Paya Enna Hiru Se

Udaya brings rays of hope with new movie :

Sachitra Mahendra

Suren is a middle class youth. He lives with his mother and daughter, Himasha, following his wife’s untimely death. He employs a young teacher, Dinali, to take care of Himasha. Dinali has a striking resemblance to Himasha’s mother. Not only the child, but her father too is enamoured by Dinali. Their romance blossoms and the couple gets married in a short period.

All seems well but life takes an unexpected twist. The couple decides to visit Dinali’s granny soon after the wedding. On their way they were attacked by a gang of robbers. Suren sacrifices his life to save his wife.

She does not have guts to break his untimely death to his mother and daughter. Instead she tells them Suren is settled in a distant land with a new business venture. A few months drift by. Dinali comes across Suraj, a youth with the mirror image of Suren.

She employs him and Suren’s mother and daughter believe that it’s actually their son and father who had returned home.

They welcome him home with open arms. However one individual at home is not so easily deceived as both Suraj and Dinali realize that they have to deal with trouble rising from a different department to keep their secret.

Himasha’s pet dog smells that something fishy is up with the new entrant to the family and gives Suraj a hard time. Suraj does his best to act according to Dinali’s wishes but they both realize that apart from looks, Sren and Suraj have noting much in common.

The story flows on with Suraj attempting to reform himself. Yet other issues arise. His escape had angered his gang of thugs and he has to grapple with them as well.

Filmmaking never tires Udayakantha Warnasuriya. Paya Enna Hiru Se is his 14th movie.

He has a household reputation as a senior teledrama and film director in Sri Lanka. A past pupil of Isipathana, Richmond (Galle) and Royal colleges, Udaya started off as a creative artiste at a leading Advertising agency.

Among his most popular teleplays are Menik Ketayama, Ekagei Kurullo, Diya Suliya, Sagaraya Parada and Senehase Geethaya. He has also written 13 feature films. His film Rajya Sevaya Pinisai has won 10 accolades. Speaking to the media Udayakantha stated that he had is satisfied with the final product.

“I’m sure it will be a hit as everything went well on the sets. I had Ranjan in mind even before I scripted the story and Udari did justice to her character. We were especially happy with the performance delivered by the child actress, Tharuka. She shows a lot of promise,” he said.

The movie is Dhammika Siriwardena’s fourth movie production. He has produced over 20 teleplays and had recently turned movie director with Suwanda Danuna Jeewithe which had completed shooting and is waiting to be released.

“It’s easy working with Udayakantha. My maiden production was his previous film Asai Man Piyabanna, which became one of the top grossing movies of all time. I hope people will enjoy this film as well because it embodies a simple and entertaining tale woven around a family,” he commented.

Ranjan Ramanayaka is engaged in a double role as both Suren and Suraj. Padmakumara Mettasena, mostly known for his photography, has penned lyrics for the movie along with Kelum Srimal and Nandana Kumara.

The lead actress Udari Warnasuriya marks her entrance to cinema with the movie. Other characters are taken up by Sriyantha Mendis, Rathnavali Kakunawela, Tharuka Wijeratne, Pubudu Chathuranga, Bimal Jayakody, Geetha Ranasinghe, Chanchala Warnasuriya, Srimath Indrajith Liyanage, Panduka Sri Dayan, Udani Liyanage, Norman Paliyawadana and others.

The plot is by P. Wickramanayake while the cameraman is Ayeshmantha Hettiarachchi. Donald Jayantha is the assistant director; Ravindra Guruge is the editor, Chandana Weerasinghe the art director, Basuru Siriwardena the production manager and Asoka Ariyaratne is the production executive of ‘Paya Enna Hiru Se’. The costumes are by Shanthi Warnasuriya while the hair and make up was handled by Indika Udaralanka.

Channa Wijewardena and Shan Perera are the choreographers.

Rohana Weerasinghe and Mahesh Denipitiya are the music directors and the lyrics were penned by Kalum Srimal, Nandana Wickramage and Padmakumara Metthasena. Uresha Ravihari, Amila Perera, Amila Nadeeshani and Iresha Autumn rendered their voices for the background vocals.

The publicity sector of the movie is handled by Nihal Sanjaya of Chisel Arts. Paya Enna Hiru Se will begin screening at Savoy, Wellawattha, and EAP theaters islandwide from May 22.