Gale for play: SINHALA WEB DRAMA

Chinthana Wasala

The story may seem familiar to most Sri Lankans who seek opportunities in foreign lands. All the same it ends up with shattered dreams, eventually facing mind-grinding situations upon failure.

Manoj, a Lankan individual who migrates to Italy, seeking a job to give his life a meaning, becomes frustrated with his life. His life suffers a total breakdown after he accidentally kills his wife. And the story continues, unveiling a sequence of clashes between him and the society. This is the first scene of Sri Lanka's first web drama 'Kunatu', which will be aired as www.kunatu.com from July 7 on the World Wide Web. Fully filmed in Europe, this is also the first Sri Lankan drama which has the total contribution from artistes living in Europe. The main character in this drama is Nihal Gunawardena, a humble Sri Lankan living in Italy, a television personality who became popular with totally different outfits a few years ago on the local screen.

“This drama is directed by a promising young Sri Lankan artist, a University lecturer Suranga Deshapriya Katugampala and his assistant is Federico Imperiale, an Italian university student. Kunatu set design is by Cristina Mirandola while another Lankan lad Bruno Diwakara contributes as the main camera director. Suranga and Federico bare the expenses while Suranga is also the scriptwriter,” Nihal introduced the main crew behind the camera.

All the actors and actresses in the drama are from Italy. Nihal shoulders the burden of the main character while a number of Sri Lankans living in Italy display their skills in front of a camera, most of them for the first time. “Some of them belong to the second generation of Sri Lankans living in Italy. I should mention that their acting is up to the best standards in this drama,” added Nihal. The main character, Manoj, does not make a good impression on the viewers at once. But once the scenes begin to flow, the 'murderer', 'shaggy' looking main character shows that he deserves sympathy from the viewers. People, who have known Nihal for a long time, see that he had totally transformed himself to suit the character. “Earlier, the camera director Bruno hesitated to accept me as 'Manoj' because my outer appearance. But within weeks, I began to live like the character, with long hair with unshaved beard, shaggy outfit and attitudes.

It was easier for me because I also faced a similar kind of a situation after losing my job. When I met Suranga in Verona after few weeks, he could not believe that it was me, the old Nihal,” said Nihal.

“This drama, the first of its kind in Sinhalese, has already made an impact. We are getting a lot of feedback on our facebook page, even before the launch. I think this will be a brand new experience for the viewers. They will be able to leave any kind of a comment on the web, positive as well as negative, because the freedom of expression will be at its furthermost point on the web. In other words, unlike in any other instance, we, the crew, will be able to know what our viewers think.

This will also be a good opportunity for marketers to advertise their products and services online,” added Nihal. Nihal who started his artistic journey on stage, has come a long journey. In his schooldays in Anuradhapura, he joined stage dramas and has worked as a cartoonist for a daily. He studied the art of stage dramas trough the 'Jana Nalu Kela Ranganodaya' with his teachers Anuradha Ranjith, Upali Bandara and Sunanda Silva. He was also a well known young artist in the 'Rajarata Sevaya' in the early days of his career while being a schoolboy. “I stepped onto the stage in Colombo with the help of Sunanda Silva and Dhamma Jagoda. But unfortunately with the outbreak of conflict, stage dramas suffered a heavy blow and I went to Italy to work as a production manager. Currently I am working in Trainitalia and also teach acting at an academy in Italy.”

“I have two sons, both living in Sri Lanka. My elder son Rakitha Dilshan Gunawardena is also following my footsteps and the younger, Kanithka Piyath Gunawardena, is still schooling,” Nihal concluded.