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Anyone who watches Sri Lankan TV will have noticed the Indian influence that has flooded our screens. Not only do we see Indian teledramas dubbed in Sinhala and Tamil becoming popular among local TV viewers, but also teledrama directors and artistes being flown down from India for local TV productions and commercials.

Now, it is the turn of Athula Mahawalage, CEO and conceptualist of A.M. Kreations to direct a commercial for the Indian market. Athula will be flying to India next week to shoot the commercial for a leading Indian company. It all came about when he was at the Prasad Colour Laboratories in Chennai to transfer, from video to film, his highly successful ‘Nestomalt’ commercial which features one of Sri Lanka’s most popular actresses, Chathurika Peiris. As it turned out, the CEO of Jain Granites and Projects India Ltd., happened to be in the studio and impressed by what he saw, invited Athula to make a commercial for his company. Says Athula, “I had no hesitation in accepting this offer. It will undoubtedly be an enriching experience.”

Athula goes a long way back in the creative arts. In his schooldays as an eighth grader, he wrote articles for film magazines including Kala, Cinegeetha and then went on to become a cartoonist for Sathuta and Mihira. He also did cover shoots for film magazines like Sarasi and Kumari and worked on the design of magazines such as Sarasaviya and Dhesathiya. Athula also worked as the Sri Lankan photographer for foreign business magazines– Asian Business in Asia of Hong Kong, International Tax Free Trader of UK and Oil and Gas News of Singapore.

Back in the 1980s, Athula also created and directed the publication of calendars in which he says, made radical changes to prevailing trends. Some of the newspaper masterheads he created are still used to this day, and he proudly cites the Ravaya, Lakbima and Lakhanda as examples.

He has also been a conceptualist, director, script-writer for numerous successful brand campaigns like Nestomalt, Arpico PVC, Maggi, Apsara and KitKat and the man behind documentaries like Nestle’s ‘Grass to Glass’ and Lanka Oberoi’s ‘Welcome to our World’ which was used for over 15 years. Athula has also been an art director for short films like Muhurath and Paalama.

Athula believes his opening in India could be an opening for others. “We need foreign influence in our film industry but it is important that we don’t ignore our local skills and talent as well. The time has come for our artistes to broaden their vision and look for new vistas abroad too.”