Striving to Shine

Gamya Wijedasa - Charming, intellect and talented:

Amalshan GUNERATHNE

Will she turn out to be the next glamorous diva to represent Sri Lanka in Bollywood cinema? Maybe, we never know. Gamya Wijedasa, the crowned winner of Miss Sri Lanka 2009 contest, has been working and studying in Mumbai for the better part of last two years. To go along with her charming looks, she has a strong-head, intellect, wit, potential and talent that would aid her to leap giant strides in the filming industry. Gamya joined with zest for a jovial chat while she was here in Sri Lanka for a vacation.

Q: What have you been doing since you were crowned as the Miss Sri Lanka 2009?

A: After the contest, I went back to Australia to finish off my MBA. Then I moved on to Mumbai and started to explore some work opportunities there. Meanwhile, I did an acting course in Mumbai, ever since I have been working in Mumbai.

Q: How about your latest projects, have you got any offers to work in Indian movies?

A: I have got film offers. But I have to go through the scripts and see whether they are up my alley. Hopefully by the end of this year I will be working on a new project. As for my recent works, there is mainstream film that is to be released in September where I did a title song for that movie.

Q: Haven’t you considered playing a role in a Sri Lankan movie?

A: I have definitely considered about contributing to the Sri Lankan cinema. But it has to be the right kind of cinema for me to work with. There are few directors that I love to work with. If any of them give me an opportunity I would love to work with them.

Q: Who are the directors that you would like to work with?

A: Namely I would love to work with Prasanna Vithanage, Prasanna Jayakodi or Vimukthi. There are others as well. I really like their kind of cinema. I am definitely not interested in popular cinema in Sri Lanka. I think the kind of artistic cinema that these people do are more up my alley.

Q: How do you compare the film industry in Mumbai to Sri Lanka?

A: I guess Mumbai is very much thriving in the filming industry where as we are still building our industry to the next level. There is a huge level of professionalism that Sri Lanka needs to adapt, before we can reach their level. The biggest issue is that we need lots of money in the industry to go to that level of professionalism. I think our artistes are not paid well here. Our crew and technicians are not very well paid here. So it is difficult to build an industry when there is not enough money in it.

Q: Do you have any proposals to address these issues?

A: Yes I think I have. The co-operate culture or the big guns need to invest money in the industry. I know from my own experience that we have a culture here, when a television commercial is made, the car that you are hiring for the commercial gets paid more than the model. I feel that is absurd. We need to change that culture. I hope producers will budget well for the talent and the artist.

Q: What is your opinion on local talent being catered to foreign projects?

A: If you are in a particular profession, if that particular profession does not offer you a decent platform to work, earn and have a good lifestyle as a human being, then you have the right to go anywhere in the world where they will provide value for your worth. We don’t have an industry that can sustain us very well. Jacqueline has burst into Bollywood cinema. I am proud of her for doing it, because she has opened up doors for us as well. Her choice of work will obviously reflect on us as well.

Q: When you were crowned as the Miss World 2009, there was a big buzz that you did not deserve the title. How did you cope with the controversies that came your way?

A: I will be lying if I say some of the comments and statements that people made, didn’t affect me. But I should be grateful for them, because their critical comments spurred me and motivated me to do better, because they put a vibe out there in to the world saying, ‘we are non believers of Gamya’.

I think at some point they will be convinced that they were wrong to make such comments. I will continue to respond to my critics. Hopefully, I will get to a position where they will have to eat their own words and I really hope they will, because people judge very fast in Sri Lanka. They judge people superficially just by looking at the outside of a person.