TV Times

‘There are many Sri Lankan directors who got me to copy Hindi scripts for Sinhala movies," said Lal Priyadeva, the director of 'Ali Petiyo Oyai Mamai' (APOM).

The film is currently being screened on CEL circuit cinemas .

Speaking to the TV Times, Priyadeva said, ‘Since I had studied in Hindi and was thorough with the language many directors got me to copy Hindi scripts’.

Lal Priyadewa who also had made several films, said that among the directors who came to him were some very popular and they did not like to list his name in the crew.

"This was because everybody knew I was able to translate Hindi well and thereby the director had definitely got me to copy the film,".

Lal who had studied at Kelaniya Gurukula Vidyalaya had left for India when he was in Grade 8.

"This was because my father was working for the Mahabodi Trust and all the family members had to migrate to India."

Lal continued the rest of his education in India where he became well versed in Hindi. "In India I watched lots of films and since my father also had connection to cinema I wanted to join the cinema," Lal Priyadewa said. But this was impossible due to the competition in India and I came to Sri Lanka and joined the movie scene. And it was at this time that Sinhala directors got me to write scripts from Hindi films, Lal said.

‘Many of these would not like their names being revealed’, said the script writer turned director.

Director Lal Priyadewa's fifth cinematic direction 'Ali Petiyo Oyai Mamai' now screens at Regal cinema Colombo and many CEL circuit cinemas around the country.

Having directed 'Jolly Hallow I and II', Lal directed 'Pathiniyakage Horawa' and 'Wishma Rathriya' which came under adults only tags.

'Ali Petiyo Oyai Mamai' (APOM) depicts a close relationship between a young boy and a baby elephant is played by Bimal Jayakody, Bandu Samarasinghe, Ananda Wickremage, Prashani Perera with child actress Dananjaya Lakmal.

In the technical crew Ven Rambukkana Siddhartha Thera had written the lyrics while music direction is by Edward Jayakody.

Edited by B. S. R. Subhas (India) and Siddhartha, art directed by Mahendran (India) and Ranjith de Silva, camera by Lalith M. Thomas and story and production by Lalinda Wijewickrema, N. Udayakumar, P. Aruran and Ravi Fernando for Movie Makers Pvt Ltd.

According to the storyline two friends Chaminda and Suminda who are on their way for a treasure hunt accidentally shoot a female elephant. This results the baby elephant being orphaned.

Viraj, a veterinary surgeon arrives at the forest on an immediate call and he was joined by his seven year old son. They stay at the quarters in the forest and little Chaman meets the baby elephant. They become friends and their friendship continues secretly. Chaman takes the baby elephant to the river and plays with him there. Viraj comes to know this and he prepares to take him back home. When the baby elephant realises that its friend is to be taken away, it follows him. On their way they get stranded as the road had been blocked by a fallen tree. Viraj tries to remove and he fails. When Chaman tries to help his father, the baby elephant too joins them. Viraj who realises about the close ties between the baby elephant and Chaman allows his son to take the baby elephant home.

Chaman gets his servant Lechchami to hide the elephant in the house. Lechchami keeps the promise but the elephant starts trumpeting. This is followed by many dramatic twists.

"The film was a result of an idea by the producers. At the beginning they approached me to do a copy of a Tamil film which I did not like," said the film director Lal Priyadeva. "I had this idea of making a children's film to show the close friendship between animal and children. I informed this to the producers and they liked the idea" Lal went on to explain.

And from there we started developing the plot which took nearly one and half months. There were many disagreements and at times we had to take decisions on the development of a plot on the majority vote," the director explained on the development of the story.

"Our first problem was to find a child actor who would be brave enough to act with a wild elephant. When we explained the scripts some parents did not want to send their children" said Lal Priyadeva of the many hardships he had to face when making APOM.

"At last we decided to search for a boy who had done gymnastics so that if something happens he would be able to defend himself. So then we went to gymnastic meets around the country and finally found Dhananjaya Lakmal from Mawanella who had come to Colombo for a gymnastic meet." "But to our disappointment he refused to act in a film and we gave up the idea. But later the child's father called us and expressed his son's willingness," Lal narrated the story behind finding a child actor to play in the film.

"The next task was finding a baby elephant and we were informed that we would never be able to get a baby elephant which has its mother. So we went nearly 15 times to Pinnawela Elephant orphanage in search of a baby elephant without a mother and finally we got one, but it was a wild elephant which was impossible to tame. For the first few days we could not take a single shot. And we had to let the child and the elephant be together and let them gets friendly. And it was only then we were able to start shooting the film" said Lal explaining the hardships they had to experience in making the film.

Asked as to the unforgettable experience in making the film, the director said "Once the baby elephant attacked the child when it did not get enough milk. After that the child was a little scared to approach the elephant but soon they became friends again making us hard to leave Pinnawela," he said.