‘Paradise’ wins three kudos at Kerala State Film Awards

Seasoned filmmaker Prasanna Vithanage’s film ‘Paradise’ won three awards- including the Best Story Writer Award- at the renowned Kerala State Film Awards. It’s significant that a Sri Lankan filmmaker has been awarded at the Indian film festival, which has been existing for the past 55 years. 
While Prasanna was awarded for the story, the film won a Special Jury Award. Its main actress Darshana Rajendran received a special mention for her work in the tragic drama set in Sri Lanka during an economic crisis. 
‘Paradise’ was among other winners which included Asif Ali, Tovino Thomas and Jyothirmayi who won Special Jury Awards.   
This year, Paradise’s main actress Darshana also won the Best Actress award at the 7th Critics’ ‘Choice Awards’ in India for her role of Amritha; the latter who arrived in Sri Lanka seeking peace despite the island undergoing economic crisis and wakes up to a completely different destiny. At the same festival, Sri Lankan actor Mahendra Perera was nominated for the Best Supporting Actor’s award.
Among the number of internationally acclaimed productions, last year, Prasanna’s Indo-Sri Lankan production won the Audience Jury Awards at the ‘Las Palmas de Gran Canaria International Film Festival’ in Spain.
Participating at various international film festivals, the Sri Lanka-India joint production won multiple awards and garnered acclaims. 
‘Paradise’ which was released locally and internationally on June 28 won the ‘Kim Jiseok Award’ for Best Film at the Busan International Film Festival. 
The film was also nominated for four awards at the 17th Asian Film Awards, which was presented by the Asian Film Awards Academy in collaboration with Broadway Cinematheque. ‘Paradise’ was nominated for the Best Film. Prasanna Vithanage and Anushka Senanayake were nominated for the Best Director and the Best Screenplay awards. A. Sreekar Prasad was nominated for the Best Editor’s Award.
In the story an Indian tourist couple arrive in the hill country of crisis ridden Sri Lanka to celebrate their 5th wedding anniversary. But, when things take an unexpected turn, conflicts deepen revealing cracks in their relationship.
Eager to celebrate their wedding anniversary, Amritha, a video blogger, along with her husband Kesav, a film producer, arrive in Sri Lanka from Mumbai to experience a mystical tour of historical places. When three masked men enter their hill country bungalow, and steal their mobile phones, laptops and Amritha’s camera, the couple seeks help from the local police. They report the theft to Sergeant Bandara. Pressured to find the culprits, Sgt. Bandara produces three unemployed men as suspects. Kesav identifies them as the culprits. One of the men collapses at the police station. The injured man is sent to hospital and dies while receiving treatment in the ICU. 
The arrests fail to unearth their stolen goods, leaving Kesav and Amritha confined to their bungalow. Amritha finds solace in the beautiful surroundings. However Kesav grows increasingly frustrated as he is unable to proceed with his work. The difference in their attitudes creates a deep chasm in their marriage.
An Indo-Sri Lankan co-production, ‘Paradise’ is presented by Mani Ratnam under his Madras Talkies banner and produced by Newton Cinema. The movie stars Roshan Mathew and Darshana Rajendran from Indian cinema in main roles together with Shyam Fernando and Mahendra Perera from Sri Lanka.