Prasanna bridges Sri Lanka and Bollywood with ‘Gaadi’
Bridging the huge Bollywood cinema and its Sri Lankan counterpart, Prasanna Vithanage is to make ‘Gaadi’ or ‘Children of the Sun’ as his tenth production.
Anjali Patil and Shyam Fernando in Prasanna’s last film ‘Oba Nethuwa Oba Ekka’
Mumbai based Jar Pictures, an Indian motion picture production company which is known for its independent filmmaking will join‘Film Island’ (www.filmisland.net) the local producer of ‘Gaadithe Sri Lankan production company. Jar Pictures was responsible for making ‘Liar’s Dice’, India’s official Entry for the Best Foreign Language Film for the 87th Academy Awards.
“Ajay Rai of Jar Pictures, one of India’s leading Independent Motion Picture Production companies will be investing in a Sri Lankan film production for the first time as a co-producer of this film,” ‘Film Island’ noted in a statement.
Behind this project are Indian film industry stalwarts such as Rajeev Ravi who will join the team as the cinematographer, A. Sreekar Prasad as the editor and Tapas Nayak as the sound designer, enhancing the core team, the statement noted.
Prasanna Vithanage, one of the leading independent filmmakers in the country, is to start ‘Gaadi’ in October, after completing five months of rigorous pre-production work
“Stripped of nobility and forcibly married to an outcast by the monarchy, a noble woman fights to keep her dignity by refusing to succumb to her destiny,” wrote Prasanna summarising his script which is a period drama placed during the final phase of the Kandyan Kingdom and is based on folklore and historical events during this time.
Prasanna Vithanage
In 2015 Prasanna and Jar Pictures met at India’s Film Bazaar of the National Film Development Corporation, which is a part of the International Film Festival of India. Prasanna’s plot and script with a historical background was picked by Ajay Rai’s company.
The film is slated to be Prasanna’s first work of history and it is to be called as a “historical road film”. During the Film Bazaar, Prasanna revealed his story to the ‘Hindustan Times’ and according to him ‘Gaadi’ is set in the Kandy of 1814 during the dark days of the rebellion by Sinhala nobles against the Tamil king. The film revolves around a law that required women whose husbands were missing to walk to a river and make one of the two choices on offer. One, they could jump into the water in a sacrificial ritual. Two, they could marry one of the scavengers waiting across the river.’
‘Gaadi’ is about a young girl, who decides to wed a low caste young man instead of giving up her life and the films is to narrate her journey to save her life and dignity.
In ‘Gaadi’, Prasanna will introduce Dinara Punchihewa to the Sri Lankan cinema. She will star with Sajitha Anuththara. Shyam Fernando, Ashan Dias and Kalana Fernando, together with over 500 actors included in the cast.
Dinara Punchihewa
Born in Colombo Dinara completed her education at Ladies’ College, Colombo where she won best actress awards in school plays. She also took part in drama workshops in Colombo, LAMDA in the UK, Jagriti Theatre in Bangalore, West End in London and with Atul Mongia in Mumbai. Dinara also worked for Phantom, a Bollywood Production team with Film Team Sri Lanka.
Moved to England to complete her undergraduate degree in 2013, Dinara performed in plays and film components during her three years there. They included ‘Big City, Bright Lights,’ ‘Women and War’ and ‘Little Shop of Horrors.’ She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (Honors) in Theatre and Drama, from Queen Mary University of London in 2016, and arrived in Colombo to embark on a career in Theatre, TV and film. Dinara has worked as a third Assistant Director on the set of the British TV series ‘The Good Karma Hospital’. This year Dinara directed and acted in ‘Maala’
The theatrical release of the film is scheduled to be in June 2019.
Ajay Rai
A. Sreekar Prasad
Tapas Nayak