• Nelson dreams to reach the top
• 'Revelation 2000'
• Universal Styles
• 'SUN FM Latino Heat'
• Film Workshop and Festival
• 'The Beach' at MC
• Indian 'God Mother' in Lanka

Nelson dreams to reach the top

By Murali Jayadeva

Born to a Catholic background in the coconut lands in Chilaw, he cut his teething in the musical world by singing hymns in the Church which ultimately found him a place in the Church Choir. Noticing this boys capability the religious fathers and nuns gave him all the encouragement. Incidentally I must mention here that a Catholic background has given us some of the best singers and Music composers like Sunil Shantha, Ivor Dennis and Father Marcelline Jayakody and so on. Nelson may become another product of this milieu to reach greater heights in the musical world in the not too distant future.

Beginning his life as a salesman he has now ended up as an entrepreneur. Trying his hand in imports and exports and later on in real estate he collected a fair amount of wealth. Being a creative artiste he was not satisfied with merely making the moola. He believed in the axiom that man doesn't live by bread alone, he wanted to create something. This strong urge to become a quality singer egged him on to do many things inconsiderate of the expenditure. He spent most of his earnings on developing his singing talent. Believe me he spent nearly 5 lakhs for bringing out a CD and two Audio Cassettes and a Video Clip and so far he has not recovered a cent out of these investments. Such is his fascination for music.

The scope and opportunities in Sri Lanka being limited, he found he was losing his bearings as his discipline went to tatters. He wanted a larger canvas to play, so he migrated to US in 1980 and that proved a turning point in his musical career. He met Bhadraji in US who inspired him to such an extent that Nelson's latent singing talents came to the fore with telling effect. Bhadraji helped him with 12 compositions which were set to music by the late Clarence Wijewardena. His meeting with Clarence in the US was another major driving force which motivated him to take to singing more seriously.

In close collaboration with Clarence Wijewardena, he presented a number of musical shows in the US which brought him great name and fame. In 1995 he recorded another 14 songs for an Audio Cassette with Clarence Wijewardena providing the music and Bhadraji making the compositions.

The 1st Audio Cassette was titled K. Kulundule Gayu Gee and released in 1988. But the cassette was not released for sale to the public. In fact Nelson was not interested in making hard cash by selling his cassettes. He had by then collected a fair amount of wealth through several business enterprises and one of which was exporting high class Funeral Cars to Sri Lanka. This venture proved to be a gold mine as Sri Lankans were more interested in decking a corpse with finery and making a show of the funeral by a vulgar display of their affluence. However he freely distributed his cassettes among his friends and wellwishers.

In 1995 his second cassette titled Kalpana was released but not for sale, because Nelson is a unique character. He was not interested in making money through his songs. He never studied music under any teacher nor did he have any classical traditions of music running in his family. He was a gifted singer.

Eighteen of the twenty six songs which came out in two Audio Cassettes were converted to a CD in 1997 and in the same year he also did a Video Clip of five songs for the TV.

Apart from the shows he presented in the US with the assistance of Clarence Wijewardena, he did also organise several other shows with Annesley Malawana in the year 1997. His entry to the musical arena in Los Angeles in 1984 was started off with Hangi Hora. 

A significant event in the series of shows organised by him in the US was the staging of Play BAHU BARIYA and the performance was made colourful by the presence of Ranjan Ramanayake.

'Revelation 2000'

The concert is organised by 'Youth Alive PCAG'. They are the same group which was involved in the successful Revelation 1 and 2 concerts, in 1996 and the most recent 'Winds of Change' rallies.

'The Revelation 2000' will feature all gospel music in pop, rock, country, 'R&B' Blues hip-hop etc. There will be cover versions as well as originals.

Universal Styles

'Universal Styles' which is organised by "Nick Jason's Model", a popular modelling and dancing academy, will feature some of the top models and dancers in the local showbiz scene.

Dancing items are mainly based on the free style and Latino type. The latest fashion from teens to young adults will also be on show at the 'Universal Styles'.

'SUN FM Latino Heat'

The Sun FM Kit Latino Heat will be held at the Taj North Lawn on Saturday, September 2 from 9.00 p.m. onwards.

If you were there at the first one then you know what's in store, and if you weren't lucky enough to attend the first one then this time around is not to be missed. Adding a special international flavour to this time's event is the marvellous Latino Loco. An opportunity to dance to a spectrum of Latin music from your favourite artistes. The Sun FM DJ's will also be there to serenade you with a spectrum of rhythmic music from sassy and sizzling sounds to the cool love ballads. In addition there will be exhibition dance acts by local and international dancers demonstrating the varied Latino dances.

Sun FM Kit Latino Heat! join the hottest party in town and live "la vida local". Tickets at the gate. Ladies entrance free.

Film Workshop and Festival

The festival will take place at the BMICH Cinema from September 25 to 30. The Retospective will focus on a structured series of lectures cum workshops conducted by Buddhadeb Dasgupta to an audience of serious film-makers and students who will be selected through applications prior to the festival week.

These lectures will focus on the technical, artistic and theoretical side of film-making. The guest director's films will then be shown in the evenings to the general public.

Buddhadeb Dasgupta is one of the leading film-makers of India. He has made 11 feature films and about 12 short and documentary films. 

He has won several national and international awards for his cinematic creations. Buddhadeb started writing poetry also, and has got them published in various journals and magazines. By now he has eight books on verse to his credit.

He is also a novelist and has published four novels and one book on cinema titled Dreams, Time and Cinema (in Bengali). A book has been published on the films of Buddhadeb Dasgupta titled Time & Dreams authored by John W. Hood and published by Seagull Books.

The students who are interested in participating in this workshop should sent a bio data to Asian Film Centre, 118, Dehiwala Road, Boralesgamuwa by post only.

'The Beach' at MC

By Sanath Weerasuriya

'The Beach', directed by Danny Boyle featuring Leonardo DiCaprio is now being shown at the Majestic Cinema, Bambalapitiya.

A map, left by a dead man to a legendary paradise sends an American (DiCaprio) named Richard, to a modern-day Eden known as 'The Beach'. But instead of finding paradise, he is hurled into the heart of darkness to violence, sex and destruction.

Tilda Swinron (Sal) Virginia Ledoyen (Fancoise), Guillaume Canet (Etiene) and Robort Carlyle (Daffy) star in this film.

'The Beach' was entirely filmed on location in Thailand in January this year.

Originally it was scheduled to be filmed in Sri Lanka but unfortunately it moved away from Lankan soil to Thailand.

'The Beach' will be followed by another Thai based movie 'Anna and The King' at the Majestic Cinema.

The popular 'Independence Day' will also scheduled to be released at MC soon.

Indian 'God Mother' in Lanka

By Susitha R. Fernando

This is the first step to make available to Sri Lankan audiences, films of high artistic value by the National Film Corporation (NFC). The was as aresult of the move by the NFC to import high quality films that are not available through normal channels of commercial film distribution.

'God Mother' is now screened at Asoka cinema in Colombo and at the Regal Theatre, Kandy.

The story of the "Godmother" revolves around "Rambhi" played by Shabana Azmi, an ordinary, illiterate housewife who enters the world of politics and plays a role of an extraordinary woman.

When drought strikes her beloved village, it is Rambhi who urges her husband 'Veeram' to seek greener pastures in a nearby town. But their life changes forever, when Veeram kills 'Gigan' who is an arch enemy of the 'Mer' community to which Rambhi and Veeram belong. Overnight, Veeram becomes a hero of the community.

'Keshubu', the politician is quick to take the advantage of the situation. Veeram soon becomes a mafia don and eventually a puppet in the hands of the wily man Kesubhai. By now Rambhi has given birth to a son - 'Karsan'. When Veeram unwittingly discovers that he has murdered an innocent man at Kesubhai's behest, he is shattered and wants to kill himself. But Rambhi persuades her husband to take a vow of non-violence before Goddess 'Kandhli'. Ironically, soon after Veeram takes the oath, he meets a violent end in the hands of 'Fogo', Kesubhai's man. Rambhi's world comes to an end. She would probably have died had 'Meru', Veeram's brother, not taken a vow to avenge the killing of Veeram. The call for revenge gives birth to a new Rambhi, who is bold, aggressive and even cunning. She takes over the reins of her husband's gang and even engineers Fogo's death.

Hawk-eyed Kesubhai immediately realises that the vacuum caused by Veeram's death can be filled by Rambhi. He thinks he can use her as a pawn in order to get immense political mileage, that is getting her elected as the President of the 'Taluka Panchayat'. Meru too is a part of this plan. But they have underestimated Rambhi. Rambhi uses her new found power to improve the wretched condition of her people. But even while she's doing good work, she has no qualms in eliminating all those who dared oppose her. Her power is such that, when her brother-in-law. Meru threatens her position, she cunningly manipulates Kesubhai into sending him away. And then Rambhi is elected to the Vidhan Sabha. Now she needs nobody, not even Kesubhai. Kesubhai is livid with anger and vows revenge. Rambhi is seen as an easy game by local leaders but with unexpected native cunning and lazer-sharp intelligence she out manoeuvres everyone of them. Finally, Rambhi sacrifices her own life setting an example that things should be done above communal issues for the betterment of mankind.

"It was earlier said that the Indian cinema's influence was bad on the early Sri Lanka cinema. More Indian artistic films will be here in future," said Film Corporation chairman, Tissa Abeysekara explaining the new policy

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