Devinda’s latest endeavour:

Two in one innovation

Uvindu Illeperuma

Credits

* Director: Devinda Kongahage

* Producers: Jayalath Peiris and Devinda Kongahage

* Music: Navarathne Gamage

* Lyrics: Nilar N Cassim

* Cast : Malini Fonseka, Sriyantha Mendis, Mahendra Perera, Udayanthi Kulathunga, Srimal Wedisinghe, Roger Senevirathne, Sanath Wimalaweera, Jayani Senanayake, Deepani Silva, Roshan Pilipitiya, Kancahna Kodithuwakku, Asela Jayakody, Roshna Ravindra, Himali Sayurangi, Richard Manamudali, Nihal Fernando, Chithra Warakagoda, Kumudu Nishantha, Chandika Nanayakkara, GaminiJayalath, Buddhika Lokukatiya, Nilanthi Wijesinghe, Neeta Samaranayake, Nilmini Buwaneka, Sumudu Mallawarcachchi, Lakshan Wattuhewa, Dharmapriya Dias, Wijerathna Warakagoda, Madhu Nithya and Sanketh Wickramasinghe.

Giving monotonous teledramas a break, a new wave of directors broke to the scene with fresh themes and prospects. Young director Devinda Kongahage spearheaded the group with much talked about projects like Sadisi Tharanaya. He had turned a new leaf for his latest project: shooting a film and a tele series on the same sets at the same instance!

The film will be named Bhawa Tharana while the tele series will be called Bhawa Siddhantha. The storyline is the same but it will have two different scripts.

“This is the first time that a tele series and film will be shot together in this manner in Sri Lanka but this is not a new concept to the world. It had been completed successfully and unfurled on the mini and wide screens before,” Devinda explained. At first breath, the project may sound impractical but Devinda hastened to explain that it is an experiment for the local movie industry.

“True, the production will cost tons but if all goes well it will be a landmark in the country’s arts scene. We have already scheduled the tele series to 50 episodes and the film will run for one and half hours. Up to now he have only decided to shoot three scenes for the teledrama per day.

One scene for the film will also be shot each day. Though some directors shoot around 15 scenes per day we are not in a hurry to sum up the work,” he added,

The tele series is based on 1747 to 1760 era. It focuses on a true incident: the socio – political incident atmosphere during reign of King Kirthi Sri Rajasinghe. The script which was originally written by Ajith Mendis has been amended by Devinda without harming its contents.

The historic incidents and its relevance to the present society had been intertwined in the tele script.

The tele series analyses how cravings will grow through love, patriotism, nationalism, acquisition of wealth, desire and passion for material possession from diverse angles.

“The real economic value of the creation lies in the socio political flavour of the creation,” said Devinda.

The budget is estimated to be around Rs 35 million.

“Our aim is not merely to enhance our profits from this creation but to minimise the lose or to balance the income with the expenses. We have already carried out a market survey. We will screen the film first then to telecast the tele series,” he noted.