ANUSHA SANJEEWA to debut with women-centric film
“Today people who direct films find producers who dump the money, but their money goes down the drain because film makers don’t cater to the needs and aspirations of the fans. Filmmakers have to come up with new concepts and change with the times”
Popular television personality turned creative director Anusha Sanjeewa Edirimuni who heads Dreammaker Productions in Colombo will soon make his debut as a film director with a strong women-centric plot. The film titled ‘Home Coming’ is conceptualised by Anusha while the script has been written by Krishanthi Kurukulasooriya and Lasantha Francis.
Anusha plans to launch his film project on October 10. Besides his experience in the television scene spanning several decades, Anusha also followed a film course at the Pune Film Academy in India. He pioneered TV promo directions and film track promotions for EAP Films starting from Rosa Vasanthaya including all movies like Uppalawanna and Ira Mediayama to Heart FM.
“There is a good trend for good films but the masses are not getting what they really need. Home Coming is going to be a blockbuster movie. Why should we get scared to make films on women-centric issues.
This film will touch controversial issues relating to women, but it will certainly serve as an eye-opener and make people sit and think, think and think,” he said.
“Today people who direct films find producers who dump the money, but their money goes down the drain because filmmakers don’t cater to the needs and aspirations of the filmgoers. Filmmakers have to come up with new concepts and change with the times.This applies to television as well. TV channels can’t be doing the routine programmes forever. That will force the people to reject such channels. They must also come up with new concepts, new strategies and new formulas to keep their audiences intact.”
“On the other hand filmmakers should know how to protect producers by not making them once-in-a-lifetime film producers. Producers don’t invest money to be on the losing side. Today some producers dump money on films with various ulterior motives. That will not do any good to our cinema. There are so many sub- tle ways to earn revenue for the producer. We can’t solely depend on ticket sales in cinema halls. We can find TV partners, product partners and brand promotions. We did that in Hiripoda Wessa. My role models in this concepts are Ram Gopal Varma and Mahesh Bhatt. On the other hand we need new faces in the film industry. .”
“Some television channel personalities who do a few song visuals later end up as filmmakers, going by the false belief that it is the pinnacle. I am the one who produced and directed the longest TV film feature segments like Vichitra Vindana and Housefull. Today there is no standard. Any Tom, Dick and Harry can make films if they can find a producer. It is a serious situation that needs to be looked into. My new film will indeed create a major dialogue in society on how women and young girls are being treated,” he said.
- Ramesh Uvais