The fascinating world of J.R.R Tolkien brought to life.

Imagination is a powerful quality that one can possess. It has the ability to give life to stories that are written in the pages of a story book. In the year of 1932, J.R.R Tolkien wrote The Hobbit, and for centuries, this story was birthed in all sorts of views that differed from one reader to another. In the year of 2012, director Peter Jackson released the first part of his own creation of this story to the silver screen, which settled the curiosity of the readers and the film viewers. Unlike the readers, film viewers partially understood the story ‘Hobbit’, thanks to the release of the Lord of the Rings trilogy in the early 2000s, also directed by Peter Jackson. The Hobbit was released as a trilogy too, and the first was The Hobbit; An Unexpected Journey. 

The first part of the trilogy has covered the beginning of the adventures of Bilbo Baggins, a quiet hobbit who lived a peaceful life in the Shire. Martin Freeman, who played the role of Bilbo, has done such a remarkable job in portraying the character in a very appealing way. The movie starts off by showing us how Bilbo’s life was suddenly disturbed by a party of dwarves, under the leadership of Thorin Oakenshield (played by Richard Armitage), and by Gandalf the wizard (Played by Ian McKellen). Then the story leads as to how Bilbo joins this company in order to save the dwarf kingdom from a fire breathing dragon named Smaug (played by Benedict Cumberbatch). The second part of the story, the Hobbit; The Desolation of Smaug, shows how this group was able to steer the dragon out of their kingdom into Laketown, and how it was slain by Bard (played by Luke Evans). The third part, The Hobbit; Battle of the Five Armies, covers the war that took place amongst dwarves, goblins, elves, orcs and men. It portrays the tragic death of Thorin Oakenshield, who was slain by Azog the Defiler (played by Manu Bennett). 

These three movies have covered most of everything in the book by Tolkien, and were able to wow me. I was, since I can remember, a very enthusiastic fan of the Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit, and the movies did a favor to us readers by giving us a specific view as to how the stories are interconnected. The Hobbit movies, which were shot in New Zealand, were so beautiful to watch as they have chosen many scenic routes to cover the adventures. I was immediately in love with how well the mythical creatures were brought to life with the help of CGI, and these creatures were able to haunt my dreams. The lifelike making of dragons and orcs were so very well done, and the casting was on point. Every star in the movie matched their roles in a surprising way. The music, which was composed by Howard Shore, too was appropriate to every scene of the movie, and elevated the magical sense of the movies. 

The stunning making of The Hobbit trilogy was compelling. I was completely blown away after watching the trilogy, and so was my whole family. The magical quality of the story, the making of nightmarishly scary mythical creatures, and the outstanding acting were enough to get me addicted to the movies. Some critics might say that the CGI was overdone, but my opinion is that every particular thing about this trilogy was able to amaze me and a whole audience of viewers, and the movie was done well enough to receive many awards after the release. So, to put it in a nutshell, the trilogy is worth watching, and it is surely a welcome to Middle- Earth. 

පරිකල්පනය යනු කෙනෙකුට ලබා ගත හැකි ප්‍රබල ගුණාංගයකි. කතන්දර පොතක පිටු වල ලියා ඇති කතන්දර වලට ජීවය ලබා දීමේ හැකියාව එයට ඇත. 1932 වර්ෂයේදී ජේ.ආර්ආර් ටොල්කියන් විසින් ද Hobbit ලියූ අතර සියවස් ගණනාවක් පුරා මෙම කතාව එක් පාඨකයෙකුගෙන් තවත් පාඨකයෙකුට වෙනස් වූ සෑම දෘෂ්ටියකින්ම උපත ලැබීය. 2012 වර්ෂයේදී අධ්‍යක්ෂ Peter Jackson තමා විසින්ම නිර්මාණය කළ මෙම කතාවේ පළමු කොටස රිදී තිරයට නිකුත් කළ අතර එමඟින් පාඨකයින්ගේ සහ චිත්‍රපට නරඹන්නන්ගේ කුතුහලය සංසිඳුවා ගැනීමට හැකි විය. Peter Jackson විසින් ද අධ්‍යක්ෂණය කරන ලද 2000 දශකයේ මුල් භාගයේදී Lord of the Rings ත්‍රිත්වය ප්‍රකාශයට පත් වීම නිසා පාඨකයින් මෙන් නොව චිත්‍රපට නරඹන්නන් අර්ධ වශයෙන් ‘Hobbit’ කතාව අවබෝධ කර ගත්හ. Hobbit ත්‍රිත්ව කෘතියක් ලෙස ද නිකුත් කරන ලද අතර, පළමුවැන්න Hobbit; An Unexpected Journey වේ.

ෂයර්හි සාමකාමී ජීවිතයක් ගත කළ Bilbo Baggins ගේ වික්‍රමාන්විතයන්ගේ ආරම්භය ත්‍රිත්වයේ පළමු කොටස ආවරණය කර ඇත. Bilbo ගේ චරිතය රඟපෑ Martin Freeman එම චරිතය ඉතාමත් ආකර්ෂණීය ලෙස නිරූපණය කිරීමේදී කැපී පෙනෙන කාර්යයක් කර ඇත. චිත්‍රපටය ආරම්භ වන්නේ Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage විසින්) නායකත්වය දරන, Gandalf සමඟ  (රඟපෑවේ Ian Mckellen), Bilboගේ ජීවිතයට හදිසියේම වාමන කණ්ඩායමක් බාධා කළ ආකාරය පෙන්වමිනි. එවිට කතාවට මඟ පාදන්නේ Bilbo මෙම සමාගමට සම්බන්ධ වන්නේ Smaug (Benedict Cumberbatch විසින් රඟපෑ) නම් වූ ගිනි හුස්ම ගන්නා මකරෙකුගෙන් වාමන රාජධානිය බේරා ගැනීම සඳහාය. කතාවේ දෙවන කොටස, Hobbit; The Desolation of Smaug, මෙම කණ්ඩායමට මකරා තම රාජධානියෙන් ඉවත් කර Lake-town වෙත ගෙන ගිය ආකාරය සහ එය Bard විසින් මරා දැමූ ආකාරය (Luke Evans විසින්) පෙන්වයි. තුන්වන කොටස, ද Hobbit; The Battle of the Five Armies, වාමන, ගොබ්ලින්, එල්ව්ස්, ඕර්ක්ස් සහ මිනිසුන් අතර සිදු වූ යුද්ධය ආවරණය කරයි. Azog the defiler (Manu Bennett විසින් රඟපෑ) විසින් ඝාතනය කරන ලද Thorin Oakenshield ගේ ඛේදජනක මරණය එයින් නිරූපනය කෙරේ.

මෙම චිත්‍රපට තුනෙන් ටෝල්කියන්ගේ පොතේ බොහෝ දේ ආවරණය වී ඇති අතර එය මාව විශ්මයට පත් කිරීමට සමත් විය. මට මතක ඇති පරිදි, මම Lord of the Rings සහ Hobbit ගේ දැඩි උද්යෝගිමත් රසිකයෙක් වූ අතර, මෙහි චිත්රපට නිෂ්පාදනය ඔස්සේ චිත්‍ර එකිනෙකට සම්බන්ධ වී ඇති ආකාරය ගැන නිශ්චිත අදහසක් ලබා දීමෙන් චිත්‍රපට පාඨකයින් වන අපට වාසිදායක විය. නවසීලන්තයේ රූගත කරන ලද Hobbit චිත්‍රපට නැරඹීම සඳහා ඉතා අලංකාර වූයේ  ඔවුන් වික්‍රමාන්විතයන් ආවරණය කිරීම සඳහා දර්ශනීය මාර්ග රාශියක් තෝරාගෙන ඇති නිසාය. C.G.I ආධාරයෙන් මිථ්‍යා ජීවීන් කෙතරම් හොඳින් ජීවනයට ගෙන ආවාද යන්න ගැන මම වහාම ආදරයෙන් බැඳී සිටි අතර මෙම සතුන්ට මගේ සිහින වල හොල්මන් කිරීමට හැකි විය. ඩ්‍රැගන් සහ ඕර්ක්ස් සෑදීම ඉතා හොඳින් සිදු කර ඇත. චිත්‍රපටයේ සෑම තරුවක්ම තම භූමිකාවන් පුදුම සහගත ලෙස සමපාත කළහ. Howard Shore විසින් රචනා කරන ලද සංගීතය ද චිත්‍රපටයේ සෑම දර්ශනයකටම ගැලපෙන අතර චිත්‍රපට වල ඉන්ද්‍රජාලික හැඟීම ඉහළ නංවා තිබේ.

The Hobbit ත්‍රිත්ව කෘතිය විස්මිත ලෙස නිර්මාණය කිරීම සිත් ඇදගන්නා සුළු විය. ත්‍රිත්වය නැරඹීමෙන් පසු මම මුළුමනින්ම ඇබ්බැහි වී සිටි අතර මගේ මුළු පවුලම එසේ විය. කතාවේ ඉන්ද්‍රජාලික ගුණාංගය, බියකරු බිය උපදවන මිථ්‍යා ජීවීන් සෑදීම සහ කැපී පෙනෙන රංගනය චිත්‍රපට වලට ඇබ්බැහි වීමට ප්‍රමාණවත් විය. C.G.I සීමාව ඉක්මවා ගොස් ඇති බව සමහර විචාරකයින් පැවසිය හැකි නමුත් මගේ අදහස නම්, මෙම ත්‍රිත්වය පිළිබඳ සෑම සුවිශේෂී කරුණක්ම මා සහ සමස්ත නරඹන්නන් මවිතයට පත් කළ හැකි වූ අතර චිත්‍රපටය ප්‍රදර්ශනය කිරීමෙන් පසුව සම්මාන රාශියක් ලබා ගැනීමට එයට හැකි විය. එබැවින්, කෙටියෙන් කිවහොත්, ත්‍රිත්වය නැරඹීම වටී, එය නිසැකවම මධ්‍යම පෘථිවියට සාදරයෙන් පිළිගැනීමකි.

கற்பனைத்திறன் என்பது ஒரு சக்திவாய்ந்த  குணமாகும்.  இது ஒரு கதை புத்தகத்தின் பக்கங்களில் எழுதப்பட்ட கதைகளுக்கு உயிர் கொடுக்கும் திறன் கொண்டது.  1932 ஆம் ஆண்டில், J.R.R Tolkien என்பவர் Hobbit எனும் நாவலை எழுதினார், பல நூற்றாண்டுகளாக, இந்த கதை ஒரு வாசகரிடமிருந்து மற்றொரு வாசகருக்கு மாறுபட்ட பார்வையில் தென்பட்டது.  2012 ஆம் ஆண்டில், இயக்குனர் Peter Jackson இந்த கதையின் தனது  சொந்த மாறுபட்ட படைப்பின் முதல் பகுதியை வெள்ளித் திரையில் வெளியிட்டார், இது வாசகர்கள் மற்றும் திரைப்பட பார்வையாளர்களின் ஆர்வத்தைத் தீர்த்தது.  வாசகர்களைப் போலல்லாமல், திரைப்பட பார்வையாளர்கள் ‘Hobbit’ கதையை ஓரளவுக்கு புரிந்துகொண்டனர், Peter Jackson இயக்கிய 2000 களின் முற்பகுதியில் வெளியான Lord of the Rings முத்தொகுப்பிற்கு  நன்றி.  Hobbitஉம் ஒரு முத்தொகுப்பாகவே வெளியிடப்பட்டது, முதல் பாகமாக Hobbit; An Unexpected Journey வெளியிடப்பட்டது.

முத்தொகுப்பின் முதல் பகுதியானது shireஇல் அமைதியான வாழ்க்கை வாழ்ந்த Bilbo Bagginsன் சாகசங்களின் தொடக்கத்தை உள்ளடக்கியது.  பில்போ வேடத்தில் நடித்த Martin Freeman கதாபாத்திரத்தை மிகவும் கவர்ச்சிகரமான முறையில் சித்தரிப்பதில் குறிப்பிடத்தக்க நடிப்பை வெளிப்படுத்தியுள்ளார்.Thorin Oakenshield      (Richard Armitage நடித்தார்) மற்றும் Gandalf எனும் மந்திரவாதி (Ian McKellen நடித்தார்) தலைமையில் குள்ளர்களின் கூட்டத்தால் பில்போவின் வாழ்க்கை எவ்வாறு தொந்தரவு செய்யப்பட்டது என்பதை  காட்சிப்பதன் மூலம் படம் தொடங்குகிறது.  குள்ளர்களின் ராஜ்ஜியத்தை Smaug ( Benedict Cumberbatch நடித்தார்) என்ற நெருப்பு  டிராகனிடமிருந்து காப்பாற்ற பில்போ  எப்படி தன் கூட்டணி யுடன் இணைகிறார் என்பதே கதை.  கதையின் இரண்டாம் பகுதி,Hobbit; The Desolation of Smaug, இந்த குழு எப்படி டிராகனை தங்கள் ராஜ்ஜியத்திலிருந்து லேக் டவுனுக்கு அழைத்துச் சென்றது என்பதையும், அது Bard என்பவரால் எவ்வாறு கொல்லப்பட்டது என்பதையும் காட்டுகிறது ( Luke Evans நடித்தார்).  மூன்றாவது பகுதி,The Hobbit; Battle of the Five Armies, குள்ளர்கள், பூதங்கள், குட்டிச்சாத்தான்கள், ஓர்க்ஸ் மற்றும் மனிதர்களிடையே நடந்த போரை உள்ளடக்கியது.  Azog the Defilerஇனால் (Manu Bennett நடித்தார்) கொல்லப்பட்ட Thorin Oakenshieldஇன் சோகமான மரணத்தை இது சித்தரிக்கிறது.

இந்த மூன்று திரைப்படங்களும் Tolkienஇன் புத்தகத்தில் உள்ள பெரும்பாலானவற்றை உள்ளடக்கியது, மேலும் என்னை ஆச்சரியமும் படுத்தியது.  என் நினைவில் உள்ள வரை,  Lord of the Rings மற்றும் Hobbitஇன் மிகவும் ஆர்வமுள்ள ரசிகனாக இருந்தேன், மேலும் கதைகள் எவ்வாறு ஒன்றோடொன்று இணைக்கப்பட்டுள்ளன என்பதற்கான ஒரு குறிப்பிட்ட பார்வையை வழங்குவதன் மூலம் திரைப்படங்கள் வாசகர்களுக்கு உதவியாக இருந்தன.  நியூசிலாந்தில் படமாக்கப்பட்ட Hobbit திரைப்படங்கள் பார்ப்பதற்கு மிகவும் அழகாக இருந்தன, ஏனெனில் பல காட்சிகள் இயற்கை வழிகளைத் தேர்ந்தெடுத்துள்ளன.  CGI உதவியுடன் புராண உயிரினங்கள் எவ்வளவு நன்றாக உயிர்ப்பிக்கப்பட்டன என்பதை என்னால் இரசிக்க முடிந்தது, இந்த உயிரினங்கள் என் கனவுகளை ஆட்டிப்படைத்தது.  டிராகன்கள் மற்றும் ஓர்க்ஸின் உயிரோட்டமான உருவாக்கம் மிகச் சிறப்பாக செய்யப்பட்டது, மேலும் கதாபாத்திரத் தெரிவும் சரியான இருந்தது.  திரைப்படத்தில் ஒவ்வொரு நட்சத்திரமும் வியக்கத்தக்க வகையில் தங்கள் பாத்திரங்களை வெளிப்படுத்தி இருந்தனர். Howard Shore இசையமைத்த இசை, படத்தின் ஒவ்வொரு காட்சிக்கும் பொருத்தமானதாக இருந்தது, மேலும் படத்தின் மந்திர உணர்வையும் உயர்த்தியது.

Hobbit முத்தொகுப்பான் உருவாக்கமானது பிரமிக்க வைக்கின்றது.  முத்தொகுப்பைப் பார்த்த பிறகு நானும்  என் முழு குடும்பமும் முற்றிலும் ஆச்சரியப் பட்டோம். கதையின் மந்திரத் தரம், பயங்கரமான புராண உயிரினங்களின் உருவாக்கம் மற்றும் சிறந்த நடிப்பு ஆகியவை என்னை திரைப்படங்களுக்கு அடிமையாக ஆக்க வைத்தது.  சில விமர்சகர்கள் CGI மிகைப்படுத்தப்பட்டது என்று கூறலாம், ஆனால் என் கருத்து என்னவென்றால், இந்த முத்தொகுப்பைப் பற்றிய ஒவ்வொரு குறிப்பிட்ட விஷயமும் என்னையும் மற்ற  பார்வையாளர்களையும் வியக்க வைத்தது, மேலும் படம் வெளியான பிறகு பல விருதுகளையும் பெற்றது.  எனவே, சுருக்கமாகச் சொல்வதென்றால், முத்தொகுப்பானது மிகச் சிறப்பாக இருந்தது.

Penned by: Rtr. Esandi Udana Liyanaratne. (Editorial member 2021-22)

Edited, translated and published by: RACSLIIT Editorial Team 2021-22