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Sri Lankan bags award for best film at Delhi film festival
Young film maker Daevinda Kongahage did Sri Lanka proud at the Delhi International Film Festival when his debut feature film, Bhavatarana bagged the award for the Best Film at a gala awards night held in Delhi last Thursday.
Daevinda Kongahage receiving the award and inset speaking after the event
The script and concept of the film was inspired by a chapter of the book, Kandyan Kingdom by the renowned historian the late Dr. Dewaraja. The film highlights the nexus between politics, Buddhism and human instincts.
Speaking to the Sunday Times over the phone from Rajasthan,immediately after receiving the award, Daevinda says there were a total of 219 films submitted for the film festival and his movie Bhavatarana made it to the top six finalists amongst Russia, Montenegro, Canada, the US and India.
The only Sri Lankan who represented the country at this year’s film festival, Daevinda says, his film is not a commercial movie but an art based one, and that it received a special citation during the awards ceremony, for its content, concept and the quality of the film.
“I am thankful to all my colleagues who worked for this over the four years. There was a tremendous effort by the entire crew which worked day and night during 125 days of shooting. The research for the film took one and half years while pre and post production took another nine months.
That is how we worked on the film,” Daevinda said adding he paid special tribute to Dr. Dewaraja at the international event. 
“Being in India at the moment, I feel very proud as a Sri Lankan to bring honour to my motherland. I feel proud that all my efforts and all our team work were able to bring honour and respect to Sri Lanka and at an international forum at that.
I am waiting to reach the country on the 15th with the honour that my country well deserves,” Daevinda said.