‘Patriots of Paradise’: A tribute to war heroes by Mario
View(s):By Sanath Weerasuriya
‘Patriots of Paradise – Weeraabhimani’, the latest production by Mario Ananda, a tribute to war heroes of Sri Lanka was launched at the BMICH last evening (18th May) parallel to official War Heroes Day Commemoration.
Multi-faceted young singing sensation Mario Ananda Abeykoon, the son of late Gratien Ananda, produced this patriotic visual to tell the story about the brave patriots of the Sri Lankan armed Forces and remember them parallel to the National War Heroes day.
Mario’s vision is to tell this story especially to the young children who are not aware or have seen the gruesome and the hardships of the battlefield.
‘I really want to encourage and motivate the Sri Lankan Children to have gratitude and honour towards our war heroes and thereby inspire them to grow up to be stronger in life with purpose and passion for the motherland’ said Mario.
He genuinely does these productions as a social cause, without any profit oriented motivation, as these are the aspects that must be given attention by every Sri Lankans in order to bring up a generation with true bravery and purpose for a better Sri Lanka.
Mario is a professional Singer, Music Director, creative Director and innovative activist. He is the Creative Director of many music video productions, short films and documentaries produced under his production house brand, Mario Ananda Productions, for over a decade.
Mario created many songs under his production house label in national and international level, such as theme songs, music videos and documentaries of significant personalities, topics, historical events and stories that are worth being told to the future generations.
There are five theme songs in the documentary ‘Patriots of Paradise – Weeraabhimani’, which are penned by Mario Ananda, Dr. Asanaga Withanage, Mrs. Sudeshi. Background score and music of the songs are directed and sung by Mario.
The lead song of the video ‘Helabima Ipaduna Puthun api’ was originally sung by veteran singer late Gratien Ananda and penned by Mario’s mother Mrs. Srima Perera, back in 1999. The song is reproduced by Mario. The music productions are mixed and mastered by recording Engineer Gayan C. Bentharage at C- Age studio. The Director of Photography is Nevinda Jayasena of ‘Mario Ananda Productions’.
The official launch of the documentary parallel to the war heroes’ day celebration, is scheduled to be held on 18th of May at 6.30pm at the BMICH, with the participation of army personnel, to honour them parallel to the national war heroes’ day celebration.
Mario extends his heartfelt gratitude to Dr. Asanga Withanage and Major General Channa Wijesuriya (retired), who initiated the process of the production of his concept.
‘I am also grateful to the officials of the Ministry of Defence, Colonel Nalin Herath, Director Media, Ministry of Defence, Major Rajith Chandanayake, Captain Chamara Rathnayake of Panagda, Brigadier Balasooriya of ‘Mihindu Seth Madura’ and all army personnel of the Ministry of Defence, Panagoda, War heroes Memorial premises and everyone who collaborated in this endeavour’ Mario said.
As a majority well aware of Mario’s vision is to inspire and enlighten specifically the children, and provide them guidance for a better way of life and turn them away from becoming addicted to drugs, alcohol, smoking and unsafe social media.
Mario believes that people and children must be reminded of the significance and the sacrifices Sri Lankan warriors have made for our sake, to provide us the freedom to live without fear. He trusts that the documentary will serve this purpose through a strong emotion and that it must be watched by the entire population. His last song ‘Collateral Damage’, which was released in January this year, is all about the children who died since the dawn of the age due to various wars and conflicts. The visual of this song was telecast on ‘Living on the Edge’ series on PEO TV- Channel 18.
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