‘Paradise’ parades the globe
View(s):- Prasanna Vithanage’s latest film released over 500 theatres around the world
By Susitha Fernando
Following the world tours participating at various international film festivals, winning multiple awards and garnering acclaims, finally ‘Paradise’, Prasanna Vithanage’s newest directorial venture was released locally and internationally on June 28.
Prasanna Vithanage
The film which won the ‘Kim Jiseok Award’ for Best Film at the Busan International Film Festival and the Audience Jury Awards at the recently concluded ‘Las Palmas de Gran Canaria International Film Festival’ in Spain is set amidst Sri Lanka’s worst ever financial crisis which led to street fights and toppling a majority elected government.
An Indian tourist couple arrive in the hill country of crisis ridden Sri Lanka to celebrate their 5th wedding anniversary. But, when things take an unexpected turn, conflicts deepen revealing cracks in their relationship.
Eager to celebrate their 5th wedding anniversary, Amritha, a video blogger, along with her husband Kesav, a film producer, arrive in Sri Lanka from Mumbai to experience a mystical tour of historical places. When three masked men enter their hill country bungalow, and steal their mobile phones, laptops and Amritha’s camera, the couple seeks aid from the local police. They report the theft to Sergeant Bandara.
Pressured to find the culprits, Sgt. Bandara produces three unemployed men as suspects. Kesav identifies them as the culprits. One of the men collapses at the police station. The injured man is sent to hospital and dies while receiving treatment in the ICU. The arrests fail to recover their stolen goods, leaving Kesav and Amritha confined to their bungalow. Amritha finds solace in the beautiful surroundings, however Kesav grows increasingly frustrated as he is unable to proceed with his work. The difference in their attitudes creates a deep chasm in their marriage.
The film was also nominated for four awards at the 17th Asian Film Awards which was presented by the Asian Film Awards Academy in collaboration with Broadway Cinematheque. ‘Paradise’ was nominated for the Best Film, Best Director and the Best Screenplay for Prasanna Vithanage and Anushka Senanayake and the Best Editor for A. Sreekar Prasad.
An Indo-Sri Lankan co-production, ‘Paradise’ is presented by Mani Ratnam under his Madras Talkies banner and produced by Newton Cinema and it stars Roshan Mathew and Darshana Rajendran from Indian cinema in the main roles together with Shyam Fernando and Mahendra Perera from Sri Lanka.
‘When there is turmoil in paradise, both social and economic, and there is a re-evaluation of man woman relationship, when an old epic gets reflected in today’s troubled times, we have ‘Paradise’, a film with a vision,” Mani Ratnam wrote about the film.
Released in more than 500 cinemas around the world and locally, ‘Paradise’ is distributed by Century Distributers in more than hundreds theatre in Kerala, while API distributes it in theatres rest of India. Home and Screen entertainment distributes ‘Paradise’ in the Europe, the USA, Singapore and the Middle East. In Sri Lanka the film is being released in nearly 40 cinemas including Scope cinemas, PVR, some of Lite cinemas and from July 5 at Jaffna Regal Cargills Square and Amuda -Vavuniya.
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