Rookada Panchi igniting screens now

Magic spell turns a lyricist into a producer, musician into a lyricist and another lyricist into an actor

Director duo, brothers Kalpana and Vindana Ariyawansa’s second feature film “Rookada Panchi” (Little Miss Puppet) is now showing in theatres nationwide. Renowned lyricist Kularatna Ariyawansa produced this film and musician, Rohana Weerasinghe wrote the lyrics for the film songs, while veteran lyricist Bandula Nanayakkarawasam played a cameo, making it his acting debut.

When asked about this fascinating turn in all three of them, producer Kularatna Ariyawansa said it was all a blissful coincidence. 

“In Sri Lanka, there’s a misconception of the role played by the producer. In our country, the investor is often recognized as the producer, but in actual film production in an industry such as Hollywood, Bollywood and European cinema, the producer’s job is to oversee the film production, plan and coordinate various aspects of film production, such as selecting the script, coordinating writing, directing, and editing; and arranging financing. Producer also supervises the pre-production, production, and post-production stages of filmmaking and is tasked with making sure the film is delivered on time and within budget before finally, overseeing the marketing and distribution. Those were some of the tasks I took upon myself as the producer, Kularatna added. Two of my close friends, a husband and wife living in Los Angeles, USA financed the film production. Both are successful professionals. Tissa Karunasiri is an Electrical Engineer with several patents under his name while Dr. Kumari Karunasiri is a pathologist heading a county hospital in Los Angeles,” said Mr. Ariyawansa.

• “There’s a misconception of the role played by the producer. In our country, the investor is often recognized as the producer, but in actual film production in an industry such as Hollywood, Bollywood and European cinema, the producer’s job is to oversee the film production.”

The family movie with a gripping story line, features Jackson Anthony, Dilhani Ekanayake, Dayadeva Edirisinghe, Dhananjaya Siriwardana, Umali Thilakarathne, Niroshan Wijesinghe, Bandula Wijeweera, Kushenya Sayumi Fonseka,  Lakshika Deshan in addition to guest appearances by Dr. Malini Fonseka, Dr. Ravindra Randeniya and Bandula Nanayakkarawasam.