TV Times

17th February 2002

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'Jason Knight' is thinking of you

Breaking new grounds in the Sri Lankan music scene British born artiste Ishara De Silva popularly known as Jason Knight is back on track with an eye-catching music video titled "Thinking of U". 

This music video which has just been released on Swarnavahini's musical programme "Heart Beat" was directed by Prasanga Gunasinghe and features backup vocals of Thushara Kuruvitage and Samantha Ferdinand. 

According to Jason Knight, his debut music video is expected to touch the hearts of many Sri Lankans here and abroad. The lyrics, which were written by JK himself, project real life emotions to anyone who can relate to them, he said. 

Jason Knight being the producer of the single "Thinking of U" and his self titled album said it takes a lot of patience and team effort to materialize one's vision. He thanks God for granting him a dream come true and extends his special thanks to everybody who contributed to his entertainment comeback. 

His original CD and audio-cassette is currently available with leading music stores in Sri Lanka.


Reunion Concert of Amazing Grace and Purple Rain

'The One Concert', a mega show featuring Amazing Grace and Purple Rain will be staged at Taj Samudra Hotel's main car park on March 8 and at pool side lobby bar on March 9.

'Amazing Grace' and 'Purple Rain', who have been successful in the music during the 70's and 80's era will be in Colombo for this grand reunion show.

The members of Purple Rain and Amazing Grace are scattered around the world. 

Some still continue to be in the music scene heavily and others in different fields. All the members are expected to be in Colombo by March 4. 

The tickets for the March 8 concert are priced at Rs.750/- per head and for the 9th show it will be Rs. 1000/-

Purple Rain comprises Derek, Michael, Kevin Almeida, Geoff, Damien and Sudu( Manjula - being the last keyboard player of the former line up). Guitarist Sharfi too will join the wagon on stage

Grace comprises Tony, Jiffrey Hussain, Hassan Musafer, Riza Deane and Harsha Makalanda.

The One Concert' is sponsored by Dialog , C-vibes, and Taj Samudra 


Left handed Linton makes a mark

By Susitha R. Fernando
Linton Semage who has done different roles on stage and screen has done quite a new character playing the role of a pickpocket in his latest release "Pickpocket" (Mage Vam Atha). 

With his debut effort 'The Outcast' (Padadaya) Linton became an internationally acclaimed director. In this he played four roles as the script writer, director, producer and main actor. The film has been entered for a number of international film festivals and won the Best Film and Best Director awards at the 6th Dhaka international Film Festival 2000 in Bangladesh. 

The film also won in five categories at the Presidential Awards 2000 here including one for Best Actor. The Sri Lanka Film Critics' Forum, affiliated to FIPRESCI- the international Federation of Film Critics-awarded the film its Best Actor, Best Cinematography and Best Director awards in 2000. 

Starting on the stage as an actor, dancer and mime artist he produced and directed an award winning play "Panchayudaya" (Five Weapons). The play won him National Awards for Best Actor and Best play in 1991. 

Entering the cinema scene as an actor in 1990 Linton won a national Best Actor award for his role in "Mee Haraka" (Buffalo) in 1995 and he was awarded with the same award the following year for his performance in "Ayoma". Including the films which have not been released yet Linton had shown his talent as an actor in twelve films some of which were internationally reputed films like "Purahanda Kaluwara".

This young man's talent is not limited to the theatre and the big screen but also to the mini screen. His television drama roles have also won him plaudits and he won the National Best Actor award for his performance in the teledrama serial "Itipahan" (Candles). 

The award winning actor's latest effort is the "Pickpocket" (Mage Vam Atha) in which Linton portrays the pickpocket, Kamal who is accused by his pregnant wife of bringing misery on other families as well as into their own home. 

The pregnant wife is played by Dilhani Ekanayake. He has promised to reform but he cannot find another line of work in the big city which will earn him a living wage. His wife has not been in touch with her family for many years, ever since her marriage to Kamal. 

She yearns to go home to the village to be with them once she has her child. One day, after a morning of picking pockets, Kamal finds a photograph of his wife in one of the men's purses he had just stolen. 

His whole world is thrown into chaos. He does not tell his wife about his find instead he begins to distrust her and goes in search of the owner of the purse. What he finds is only the beginning of his tragedy. 

Asked about the latest attempt and difficulty of film making here Linton said any artiste cannot escape the hardships when working on an any work of art. 

"It is the part of every actor or a director to face the difficulties and no one can expect any extra glory for their labour from anyone," Linton said. "And at last it is the people who are judges for all our labour at last. The success of all our attempts depends on their judgment" he said. 

The latest film is to be released next June on the prestigious circuit theatres. 


'You Can Do a Lot with Seven Women'

"You can do a lot with seven women", starring Richard Harrison is now being screened at the Empire Theatre, Colombo.

The story continues as Maggie a lovely model and interpol agent is murdered while investigating Dino's Dress Design. D.D.D. is a drug and prostitution ring using fashion and modelling as their cover Mike Miller is called on the job. He follows the outfit to Cairo where they go for a fashion show. The Dino group is headed by Marquis Dino the master mind. 

Betty his lovely accomplice, Crab his right-hand and of course the seven lovely models. Mike and his side kick Giorgio, a photographer get into all kinds of adventure and trouble, while having fun with the girls, they discover that the gang uses the innocent models' beauty cases for smuggling heroin. 

Mike is caught up between the police and the gang. With the help of the girls and Giorgio he manages to get rid of some of the gang in a fantastic fight in a bakery, which exploides nearly killing our heroes. 

Dany, Mike's favourite model, is kidnapped and held prisoner in the local Casbah, where the locals try to rape her. While trying to free her Mike is chased by the gang and Police through Market places, mosques and Turkish baths.

In the end, Mike manages to direct the gang into the hands of the police. Mike takes off with Danny as his prize, while Giorgio is left with the seven girls. 


Film importers in a crunch

Local film importers are faced with much inconvenience in being unable to screen new films due to the absence of an authorised Film Censor Board to pass them. 

Nearly twenty five English and Tamil films are stuck in the queue since the Public Performance Board (PPB) members resigned and the former Chairman, Somaratne Balasuriya being removed from the post. From the beginning of January no new films have been passed by the PPB despite the local film importers attempts to bring some latest movies into the country. 

A survey of the four leading film distributor companies in the country showed they were faced with a serious problem of having no opportunity to screen the films even after spending so much money to import films. 

"Even if the board is appointed it would take a long time as the censor board does not pass more than two films a day", said Ceylon Entertainment Limited (CEL), Media Co-ordinator, Thusitha De Alwis. Films imported by CEL that are in the queue include a number of latest Tamil films which were scheduled to be released here and South India simultaneously and also some English and Hindi films.

General Manager. Mr. Wilson, of one of the four distributor companies, Lanka Film Distribution Company (Pvt.) Limited speaking to the TV Times said the worst affected were the Tamil films which were to be released simultaneously on the original releasing date in India. "We have bought the right to release the films on the same date spending around Rs 1.5 million for each film" he lamented.. 

Spokesman for the EAP Films and Theatres Pvt. Limited said releasing of new films ahead of the festivals which was a practice earlier will not be possible during the Haj festival if the Censor Board and the Chairman were not appointed immediately. 

Another distributor, Movie Producers and Importers (Pvt.) Limited, said that both the film importers and the industry had been crippled due to the problem. 

When inquiries were made from the PPB, the governing body which is in charge of selecting the films that should be screened here, a spokesman said that the Board comes under the Ministry of Cultural Affairs and it cannot exactly say when these vacancies would be filled. 

Meanwhile the TV Times is informed that the Cultural Ministry is to perform the role of censor-for films that need to be released simultaneously in India and Sri Lanka. This move is meant to ease the burden of some importers. 


Modern day 'Asoka' comes to Lanka

"Asoka", the Hindi movie, a fictionalised account of the eventful part of the life of the legendary Indian emperor, is to be screened here soon. 

Two Hindi copies with English subtitles will be released at Liberty in Colombo and Milano in Kegalle and two copies of the Tamil version, "Ram Raj Asoka" will also be released by the Ceylon Entertainment Limited (CEL) next month. 

The film stars Shah Rukh Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Hrishtaa Bhatt, Danny Denzongpa, Rahul Dev, Ajit, Suraj Balaje & Subhashini Ali. Directed by Santosh Sivan and Music score of Ashoka by Anu Malik. 

Grandson of Chandragupt a Maurya, Ashoka ascended the throne of Magadha in the 13rd century BC. In his quest for power and more power, he waged one of the bloodiest battles ever with the neighbouring kingdom of Kalinga, killing thousands of innocent people. When realisation dawned upon him about the futility of such power, he renounced the path of war and embraced Buddhism to spread the message of peace across the world. It is this reality about the life of Ashoka that's juxtaposed with a fictionalised account of his love story. 

In the film, Ashoka falls in love with a pretty girl, Kaurwaki, who is the daughter of the king of Kalinga. Without knowing her identity and also without revealing his own, he marries her but circumstances separate the couple. Unaware of his real identity, Kaurwaki searches for him but remains unsuccessful. Meanwhile, Ashoka gets news of his wife's death and loses interest in life. Slowly but surely, he comes out of his depression and is forced by circumstances to marry another girl. After his marriage to her, his step-brother hatches a plot to kill his unborn child but his mother is killed instead. This infuriates Ashoka so much that he kills all his step-brothers and eventually launches the war against Kalinga. 

After this war, in the battlefield a land strewn with corpses of people of Magadha and Kalinga Ashoka is to meet someone who was much precious to him at one time of his life. 


Cosmic Ball 2002

'Cosmic Ball 2002' powered by DJ Effect was held at Mount Lavinia Hotel recently. 

Here are some of the actions at the 'Cosmic Ball' through the lens. 

The music for the dance was provided by the DJs of DJ Effect Entertainers. 

'The Golden Globe Awards' has blossomed into a truly big-time event and ratings attraction, second only to the Oscars and described as one of Hollywood's biggest parties of the year. 

Dazzling with stars from both the television and motion picture industry, the awards are selected and determined by the Hollywood Foreign Press association and has, over the years become one of television's most memorable nights.

Some of this year's nominees include such well known names as Nicole Kidman, Judi Dench, Sissy Spacek, Cate Blanceht in the best actress category in both motion picture drama and musical or comedy.

The best actor nominees include Russel Crowe, Will Smith, Kevin Spacey, Billy Bob Thornton and Denzel Washington.

This year's special award of merit - the Cecil B De Mille Award for outstanding contribution to the entertainment field went to Harrison Ford for his lifetime achievement in the motion picture industry with memorable performances in films such as "The Fugitive", "Star Wars" and "Indiana Jones" trilogies, "Air Force One", "Patriot Games", "Witness" and "Sabrina".

Sunday, February 17 at 9.30 p.m. on MTV and Saturday, February 23 at 9.30 p.m. on Sirasa TV


'Spring Time of Poets'

The theme of the fourth edition of Printemps des Poetes, which means 'The Spring Time of Poets', is living poetry, notably in account of the bicentenary of Victor Hugo's birth. The Printemps des Poetes 2002 thus expects an opening of a variety of the following: the experiences and practices and demand a proposal more firm and more clear on the social, ethical and intellectual spheres of a particular art which is poetry. 

In other words, The Printemps des Poetes brings up this year an artistic orientation, giving place to diversity, but getting the public to show throughout the festival the real place of the poem.

This French poetry competition is opened to everybody, whatever age, level of French or academic standard they belong to. The work should be strictly original. The candidates can participate under one of the five following categories: 

* Children (less than 14 years), 

* Beginners (less than 200 hours of French), 

* Intermediate (less than 400 hours of French), 

* Advanced (more than 400 hours of French), and 

* Native speakers and French teachers. 

The entry forms for this competition along with the poems should be received at the reception of the Alliance Francaise de Colombo before 5 o'clock on February 26. The first 100 people to have handed over the above forms and the poems will receive a prize. A jury comprising several French-speaking personalities will choose the three best poems from each of the five categories. Each winner will receive a prize.

The prize giving will take place on Thursday March 14 at 5.00 p.m. at a ceremony held with the presence of the jury. A reading of these poems to the public will take place on the same day. Finally, a display and a publication of these poems are proposed as well.

The entry forms are available at the reception of the Alliance Francaise de Colombo at 11, Barnes Place, Colombo 7 from 8.30 a.m. to 5.00 p.m. on weekdays.


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