Sinhala Film How I Wonder what you are – Story of a thousand images
by Ruwini JAYAWARDANA at dailynews.lk
The tale relates fragments of life of almost anyone who had walked across the streets in the city of neon lights. It is the story of a thousand empty beer cans and burnt cigarette butts. It is a tale that will never be expressed in words or images if two individuals had not taken on the task of bringing its harsh reality to the reel.
Meet Udaya Dharmawardhana and Chinthana Dharmadasa – two people striving to make a difference in the cinema scene. Their debut feature film is Adarae Anshu Mathrayake (How I Wonder What You Are). It is based on a tale in which two youths are engaged on a soul searching mission. D and Kathy make desperate attempts to unearth emotions which will bind them together but they soon realize that they have forgotten the language of connectivity.
D’s frustration with life comes to a close when he encounters Kathy. Unfortunately Kathy has a few problems of her own which she does not like to relate to D. She asks to stay with him purely to wait for a call from her boyfriend with whom she had broken up with. The call never comes and she gets close to D during her heartbreak. As soon as she realizes that she is taking advantage of his kindness she is burdened with guilt and tries to back off. However D’s world now revolves around her and every passing day he is left yearning for her return.
The two lead roles are portrayed by Prasanna Mahaganage and Purnima Mohandiram. They are supported by Namal Jayasinghe, Mahendra Perera, Dayadeva Edirisinghe and Sirimal Wijesinghe.
Dharmawardhana began his stint in the spotlight with photography. He was trained by Lal Hegoda before studying video concepts and technology at the National Youth Centre. He had made a name as a music video director and had made some of the most significant music videos in the country. After studying film directing from Prasanna Vithanage he turned to television commercial directing and became a television producer for Sirasa TV. Style and Thunpath Rena are two of his most renowned programs.
Apart from co-directing Adarae Anshu Mathrayakehe had also worked in the project as its director of photography with Chinthaka Somakeerthi. Dharmawardhana is shooting his second movie titled Les Papillions Noirs which is a France – Sri Lanka co-production.
Dharmadasa is a product of the Peradeniya University. He ventured into films as a film critic before turning director with the short film Afterwards, he fell asleep. This was selected for the best category in Shorts 2005 Film Festival put together by the National Film Corporation and he was awarded with a scholarship at the Lodz Film School, Poland. His second short film Insignificant, based on the Tsunami, won the special jury award at the Environmental Film Festival held by the Asia Pacific television.
Dharmadasa also penned scripts for prominent film directors. He scripted the screenplay for Boodee Keerthisena’s Nimnayaka Hudakalawa and had even worked with Dharmawardhana for Sanka Dineth’s music video.
Chinthana Dharmadasa and Udaya Dharmawardhana have written the screen play while Duminda de Silva is the editor for Adarae Anshu Mathrayake. Priyantha Sirikumara is the make up artist, Manoj Nalaka the art director, Dasun Pathirana the production manager and Thisara Mangala Bandara the assistant director. The music is by Jayanth Dharmawardhana. The movie features the song ‘Descending from Paradise’ by Indrachapa Liyanage.
The movie is co-produced by Channa Deshapriya, Rasitha Jayasena and Dammika Samarathunga. It will take to the wide screen in the near future.