I have been amused no end at the ‘learned’ pundits who hurl jibes at ‘Aba’ for its alleged distortion of Mahavansa history. They should be aware that adaptation of history is as old as cinema. Nobody challenged ‘Ben Hur’ for distorting the Gospels, the many US films which showed Yanks winning Vietnam [which they lost] or capturing the Enigma machine [which the Brits did].

A film has to be entertaining and ‘Aba’ is certainly this - with its bloodshed, romance, choreographed ‘battles’, dance and underwater sequences and stirring dialogue. The multi-talented Jackson Anthony has added another feather to his cap. His scholarly compering of ‘Mahvansa Vansa Kathava’ seems to have misled our humourless pundits to expect a documentary on Pandukabhaya’s boyhood. ‘Aba’ is not that.

As all publicity (good or bad) is excellent for the box-office (see what the Papal ban did for ‘The Da Vinci Code’), I harbour a slight suspicion that our Jack himself orchestrated these protests - and he is laughing all the way to the bank!