kabalana’s arrival from England after successfully completing his higher education and graduating with a Degree in History and Economics from the University of London. He is accompanied by his best friend Dr. Aravinda Viharahena, a highly qualified surgeon who has obtained the F.R.C.S. (Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons) in London with very high marks. In contrast to Malin who was raised in Colombo, Aravinda is from a rural background.
Simon Kabalana hosts a big party to celebrate Malin’s return to Sri Lanka which highlights Nalika and Simon’s shallow life of partying and socialising. Marlin is unhappy about his parents’ ostentatious and superficial life and does not enjoy partying. Malin stays away from home when his parents are hosting a party which is almost every day, and he feels suffocated in his parents’ mansion and eventually moves out of home. Malin is close to Tissa and visits him frequently and has philosophical debates and seeks his advice.
Malin is sympathetic to the plight of the poor and the hard lives of the workers in his father’s factories. Malin and his father Simon Kabalana do not see eye to eye, and Marlin rebels against his father because of Simon Kabalana’s unscrupulous business practices. He joins a labour union to defend the rights of factory workers for a higher pay and good living conditions. Both the novel and the film convey the strong message that there can never be reconciliation between Malin and his father in the future.
The novel demonstrates Dr. Martin Wickremasinghe’s foresight in accurately predicting social change and Dr. Lester James Peries has done justice to the novel in his film adaptation of Yuganthaya.