10. Hansa Vilak (1980)

Language: Sinhala

Director: Dharmasiri Bandaranayake

Theatre producer Dharmasiri Bandaranayake's assured debut film deals with a variety of social issues including adultery and societal opposition to love marriages. It also looks at how middle class value systems challenge human life and the effect of younger schools of thought causing devastation in parental minds. The moral dilemmas caused by different value systems are also explored. Critic Priyath Liyanage hails Hansa Vilak as a landmark film saying that Bandaranayake who also played the lead role "manages to discuss topics in a way never done before in Sri Lankan cinema". Hansa Vilak won Bandaranayake the Sarasaviya award for best script.