Lankan movies for worldwide trade

Ruwini Jayawardana

‘I personally feel that if the State is more forcefully and positively involved, the Sri Lankan sign in the world cinema can be easily established’ - President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s message when Sri Lankan cinema turned 60 in 2007.

Quotes inspire motives. This is the cause behind filmmaker and winner of this year’s Sarasaviya Festival’s Ranapala Bodhinagoda Memorial Literary Award winner Amarnath Jayatilaka’s desire to locate a means of taking local cinema beyond the country’s borders.

The President’s quote inspired him to think out of the box. With years of planning he had come up with methods and means of taking Sri Lankan cinema to the global audience.

“I was stunned and motivated by President Rajapaksa’s words because no other leader in Sri Lanka had made such an observation. He had also said that we must use free mass media to propagate Buddhism around the world some years back. I was reminded of this comment and linked them both together to create a new cinema culture,” Jayatilaka unfurled on how he had come across his proposal.

He says that France is the only country that supports their cinema state wise. However Hollywood films, which are made to entertain, dominates theaters around the globe.

“None of our movies have made a significant impact in the world’s largest and oldest film festival – the Cannes International Film Festival. Films based on the serious study of human relationships have no commercial value in the field today. Indian filmmaker Aparna Sen recently commented that Satyajit Ray’s 1955 hit Pather Panchali would have been a flop if it was released today,” he noted adding that he believes that the film business is still an untapped resource which has tremendous financial possibilities.

He says: “Our success in the 21st century began with Aba which managed to drawn masses to theaters. If we can sell around five million tickets that means the film is a hit.”

Jayatilaka has several projects up his sleeve with which he hopes to set Sri Lankan movies in the world map. One is a series of tales from the Buddha’s times.

“There is a growing interest towards Buddhism. Patachara, the oldest recorded love story with the most tragic ending, will be the first in the series. It will be released to coincide with the 2600 Sri Sambuddha Jayanthi in 2011. The film will also be dubbed in Hindi and subtitled in English.

For the first time in history I will be portraying the Buddha as a live being through the use of technology,” he said while dubbing record breaking filmmaker of ‘Avatar’, James Cameron, as the wizard of special effects.

Jayatilaka’s second project, ‘Awakening of a Lotus’, is a suspense story in which he follows the odyssey of a young American woman’s search for a Buddhist culture in Sri Lanka. He says that this film is aimed at promoting the tourism sector in the isle.

“Amar Pooja will be the first Hindi movie to be made by a Sri Lankan team. It is a love story between a Sri Lankan youth named Lanka and an Indian girl named Barathi. There are eight songs and six dances in the musical,” he revealed also adding that an Indian company is interested in co-producing the project.

An experimental film titled Poraya (Combat) which revolves around Sri Lanka’s native martial art form Angam Pora is yet another movie Jayatilaka has in mind. He says that this aspect had never been taken up in a motion film before. The film includes a scene of a Thirikalla (cart tied to a bull) race, much like the chariot race in ‘Ben-Hur’.

“Language is not a barrier for a creation to make it to the foreign market. People are used to watching creations with subtitles,” he opined.

Jayatilaka is also one of those who are in the forefront of a project which promotes Sri Lanka as a film location. Already there are talks for ‘Vijaya in Lanka’, a Hindi movie, to be shot in Sri Lanka. A production company in India had taken on the project and is finalizing the project.

“Several stories written by me like ‘Hunters of the Blue Sapphire’, ‘Sex Guru’ (‘Paradise Regained’ or ‘Paradise of Love’), ‘The Yellow Robe’, ‘Revolt Against Terror’ and ‘The Royal Elephant’ have been developed into screenplays and are ready for production.

American companies will take on the projects. We are also hoping to set up a motion picture production entity called Amerilanka Entertainment to produce American movies for the international market,” he concluded with content.