The longest bridge ever built in Sri Lanka declared open on 25th October. This bridge links North Central Province and Eastern Province across Mahawali at Manampitiya. The Bridge 302 m. in length, 10.4 meters wide is located at the 81st kilometer of Maradankadawala, Habarana-Thrikkundiyadimadu road in the Pollonnaruwa district.
This has been built at a cost of Rs.1.3 billion with help from the Japan international co-operation agency. The importance is it has took only two years to complete the construction work of this bridge
The pre-fabricated flyover at Nugegoda to lesser traffic jams was opened on Friday (Jan 23) at 10 am. The flyover built at the Nugegoda High Level Road junction is expected to reduce the existing traffic jam along the busy highway. The work on the flyover was commenced in October last year and completed within three and half months. Construction work commenced on a concept of the President Mahinda Rajapaksa and a plan of the late Minister Jeyaraj Fernandopulle. This is the 2nd flyover built and vested upon public under the "Mahinda Chinthana." The Nugegoda flyover currently has two lanes and is 261 metres long and 8.5 metres wide. It is expected to be expanded to four lanes. The cost of the British Government funded project is 878 million Rupees.
The next two flyovers will be built at Dehiwala and Rajagiriya junctions. More flyovers have been planned to build in Kohuwela, Boralesgamuwa, Armour Street, the Hilton Roundabout, the Lipton Circus, Maradana, Kirulapone and Slave Island as well as in Mahawa, Polgahawela, Ja-Ela and Veyangoda.
History is about to repeat itself. Malani Fonseka and Vijaya Kumaratunga dazzled the wide screen with Yasapalitha Nanayakkara’s yesteryear movie Thushara in 1973.
Now a new couple, Saliya Sathyajith and Shalika Edirisinghe, is set to recapture the magic of the old hit with Sahan Wijesinghe’s new version of the movie. The Daily News met Wijesinghe to inquire about his attempt to revive the memories of the past to the present audience.
* Why did you decide to start your directorial debut with a remake?
Though we are advanced in technology I have always felt that the present movies lack the beauty of past hits. Movies made in the 1960s and 70s made use of the cream of the industry, from the stars in the lead roles to the music and plot.
I have watched Nanayakkara’s Thushara 26 times and I had the hope of doing a remake. However I did not plan on directing the movie. My aim had been to produce and act in the remake.
It is after more than three decades that the film is coming back to the audience. I believe that I have made the best choices in doing justice to the original version. Some people including NFC chairman, Jayantha Darmadasa, said that I have made a good job of it. It is up to the audience to decide whether my attempt if fruitful.
* Besides directing and producing the film, you portray a role as well.
Yes, I have taken on the role of the villain originally acted by Baptist Fernando. If the remake was done 10 or 15 years ago I would have taken on the lead role.
* Why did you decide on Saliya and Shalika for the lead?
I searched for actors to suit the characters for over a year and finally came upon Saliya. Saliya possessed the charisma I was searching for and I believe Shanika is quite suited to the role.
It is sad to say that most of the actors of today do not possess the power to attract the masses. I wish to invite the audience to see the film and decide for themselves whether they find the couple and the film captivating.
Around 50 per cent of the success of a film lies in its cast. The new faces in the movie cannot be compared with the old ones. However I have learnt to recognise a successful creation through experience. One of the reasons for the failure of films is they feature actors who are seen often in television.
Countries like India have a separate group of actors for television and a separate group for cinema. Filmmakers need to understand that people do not wish to see the faces that they see often on television on the wide screen.
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.
White-water Rafting, What an attractive and adventurous sport indeed. So if you are looking for some adventures for your milk and water life, you are about to find the real place which will conflate some adventurous experiences to your life. You can meet this experience at Kitulgala, a calm and quiet small town situated in the wet zone rainforest to the west of Sri Lanka about 100km from Colombo on the Colombo-Nuwaraeliya main route.
Kitulgala has got its name due to the huge Caryota urens (Sri Lankans call it kitul) population which is used to produce Kitul honey (a delicious syrup made by concentrating the sap of kitul flower by heating), jaggery (crystallized sap), kitul toddy (a liqueur made by fermenting the sap) and kitul flour made by milling the pith of the log. If you come here don’t forget to sip some kitul toddy (“Raa” in Sinhalese) and enjoy some “kitul talapa” (a delicious Sinhalese food made with kitul flour). Do you remember the academy award winningmovie “The Bridge over the River Kwai” produced on 1950s? If it’s so you might commemorate these sceneries. Concrete bases of the bridge which was built for the film set on Kelani River at Kitulgala still remain with the attraction of thousands of fans. Rafting is not the only thing you can experience in here because the Keleni Forest Reserve that has a highly diversified bird progeny is a plumy place for bird watching. Kitulgala is very famous for wild bananas, both yellow and red. These are pretty tastier than agrarian ones. You can see a lot of rubber trees but they are foreign.
Kitulgala is a wet evergreen forest. But it is hard to see all the attributes of a wet evergreen forest like Sinharaja due to human influence. Expected rainfall is too high that Kitulgala is one of the wettest places in Sri Lanka. A dry weather is expected at the beginning of the year especially in February.
Like I said before, Keleni Forest Reserve is a good place for bird watching. It’s possible to find most of the bird species live in wet zone rainforests but incomparable with the huge bird population in Sinharaja. Endemic birds like Spurfowl, Green-billed Coucal and Spot-winged Thrush are plentiful. The recently found endemic bird spacies called Serendib Scops Owl can be seen rarely in Kitulgala.
Sri Lankan upcoming Teledrama Actress Gayesha Lakmali Perera's photos. She is Miss Sri Lanka for Miss World 2008 beauty pageant. She acted in 'Kindurangana' teledrama and also a 10 finalists in Sirasa Dancing Star Season 2 competition.
Anarkali Akarsha is to enter politics-Sri Lanka Anarkali Akarsha has lodged a complaint at the Galle police alleging that Nishantha Muthuhetti contesting from the same party had threatened her with death. However when contacted by Ada Derana Nishantha said that it was false.
Anarkali had stated that Nishantha had obstructed her while on her way to a gathering and threatened to bomb her.
Paba's-Upeksha Swarnamali-Wedding Photo-married-ITN Popular young actress Upeksha Swarnamali who is better known as Paba_married_weddingitn_pabafollowing the success of the title role in ITN’s ‘Paba’ tele serial, opened a new episode in her life last week when she wed young businessman Mahesh Chaminda Walawgamage at the Galadari Hotel in Colombo. The bridal dressing was handled by Dhanoma Perera, the saree from Saree Mandhir and flower décor by Second Chance. Upeksha who was born and educated in Kuwait proved her talent as an actress and dancer after she moved to her motherland. She played a key role in the popular movie ‘Asai Mang Piyambanna’ and is part of the Derana City of Dance panel. She plays a key role in ‘Political Jokes’ which is to be released soon. Upeksha became a household name with the ‘Chanchala’ visual of Samitha Mudunkotuwa and Malith Perera before she starred in Gayantha’s ‘Ravum Kade’ visual.
Akasa Kusum" wins Best Asian Film in Granada Akasa Kusum (Flowers of the Sky),” has been jointly awarded the NETPAC Award for Best Asian Film at the third Cines del Sur Festival in Granada. “Akasa Kusum” shares the award with “Before the Burial,” by Iranian director Behnam Behzadi. It beat out films from such countries as India, China, Korea, the Palestine, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Bangladesh and Iraq at an event which took place over the weekend in Granada, Spain. The Jury at the festival said "Akasa Kusum" was recognized 'for its strong portrayal of female characters whose lives, regrets and new beginnings are depicted in a delicate yet convincing way.' Actress Nimmi Harasgama, who attended the film's screening along with her co-star Kaushalya Fernando, accepted the award on behalf of its producers.
The film, to be released in Sri Lanka in late July 2009, won Malini Fonseka the Silver Peacock Award at the Indian International Film Festival held in Goa, for her performance as Sandhya Rani. It also won a Special Jury Mention at the Vesoul Film Festival in France earlier this year and is garnering favourable notices in the world festival circuit.
