| Janitha Marasinghe who hails from a family of filmmakers has done his debut ‘Mago Digo Dai’ an entertaining film now being screened at the EAP circuit cinemas island wide. Janitha’s uncle Sugathadasa Marasinghe was the producer of yesteryear popular films ‘Hingana Kolla’ and ‘Punchi Baba’.
Having been brought up under the strong influence of cinema and cinema related activities, Janitha entered cine world, presenting popular movies to the movie goers as a film importer and a distributor under the tag Janitha Films.
This ardent young lover of cinema followed his uncle’s footsteps co-producing ‘Le Kiri Kandulu’ directed by Udayakantha Warnasuriya in 2003 and that director’s subsequent films ‘Rankevita I’ and Rankevita II’.
Though starting with a comedy ‘Mago Digi Dai’ and involved mostly in the commercial film industry, Janitha cannot be typecast as a producer of popular or commercial cinema. Janitha has been bold enough to be the producer of one of the controversial filmmakers of the country, Vimukthi Jayasundara’s latest film (which has not been given a title yet). This enterprising producer who had been involved in the cinema for a long time shared his ideas about film industry in general and its difficulties and realities to the TV Times.
TVT: Do you think that making comedies is the way to attract the audience which left the theatres long ago?
Janitha: Comedy is not the only reason to attract filmgoers. The film has to be a good film with a good story and with a good presentation. We have seen good stories with bad presentation and vise versa become failures. There are comedies where the audience leaves the theatres with a laughter and at the same time there are films where the audience leave the theatre scolding the filmmakers.
TVT: Don’t you think that film production is a risky business?
Janitha: It is. It is one of the most risky businesses in the country today. It has become worst, as the film producer in Sri Lanka has to be the only person who takes the entire burden of a film. Not only we to have provide funds to make the films but also to make copies for theatre owners, doing the publicity for them and take the responsibility in case it failed. This is not the system in other countries. Recently I was in Gemini Studio in India to get copies of my film. There was a huge queue outside the studio. When inquiring I came to know that they were film distributors from around the country who had come to collect their copies of a film that is to be released on the following day. But in Sri Lanka the duty of all the distributors are also done by the producer himself.
TVT: What is your suggestion to overcome this problem?
Janitha: Film making and film distributing mechanisms have to be changed and we should have a system where everybody shares the burden and the risk equally. According to the present system nobody wants to take the risk. In addition one of my suggestions is to make small theatres with facilities like air conditioning and good sound systems so that theatres would become a place where people like to go. It is good that films villages are open but the immediate need is the good theatres for the industry.
TVT: Do you also think that television was the reason for the failure of cinema?
Janitha: No I don’t think so. If TV is a threat to the film industry why can’t filmmakers become a threat to the television industry. Some of the recent films proved that there was still a vast cinema audience. If we make good films there is always audience to see them.
TVT: You also have almost completed a production with an internationally acclaimed filmmaker. His direction were completely different the directors you have worked with so far. These are two extremes and what is your opinion?
Janitha: Whenever there is a good production idea I would be ready to join. This film is completely different from all my earlier films. It’s a type of film that makes you think. I knew Vimukthi for quite sometime and we discussed to make a movie and we have done it. |
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