by Ruwini Jayawardana
Award winning filmmaking duo Somaratne Dissanayake and Renuka
Balasuriya’s latest cinematic venture, ‘Bindu’ is next on line to be
screened at the EAP circuit. The story centres on the issue of the
elephant - human conflict, a problem which had been in the news for more
than three decades.
 Shot on location at Sigiriya, the story focuses on a touching tale of
a relationship between Bindu, a young calf elephant, and two children.
Keeping with their tradition of introducing young talent to the screen,
Somaratne and Renuka have brought two child actors to cinema.
Sachin Chathuranga, the younger brother of Dasun Madusanka who played
the lead roles in ‘Samanala Thatu’ and ‘Sooriya Arana’, portrays the
role of Muthu while Ruvindika Ishadini takes on the character of Malee.
“These children were chosen after a series of interviews. We received
around 3000 applications and 50 children who were chosen during the
interviews took part in a workshop. We made our choice after observing
their talents after the training sessions,” Dissanayake told Sunday
Observer ‘Magazine’. “Human-elephant conflicts had constantly been in
the news. It is not a problem for those in the city but it had become a
menace for villagers living near the elephant infested jungles. They
live in fear for their crop as well as their lives,” he stressed. It had
taken two years for the director to track down the suitable elephant for
Bindu’s role. Finally the search had come to a close in Tissamaharama.
An elephant trainer had to be summoned from India to train the baby
tusker.
‘Bindu’ is probably my most challenging project for I had to work
with elephants in a majority of the scenes. It is tough shooting from
different angles when you are directing animals,” he said adding that
though he had used some animals in a couple of clips in ‘Sooriya Arana’
nothing had prepared him for the amount of hard work that had to be put
up with while shooting ‘Bindu’.
Queried if he markets children’s movies as a means of earning profit,
the award-winning director said, “I do not focus on how much money I
would earn when I think of embarking on a project. However my films have
been crowd-pullers and have earned their share of profit. If someone
claims that I use children in key roles to make profit, their
accusations are made purely out of jealousy. I concentrate on sending a
meaningful message to society,” he stressed. However he revealed that
his next project is not children oriented.
Jayalath Manoratne, Kumara Thirimadura, Jayani Senanayake, Athula
Liyanage and a few others comprise the rest of the cast. Award winning
actor of the stage play ‘Charandas’, Jayantha Muthuthanthri, debuts
through ‘Bindu’. The script is by Dissanayake and the cameraman is
Suminda Weerasuriya. Rohana Weerasinghe did the music scores for a song
sung by a group of children led by Madugeeth Dissanayake. The art
director is Sunil Wijeratne while the make up is done by Ebert
Wijesinghe. The assistant director is Duminda Madawala. Renuka
Balasuriya is the production manager and producer.
‘Bindu’ will enter the theatres after ‘Julia’.
Spock the bright spark!
 Spock is a character in the fictional Star Trek media franchise.First
portrayed by Leonard Nimoy in the original Star Trek series, Spock also
appears in the animated Star Trek series, two episodes of Star Trek: The
Next Generation, seven of the Star Trek feature films, and numerous Star
Trek books, comics, and video games. In the 2009 film Star Trek, Nimoy
did his role alongside Zachary Quinto, who played a younger alternate
reality version of the character.
The 2009 Star Trek film creates an “alternate, parallel timeline.” In
the film, the elderly prime version of Spock (Nimoy) inadvertently
travels back in time from the “original” Star Trek timeline and helps a
younger version of himself (Quinto) and Kirk (Chris Pine) thwart the
rogue Romulan Nero’s (Eric Bana) attempt to destroy the United
Federation of Planets. Although Kirk and Spock clash at Starfleet
Academy, they begin developing a friendship.
Cutie Quinto playing Spock
who is of half-Italian and half-Irish descent, was born in Pittsburgh
and grew up in Green Tree, Pennsylvania with his mother Margo and his
brother Joe.
His father, John, who was a barber, died of cancer when Quinto was 7
years old. He graduated from Central Catholic High School in 1995 and
then attended Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Drama, from which
he graduated in 1999. He appeared in ‘24’, ‘Touched by an Angel’,
‘Charmed’ and obviously famous for ‘Heroes’.
Check out ‘Star Trek’ this summer at the Majestic Cinema!
Love Aaj Kal with Deepika!
 Deepika Padukone plays Saif Ali Khan’s love interest in the hit film
‘Love Aaj Kal’ which is set to burn the silver screen. Deepika Padukone
is ecstatic about ‘Love Aaj Kal’ and said, “The film’s storyline is such
that any common man can relate to it. It’s so real and, as you watch the
film, you would feel that so many instances shown in it have happened to
you too in real life”.
Deepika was also happy with the dialogues that promise to be as
natural as they get. “In addition to this, the film has a universal
appeal. Whether it’s the younger or the older generation, all will be
able to identify with the proceedings.
Imtiaz has a knack for keeping
things basic and very simple, something that the world saw in Jab We Met
and Socha Na Tha. His trademark touch is prevalent in ‘Love Aaj Kal’
too,” Deepika concluded.
Check out ‘Love Aaj Kal’ this summer at the Liberty Cinema! |
