''Ara Soyza'' ( si, italic=yes, ඇර සොයිසා) is a 1984 Sri Lankan

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

directed by Herbert Ranjith Peiris and produced by Dayasena Perera for Samagi Films. It stars

Freddie Silva Haupe Liyanage Athukorala Morris Joseph Ranabahu, (born 18 May 1938 – died 29 October 2001: si, ෆෙ‍්‍රඩී සිල්වා), popularly as Freddie Silva, was a Sri Lankan film actor, and playback singer, who appeared from 1973 u ...

Don Sirisena Don Sirisena (born 1934 – died 1986 as දොන් සිරිසේන) inhala, was an actor in Sri Lankan cinema and theater. One of the most popular comedy artists ever in Sri Lankan film history, Sirisena had a career spanned about thr ...

Sabeetha Perera Warnakulasuriya Uswaththa Liyanage Sabeetha Janaki Perera (born December 1, 1962) is an actress in Sri Lankan cinema and old Lollywood cinema of Pakistan. She is the most successful female superstar during the '80s and '90s in Sinhala cinema. ...

and

Wimal Kumara de Costa Wimal Kumara de Costa (4 July 1948 – 20 November 2016 as විමල් කුමාර ද කොස්තා inhala was an actor in Sri Lankan cinema. One of the most popular comedy artists in 1980s and 1990s, he started cinema career ...

in lead roles along with

Rukmani Devi Daisy Rasammah Daniels, known popularly as Rukmani Devi (15 January 1923 – 28 October 1978: si, රුක්මණී දේවී) was a Sri Lankan film actress and singer, who was often acclaimed as "The Nightingale of Sri Lanka". She mad ...

and

Piyadasa Wijekoon Wijekoon Mudiyanselage Piyadasa (22 October 1940 – 9 February 2003 as පියදාස විජේකෝන්) was a Sri Lankan stunt and character actor. His career spanned over 42 years with 140 films and he played a wide variety of role ...

. Music composed by director Herbert Ranjith Peiris himself. The film centers on three middle aged men staying in a hostel. At a later stage, another tenant comes to stay in the hostel, where he falls in love with the eldest daughter of the hostel owner. The entire film was based on how the old three tenants trying their best to chase the new tenant and win the heart of owner's daughter. The plot is based on the Tamil film

Indru Poi Naalai Vaa ''Indru Poi Naalai Vaa'' () is a 1981 Indian Tamil language, Tamil-language romantic comedy film written and directed by K. Bhagyaraj. The film stars himself, Raadhika, Pazhanisamy and G. Ramli. It revolves around three men in love with the sa ...

Plot

The lead character Soyza (

) is a modest farmer who grows potatoes together with his housemates (

) and Costa (

). The villain or the other housemate, Wadigapatuna (

) is a ''Mudalali'' businessman who owns a shop in the village. Unlike Soyza, Don and Costa, Wadigapatuna is a selfish and a bad person. Soyza and Wadigapatuna fall in love with the eldest daughter of the owner of their rental home and fight against each other to win the heart of the girl Kanthi. The parents of the daughter in question, Kanthi prefer Wandigapatuna and the plot revolves around the many tricks Soyza and his colleagues play to win the heart of Kanthi. This involves dressing up Don Sirisena as a pregnant women to accuse Wandigapatuna of producing a child out of wedlock with her.
Movie culminates with a fight between Wandigapatuna and a nearby "strongman" who joins Soyza and the clique.

Characters

*Soyza (

) is a modest farmer, working together with two other friends. Not so wealthy, yet rich in love. After series of battles with his only rival Wadigapatuna and the mistress of the house, he gets the chance to marry the owner's eldest daughter Kanthi Kiridena]. *Costa (

) is Soyza's best mate. He always help Soyza, in battles against Wadigapatuna. *Don (

) is a friend of both the above, yet most of the times slightly selfish. He falls in love with the owner's youngest daughter Shanthi Kiridena (

). But, similar to Costa, he always try to help Soyza in fights against Wadigapatuna. *Wadigapatuna (

) is a rich businessman, who rents a room in the same house where Soyza. Costa and Don resides. With a gigantic body and height, he always try achieve whatever he wants. *Kanthi (Raju Kumarasinghe) The eldest daughter of the owner. With a face like a crushed tomato (as always referred to in the film), falls in love with Soyza. She somehow convince Soyza to fight with Wadigapatuna and chase him out of the house. *Tarzan (Raju Kumarasinghe) With a body made out of matches, he comes to help Soyza to fight against Wadigapatuna. He even wins a boxing match against Wadigapatuna. He does so by cheating. *Uncle (

B. S. Perera Balasuriyage Steven Perera (born 31 March 1924 – died 24 June 1982 as බී. එස්. පෙරේරා) inhala, popularly as B. S. Perera, was an actor in Sri Lankan cinema and theater as well as a director and singer. One of the earlie ...

) The owner of the rental property where the story occurs. A retired classical musician, always get abused by his dominative wife Haminey (Liliyan Edirisinghe). Most of the time he goes to Zoysa, Costa and Don to ask really silly questions. At one time, he goes to Don and ask what has happened to his tie knot, in which Costa answers "hey uncle ... I saw the knot in the garden... Please leave us now!" *Haminey (

Lilian Edirisinghe Lilian Edirisinghe (born 19 May 1922 – died 26 December 1993 as ලිලියන් එදිරිසිංහ) inhala, was an actress in Sri Lankan cinema, stage drama and television. One of the earliest pillars in Sri Lankan film histor ...

) Being the wife of the owner, she dominates the entire house. She always blame her husband for been stupid aad wasting her time by talking non-sense. She hates Zoysa, Costa and Don and tries her best to marry her eldest daughter to Wadigapatuna. *Shanthi (

) Naturally beautiful, she is the youngest daughter of the owner. Until the end of the film, she strongly oppose Don's love. *Wadiga's mother (

)

Songs

The film has only a handful of songs, which seems really unusual when compared with the other Sri Lankan films produced in the 1980s. One of the best songs in the film is a Wadha Baila musical by Soyza and Wadigapatuna. In the song, we can see Soyza dressed as an angel and Wadigapatuna dressed as a

devil A devil is the personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conceptions of t ...

. They both sing to Kanthi, who is sitting in-between like a goddess.

Preference

{{reflist 1984 films 1980s Sinhala-language films 1984 comedy films Sri Lankan comedy films