DEKALA PURUDU KENEK COMING ON FRIDAY

Malith Hegoda’s maiden cinematic venture ‘Dekala Purudu Kenek’ (The Strange Familiar) will be screened in the CEL circuit as a gap release from Friday, March 8. Scripted by Boopathy Nalin Wickremage the film has been directed by Malith Hegoda and produced by Lal Hegoda, Malith Hegoda, Rasanga Dissanayake, Mohamed Adamaly and Nadira Adamaly. Samadhi Laksiri, Bimal Jayakody, Jagath Manuwarna, Lakshman Mendis, Chamila Peiris, Kaushalya Fernando, Dayadeva Edirisinghe, Prasanna Mahagamage, Dilshani Perera, Kushenya Sayuimi Fonseka, Athula Pathirana and Nadee Kammallaweera play the key roles in the movie which won accoldaes at recent local and international film festivals. ‘Dekala Purudu Kenek’ won the Lester James Peries award for the debut movie at the 2018 Sarasaviya Film Festival and won the most promising director award in the ‘Cinema of Tomorrow’ segment at the 2016 Derana Film Festival. In 2015 it won the jury award for the best debut feature at the Jaffna International Cinema Festival. The film that held the European premiere at the BFI London Film Festival in 2014, was also nominated at the Golden Hanoman Asian Film festival in 2015 and Golden Zenith Montreal World Film Festival in 2014. The movie, which carries a ‘more suitable for adults’ tag, revolves around Dinithi who tries very hard to communicate with her husband. But he relentlessly ignores her. The harder she tries to reach him, the deeper his silence turns into. Their 8-year-old daughter watches them. Attempts by their parents to resolve the issue also fail. Dinithi doesn’t work anymore and is allowed to go out to attend to domestic chores in a three wheeler arranged by her husband. Dinithi’s young cousin Sanka who is living with them tries to become overly friendly with her. Will there be answers to the questions that have distanced Dinithi and her husband? Can elders find solutions to problems of their married children? How will the child respond to this peculiar situation?