Lanka nets $3m forex per foreign film shot here
 

by L. S. A. Wedaarachchi

Sri Lanka cannot be compared with any other country as far as its film location facilities are concerned. In other words Sri Lanka is the best country for filmmakers when it comes to film setting. Nature has endowed Sri Lanka with European, African or Asian picturesque backgrounds.

The film makers including the world renowned Steven Spielberg and the latest Deepa Metha vouch for this.

Chandran Rutnam who markets Sri Lanka to international film makers as the perfect location for any type of a film said that the unsurpassed beauty of Sri Lanka has not been exploited to the optimum yet. The potential of the cinema has also not yet been realised by Sri Lankans, he said.

'Water', the highly acclaimed international film which is now being screened at the 'Majestic' was shot entirely in Sri Lanka.

When the 'Water' film director Deepa Metha was distraught at having to abandon the shooting of the film in India after mobs led by extremists Hindu Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Rastriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Sri Lankan self made film producer and film location created offered Sri Lanka as an alternative to India in 2004.

Rutnam and his team of film services location company recreated the India Varanasi ghats at the Bolgoda Lake to film 'Water'. Deepa was very happy with the settings and she completed the filming in two months, Rutnam said.

Explaining the business angle of his activities, Rutnam who has a quarter century of experience in the film location services and worked with international film makers said that a minimum of US$ five hundred thousand to US$ three million is brought into the country for each film produced in the country.

By assisting foreign film professionals and technicians local youth have developed their talents enormously. When the film viewers all over the world watch their heroes in a Sri Lankan background naturally they are prompted to visit Sri Lanka, he said.

That's why countries such as Switzerland invite world renowned film makers to use their locations for films, he said.

Rutnam describes himself as a hawk circling over international film makers who decide to make a film in India.

"We call the producers and tell them, give us a call when you run into problems", he said.

That is exactly how George Lucas shifted "Indiana Jones" and the "Temple of Doom" the film with the late Amrish Puri entirely to Sri Lanka. Before that only some scenes were to be shot in the island.

The film "Indiana Jones" was shot in Indian villages recreated in Sri Lanka and on location in Kandy where the climax scene was filmed over a magnificent gorge.

Rutnam said that almost all the films in the shooting in Sri Lankan locations have been shown in India. Most recently "Jungle Book Two" and a number of television films set in India, including one on Mother Teresa, complete with Calcutta slums and rickshaws were shot in Sri Lanka.

"When a film maker comes to Sri Lanka for the first time he brings a crew of 40. After working with us when he comes the next time he brings only 10. We have everything to make a motion picture, sets, crew and props. But more than the equipment we have a crew who has worked on international films and are used to the pace of international directors, he said.

Rutnam counts Errol Kelley of film location services among the world's best set designers. Kelly assisted in creating the sets for "Indiana Jones" and was the art director for the acclaimed Catherine Denevue - Starrer, "Indo China". Recreating Varanasi at Bolgoda was not a difficult task for Errol. He did a great job, Rutnam said.

Rutnam has faced enormous difficulties to carry out his project of film locations in Digana-Kandy during the last 14 years; finally it received the greenlight from the present government. According to Rutnam the project is now in progress and that will be a major attraction with foreign film makers to come to Sri Lanka for their films.

With the participation of Chandram Rutnam and his team of Film Location services, 75 International films have been shot in Sri Lanka. Some of the films have won academy awards.

"The Bridge on the River Kwai", "Outcast of the Islands", "The Purple Plain", "Tarzan the Ape Man", "Light over the Water", "Mountbatten The last Victory", "Indiana Jones and the "Temple of Doom", "The Triangle", "Jungle Book Two" and "Water" are some of them.