‘Amazed by Sri Lankan talents in cinema’- Indian stars
View(s):- Protagonists in ‘Paradise’, Roshan Mathew and Darshana
Rajendran share experience on filmmaking in Sri Lanka
By Susitha Fernando
Roshan Mathew and Darshana Rajendran. Pic by M.A PushpaKumara
Worked predominantly in Malayalam, Hindi and Tamil films, Mathew started his acting on the stage while he was reading for his B.Sc Physics at Madras Christian College in Chennai. Mathew played his first screen role in the 2016 film Puthiya Niyamam and he continued in supporting roles in ‘Koode’ (2018), and ‘Moothon’ (2019) for which he won two SIIMA Awards.
Darshana Rajendran who plays the role of Amritha in Paradise has played mainly in Malayalam films starting with the film John Paul Vaathil Thurakkunnu (2014).
Studied in Saudi Arabia, Dharshana graduated in Mathematics from Lady Shri Ram College, Delhi and has completed her Master’s degree in Financial Economics from City College, University of London. While working in a private firm related to economics in Chennai, Dharshana had developed an interest in acting and joined theatre.She went on to act in ‘Samarpanam’, Tamil movie ‘Kavan’ (2017) and ‘Mayaanadhi’ (2017) directed by Aashiq Abu which gave her a more prominent role.
Two stars who visited Sri Lanka for the release of ‘Paradise’ shared some insights into Sri Lankan cinema and filmmaking with the Sunday Times.
Q: How you both were selected for ‘Paradise’ and what was your immediate impression?
Roshan Mathew: I think Prasanna sir first reached out to me through another director, with whom I had worked previously. So I spoke to him on the phone and he sent me the script right away. I read it and I loved the script. It was a different version from what become the film now, but I really liked the script and I wanted to meet and talk to him, because I had done another film around a married couple. I wanted to talk to him to understand what exactly he intended to do with the film. We finally had a meeting and that turned into a long meeting, as we spoke for about 4 to 5 hours straight and by the end of it I was very convinced that I wanted to do it. It was very exciting what he was planning to do with the film and how he was planning to explore this relationship and the character, so I got very, very excited.
Darshana: So, I had been hearing about the project, but I think initially it was a North Indian woman and a South Indian man. Then it was reconsidered and thought how it would be if it was a Malayalam couple. That’s when I came on board, but I was sort of the last one to join the project. So they were ready for the shoot and I had a very quick chat with him and I was very excited and shortly after we came to Sri Lanka, I met him first.
Roshan: I honestly didn’t know much, I wanted to watch some of Prasanna sir’s films. Not all of them were available, so he sent me two of his films. He sent me ‘Gaadi’ and he sent me ‘With You, Without You’. So I watched those films and that was the only idea I had, so all of the actors and the crew I met here, after we started filming. Recently I was just telling Mahendra Perera and Shyam Fernando that it was so lovely work with them, firstly they are such amazing artistes. They are like senior actors with so much experience and I really enjoyed meeting them through the process of shooting this film.
Mahendra sir I actually met on the day he was starting to shoot and we started off with the climax portions of the film. So it’s all like scenes between us, very loaded scenes and that was our introduction to each other and I loved it. And it was very similar with the crew as well. It was such a pleasant, inspiring experience working with them.
Darshana: I also hadn’t known much until I was called for this project. We were fairly new to the world when we were approached. We have been doing this but sometimes the actors just surprise you in a way that you are not ready for and that happened to us when we got to work with Shyam sir and Mahendra sir. So now we have all of their names and their films and we have lists that we are going to go back and catch a lot of.
Roshan: I have met some of the most talented actors that I’ve ever worked with, and also some of the most driven and passionate technicians and crew members on ‘Paradise’ set. So I have a lot of respect for the people I met in this film. We can use this team as a symbol for the whole industry. So I have a lot of respect for them, and I think anybody who works in films should get the chance to work with them. So I hope more films Sri Lanka keep getting to made here and more people could notice the work that’s happening here.
Darshana: Among the people we got to work with, we already have some big favourites. So any industry that they are part of, we definitely look up to. We haven’t watched enough of their films to say anything more but I’m so certain that if I catch 10 of my interesting films where they are part of and I’ll be learning a lot from them. It seems like a dream that we got to work with them.
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