| Ara Soyza ඇර සොයිසා | |
| Director: | Herbert Ranjith Peiris |
| Producer: | Samagi Films |
| Starring: | Freddie Silva Wimal Kumara de Costa Don Sirisena Piyadasa Wijekoon B. S. Perera Lilian Edirisinghe Rukmani Devi Sabeetha Perera Raju Kumarasinghe |
| Cinematography: | Mercelin Perera Norbat Rathnasiri |
| Editing: | Stanley Alwis |
| Distributor: | Samagi Films |
| Runtime: | 127 minutes |
| Country: | Sri Lanka |
| Language: | Sinhalese language |
Ara Soyza[1] (Sinhala; Sinhalese: italic=yes|ඇර සොයිසා) is a 1984 Sri Lankan comedy film directed by Herbert Ranjith Peiris and produced by Dayasena Perera for Samagi Films. It stars Freddie Silva, Don Sirisena, Sabeetha Perera and Wimal Kumara de Costa in lead roles along with Rukmani Devi and Piyadasa Wijekoon. Music composed by director Herbert Ranjith Peiris himself.[2]
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.
The lead character Soyza (Freddie Silva) is a modest farmer who grows potatoes together with his housemates (Don Sirisena) and Costa (Wimal Kumara de Costa). The villain or the other housemate, Wadigapatuna (Piyadasa Wijekoon) 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.
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. They both sing to Kanthi, who is sitting in-between like a goddess.