Toon Time

Givantha Arthasad: more animations:

Ruwini Jayawardana

With movies like ‘Ice Age’, ‘Madagascar’, ‘Monsters vs. Aliens’, ‘Kung Fu Panda’ and ‘Wall-E’ breaking to the scene and taking over the top slot as massive crowd-pullers the past couple of years have proved that it is definitely animation movies which have ruled the box office.

However a very few animation movies have made it to theatres from the local cinema industry. Givantha Arthasad is an undying name in this sector for he had spearheaded many a project on the Sri Lankan mini screen and wide screen scene with creations like Dutugamunu and Mahadana Muththai Golayo Roththai.

Now the exceptional individual who has been the first man in taking up matters in sectors like cartoon making and graphic television art had set his sights on a new creation titled Mahacharya Pipi (Professor Pipi). He will be embarking on his latest adventure with director and producer Rohan Valiwita.

The animation project was announced at a special ceremony held at the National Film Corporation recently in the presence of Cultural Affairs and National Heritage Minister Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena, Mass Media Minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena, sons of President Mahinda Rajapaksa Tharunyata Hetak Organization President Namal Rajapaksa and Naval Officer Sub Lieutenant Yoshitha Rajapaksa, Government Information Director General Anusha Palpita, SLT Chairperson Leisha de Silva Chandrasena, seasoned actor Robin Fernando, NFC Consultant T.M. Sangadasa, NFC Acting General Manager Nadeeka Gunasekara, writer Edwin Ariyadasa and others. A new cinema magazine titled Aseema was also launched at the event along with a peek into a few scenes from Veliwita’s latest movie Suseema.

More than four decades back, Arthasad had come up with the concept of bringing a cartoon version of the legendary tale of King Dutugamunu to the silver screen. In 1971 he released the first ever local animation movie, a short film named Andare. Encouraged by his success his next step was to find a means of attaining a suitable camera for such productions. Thus he created nine short films before shifting to bigger matters.

He is the only artiste who had excelled in the six sectors as a film cartoonist, film art director, film cameraman, film editor, film director and special effects creator in the country. In addition he had played a prominent role in setting the special effects to a number of Sinhala and Tamil films. With the establishment of Rupavahini he entered the field as the island’s pioneerin TV graphic artist.

Arthasad also has his 1979 creation Dutugamunu and his 2002 animation Mahadana Muththai Golayo Roththai to his credit. He will be using the latest high definition technology for Mahacharya Pipi. The cinema creation will be produced by Rohan Valiwita on behalf of Fine Vision Pictures.

The script of the creation which focuses on professor Pipi’s attempts to fight forces which destruct nature is penned by Sarath Kallapatha. The background settings are by Janaka Subash. Somapala Ratnayake is the music director, Saliya Liyanarachchi is the lead graphic artist and Sankaja Arthasad is the editor of the project.

Speaking to the gathering the team stressed the importance of using the latest equipment to enhance the quality of their creations. They also stressed on the fact that around 45 percent to 38 percent of the profit earned by the theatre is given to the producer. By using the digital cinema sans celluloid strips their goal is on increasing it to 55 percent.