Remarkable debut in A Common Man

by Charith Perera

Apart from the main roles played by Sir Ben Kingsley and Ben Cross in the blockbuster thriller A Common Man, two debut actors, Patrick Rutnam (as IP Mohideen) and Fredrick-James Koch (as IP Rangan Jayaweera) played important supporting roles in the movie.

Although both are of Sri Lankan descent and belong to the Sri Lankan diaspora in the USA and Australia, they sported notable talents in acting which is, indeed, rare and could not be expected of debuts.

Patrick had his training at the New York's Academy of Dramatic Arts which is a prestigious institute for acting in the USA. Fredrick-James Koch who played the role of IP Rangan Jayaweera in A Common Man, is the son of a well-known singer Alston Koch and has graduated from ACA (Actors' Centre Australia) which produced legendary actors such as Hugh Michael Jackman.

Founded in 1884, New York's Academy of Dramatic Arts is considered the oldest acting school in the English speaking world which train actors. Actors Centre Australia in which Fredrick-James Koch mastered the craft of acting is famous for its highly professional education and the high degree of professionalism on the part of its products.

A Common Man is the debut film for Patrick and Fredrick. In the movie, they played important supporting roles although the duo has been acting for stage plays for many years. James plays the role of a rebellious policeman in the movie while Patrick Rutnam plays a much more sensitive role of a policeman who is conscious of the law and regulations in discharging his duties. In fact, the roles were contrasting to one another and diametrically opposed to one another in nature.

What is remarkable in their debut acting in A Common Man was that they had well-understood the characters in the plot and portrayed them in a fitting manner, not exposing their actor-personalities although they have , over the years, built their own individual styles of acting and delivery of dialogues. James has developed a very convincing and natural style of acting which would have been a result of his experience as an actor on stage and his exposure to the craft. It is obvious that James infused a high degree of professionalism into his acting owing to his educational background and an in-depth study of theory and practice of acting under internationally renowned teachers in the field.

Patrick Rutnam

Fredrick-James Koch

Patrick, who had acted for stage plays in New York and acted for some commercials, had lived up to the expectation of the Director of the movie, Chandran Rutnam.

It is obvious that the professional training the duo had, had further enhanced their inborn talents for acting. Patrick Rutnam and Fredrick-James Koch had made a major contribution to make the movie a success.The film A Common Man is an official remake of the Indian thriller A Wednesday. The movie commences in a room stocked with bomb making material and newspaper articles about LTTE bombings in Sri Lanka. Then the scene cuts into a busy morning in Colombo.

"The Man" (Ben Kingsley) plants five bombs around the city; A public bus, a shopping mall, the Polgoda police station, an intercity train and the Katukurunda Airfield.

The man then establishes his mini control station on top of a skyscraper in Dehiwala and calls the police chief Morris De Silva (Ben Cross) and informs him that if the four prisoners are not released, the bombs will be detonated.The movie was premiered at the Laemmle Music Hall Cinema in Beverly Hills, California with the participation of celebrated movie personalities in Hollywood. A Common Man was script-written and directed by Chandran Rutnam.