PROJECTOR

Dinuli:

The darling of ‘Heart FM’

Ruwini JAYAWARDANA

Viewers of Senesh Dissanayake Bandara’s ‘Heart FM’ will find it hard to miss her. She is the emblem of love which ties her family together.

The cherubic face and sweet voice is bound to capture anyone’s heart but Daily News also discovered that the young lass had more talent than that meets the eye for it is not her first moment in the limelight. She is Dinuli Mallawarachchi, the child actress who shows much promise through her to the arts world.

Dinuli is the daughter of Indika Mallawarachchi, professional still photographer and Anjali Mallawarachchi. She studies at Holy Family Cross nursery and outshone most children her age.

“She was always forward and eager to display her talents in singing and dancing. The sisters at the nursery are very fond of her. She was never a one to shun the attention bestowed upon her,” Anjali said adding that the talented four-year-old got her break when popular film director, Udayakantha Warnasuriya took note of these qualities when he chose to cast her in his hit, Aasai Mang Piyambanna.

“That was a minor role. She was cast as the daughter of a photographer. She had to say that her name is Kavisha when she was introduced to Ranmali (Pooja). She did the job at one go without any retakes. She was barely three years then but quite used to lighting, cameras and settings as it is closely bound with her father’s profession,” Anjali pointed out.

That was the beginning to what promises to be a journey to stardom. She caught the eye of veteran film director, Donald Jayantha who recognised the talent within the young lass. He introduced her to Senesh Dissanayake Bandara who was in search of a child actress for his second cinematic venture, ‘Heart FM’.

“Senesh interviewed her and decided to cast her for one of the lead roles in the movie. She portrayed the role of Rachel, daughter of Mandy (Kanchana Mendis).

The role includes a lot of dialogues and at first I and Indika had our doubts on whether she would be able to do justice to the role. Surprisingly she remembered all her lines and did not glance at the camera. She was very comfortable on the set and she did the dubbing parts well,” Anjali explained with a smile of pride.

Indeed she has much to be proud of. Dinuli’s next stop was another lead role being cast for Malini Fonseka’s teledrama Doni. She was also chosen to star in V. Sivadasan’s teledrama Hansa Geethaya which is produced by popular actress Semini Iddamalgoda.

Both teledramas are set to unspool on the small screen soon. Not stopping there she had also been given the rare opportunity of acting in front of a live audience through her role in Janapriya Jayasinghe’s stage drama Rasoja. She acted opposite professional actors Janaka Kumbukage and Semini Iddamalgoda as their son, Jeewana, in the play.

“That was tough as there is no place for errors but yet again she took us by surprise. Most of the spectators said that she did the role to perfection,” said Anjali also adding that visuals of Dinuli were taken for Annesley Malawana’s newest song.

Dinuli loves watching the clips she took part in.

She had to be taken almost three times to see ‘Heart FM’ on the big screen and yet she is not satisfied for she expressed her desire to see it all over again. She can still remember her dialogues and repeated them to perfection.

“Though her hair was curled to go along with Kanchana’s look people recognise her wherever we go. We never expected her to turn into an actress but now that she had proven her talents we do not wish to stand in her way. If a good role is offered to her we will let her take part but education comes first,” Anjali said.

Dinuli was well acquainted with Pooja Umashankar and Roshan Ranawana but her favourite is Kanchana Mendis.

The duo had practiced their dialogues together and Anjali said that Kanchana had been very helpful in schooling Dinuli for her scenes.

“We are grateful to all those who stood by us throughout these years.

We are thankful to Donald Jayantha, Senesh Bandara, Kanchana Mendis, Semini Iddamalgoda, Jayaratne Galagedara and all our relatives for their support,” she added.

Dinuli’s dream is to become a doctor but she does not wish to give up acting.

Daily News wishes the talented young lass all the success in her future endeavours.

Sri Lanka’s first digital film on Citihitz

Hetawath Mata Adaraya Karanna (Love me even tomorrow) Sri Lanka’s first digital movie will be broadcast through Citihitz Satellite TV on February 14 at 10.30 a.m, 2.30 p.m. and 6.30 p.m.

The story revolves around Yasath and Kaushi, a married couple who meet each other in campus. One day while Yasath was out of home his friend, Roshan visits their place.

Roshan turns out to be Kaushi’s ex-boyfriend. Their romantic emotions towards each other are triggered with this encounter. How far will they venture?

Hetawath Mata Adaraya Karanna is based on the unexpectancy of life.

Credits

Producer : Nimal Lakshapathiarachchi (On Air World)

Director : Iresh Lokubandara

Production designer : Niroshan Illeperuma

Direct of photographer : Prasanna Lal

Assistant Director : Ranjan Prasanna

Art director : Piyathissa Akuramboda

Make up artist : Hemantha Gamage

Editor : Ranil Shanaka

Music director : Aruna Liyan

Script writer : Samitha Sudheeshwara

Cast : Bimal Jayakody, Dhananjaya Siriwardhana, Upeksha Swarnamalini .

Vocals: Indika Upamali

Special film forum at Goethe Institute

The Goethe Institute will hold “Harun Farocki, a special film forum in collaboration with Sri Lanka Television Training Institute (SLTTI) on February 15 and 16 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The movies “Inextinguishable Fire (1969), Workers leaving the factory (1995) and War at a distance (2003) are shown. The maker of these documentaries is Harun Farocki, an author of 90 films. He is employed as guest professor at the Academy of visual Arts, Vienna.

Periyaar: An outstanding Tamil movie

K.S. SIVAKUMARAN

From this week, I shall give you brief notes on international films I had seen. To begin with I stopped reviewing Lankan and Indian Thamil films because it is sometimes difficult to review them and further there are others writing on these.

However, some outstanding films in Thamil are also screened in International Film Festivals in India and as such I chose to write about them as well for the benefit of our readers.

One such film is Periyar. A revolutionary politician in Southern India who formed the Dravida Kalagam named E.V. Ramasamay aiyakkar, a Telugu speaking idol who opposed superstitions and social inequities was greatly revered as Periyaar meaning the Great Elder.

He was while being a social reformer was also an iconoclast. He condemned the caste system in India. He called his mission Self-Respect Movement.

Based on Periyar’s life Gnana Rajasekharan has made an appreciable feature film, although in some respects it lacks a total portrayal of the subject.

The film is in colour and an actor Sathyaraj who usually shines in commercial films, plays seriously in the film, thus elevating his own stature as a fine actor as well as giving the film a kind of aesthetic rendition to a feature that might have been only a docu-drama. One also remembers Sathyaraj’s playing in another good film Vedam Puthuthu.

The director of the film is presently the Director of Rajiv Gandhi National Institute of Youth Development in the outskirts of Chennai. He is a good filmmaker in Thamil, yet he needs a little more sophistication and film techniques to compete with Mani Ratnam, Balu Mahendra or other new film directors.

However he chooses off beat subjects for his films. For instance he adapted a famous novel in Thamil called ‘Moha Mull’ written by T. Janakiraman in 1994, and two

other notable films in 1999 are Mugham and Oru Kann Oru Parvai. Subramania Bharathiyaar is a National Poet of India.

Gnana Rajasekeran made the film Bharathi in 2000. I did not like this film much although Thamilnadu critics hailed it to heights. This was because the Marati actor who played the role of Bharathi was a miscast. Nevertheless Periyar, made in 2007, outshines all his other films.

I met the director in Goa last November when this film was shown at the IFFI Amiable Gnana Rajasekeran listened to my views on his films and agreed on most points.

Thanga Bachan is a fine cinematographer, but in recent times he had made a few films in Thamil which are more than average good Thamil films.

He handled the camera in Periyar and his contribution highlights the cinematic features of the film apart from Sathyraj’s acting skills. I liked Jyothimayi’s acting and not so much the publicised Khusboo.

This film was screened in Colombo recently.

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