Prabhakaran in town

"With injuries and cut marks Thushara was rushed to Sri Lanka under the protection of Indian Police and Indian intelligence R&AW.There he was forced to leave India without his film master copy. And before leaving India, the Sri Lankan filmmaker had to agree to show his film to film technicians and other authorities. Having seen the film, Chennai Technicians Union had seized it claiming that the film was against the terrorists and Tamils."

____________________

by Susitha R. Fernando

(April 27, Negombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Controversy ridden ‘Prabhakaran’, the debut direction of Thusara Peiris, which went through a series of debacles including the wrath and inhuman attack on the director and the alleged ‘seizure’ of the master copy of the film, was released for Sri Lankan audiences from last Friday, April 25 at Regal Colombo and other twenty four CEL circuit cinemas around the country.

Following the unfortunate incident where the film negatives were taken into custody in India when Thushara went to make the Tamil copy at Gemini laboratory in Chennai, India. Slated to be released this month, the director had to rush to Germany with an extra copy he had to make a fresh negatives and other copies to be used for island wide release.

Twenty five copies were printed at Cine Citta Studio in Germany and they will be released to Sri Lankan theatres.‘At this stage, I want somehow to release this film to the Sri Lanka audience. If we can’t show this film now, it will be a defeat by me and to my country,’ said Thushara with undaunted courage.

Meanwhile the filmmaker has initiated legal battle against the seizure of his film. He is to make a complaint to Human Rights Commission in Geneva citing violation of his fundamental rights and infringement of intellectual property and also another legal case for violation of SAFTA Agreement.

On March 25, when the filmmaker was at Gemini Colour Laboratory in Chennai completing the Tamil version of his film revolving around the ethnic conflict and child soldiers, was subjected to a mob attack. The attackers were said to have included extremists and Indian film producers and technicians.

With injuries and cut marks Thushara was rushed to Sri Lanka under the protection of Indian Police and Indian intelligence R&AW.

There he was forced to leave India without his film master copy. And before leaving India, the Sri Lankan filmmaker had to agree to show his film to film technicians and other authorities. Having seen the film, Chennai Technicians Union had seized it claiming that the film was against the terrorists and Tamils.

The film revolves around a suicide bomber who escaped from the LTTE and how he had been pushed to that point. The film with an angle of humanistic is to depict that the neither the Sinhala nor Tamil people are to be blamed for the war. But they are the victims and are subjected to long lasting misery.

According to the director the film is mainly focused on giving a new dimension to the thirty years old war. The film is to show the point of view of the LTTE on the Sinhala community. The key roles in the films are played by Priyankara Rathnayake, Anuruddhika Padukkage, Dasun Madhusanka, Sarath Dikkumbura and Darshan Dharmaraj.

Produced by Osmond de Silva and Saman Thanthirige cinematography in the film is handled by Jayanath Gunawardana and art direction is by Sena Mambulage. Make up by J. Suranimala and edited by Praveen Jayaratne. Assistant director is Donald Jayanath and scripted and directed by Thushara Peiris.

The plot of 'Prabhakaran'

Kamalani is a member of the LTTE's Back Tiger unit. She also gets her brother enrolled into the fold. Kamalani is compelled to marry a Sinhala youth, in keeping with an order that comes from the terrorist group's leadership. She marries Piyasoma. She is asked to reside in a border village. She joined the LTTE suicide squad after she lost her parents in the war. But when she lives in the border village she realizes how many innocent people including children are killed in the war. She begins to grasp the reality that it is the innocent who are the ultimate victims of this war.

Meanwhile, the LTTE assigns her a deadly suicidal mission, but other humane factors give her new hope about life. She tries to escape from the grips of the LTTE and also tries to get her brother ‘Prabhakaran’ to leave the terrorist outfit.
- Sri Lanka Guardian