Nita brings ‘Silent Honour’ to Sinhala cinema

By Susitha R. Fernando

Internationally acclaimed actress Nita Fernando is returning to play the role of the producer once again with her latest production 'Silent Honour'.

The film, the third direction under the production company titled 'Padma Productions'.

Padma Productions was the production company she started earlier with her late husband Aelian Perera in early 1980s. This was after her return from Canada where she lived with her late husband Aelian Perera who was a reputed lawyer.

On her return in 1983 they produced the feature film "Sooriyakantha" in which she played opposite Vijaya Kumaratunge, the heartthrob of the Sri Lankan silver screen.

Nita retreated from cinema for nearly ten years but made a return producing and also proving the prowess of her international calibre. 'Pawuru Walalu' (Walls Within) directed by Prasanna Vithanage was produced in 1997 as the second direction under Padma Productions Playing the lead there she won the Best Actress Award at the 1998 Singapore International Film Festival.

Director's honour .......

'Silent Honour' introduces a new director- Tanuj Anawaratne to Sri Lankan cinema. Tanuj, the winner of Best Stage Drama award at Youth Drama Festival in the years 1993, 1994 and 1997 had made the 20 minute telefilm 'Mangalam' which Nita had seen and which made her decide to award him the directorial debut. The young director had assisted Asoka Handagama in many of his directions including films 'Thani Thatuwen Piyabanna' and 'Akshara'. "I should be thankful to Nita for giving me the opportunity to do the film which discusses the most important social evil in today's world. It is a story for all audiences of all social levels and the script provides opportunities to experiment and gives a novel treatment by camera," said the young director with many expectations.

After the demise of her husband Aelian, the talented young actress Yashodha Wimaladharma joined Nita to continue 'Padma Productions' and the first production under this union is 'Silent Honour'. The Muhurath for the film was held at Namel-Malani Punchi Theatre recently.

Silent Honour : The story of heroin

The latest brainchild of Padma Productions "Silent Honour" portrays society in which drug peddling is done by persons of different social strata.

The film is a moving portrait of a woman named "Radha" (Nita Fernando) who believed in commitment and sacrifice. Her life was changed by one swift and unexpected stroke of fate--the tragic death of her only child.

Her painful and excruciating journey in the film conveys a message to the world through the eyes of this woman. Radha has to kill her past before she transcends the obstacles in her path to her inner transformation, of her mystical journey. She also has to face the society which dictates that the guilty must be punished.

Radha is exposed to the world where she comes across the representatives from almost every different social levels; some addicts, some victims and some the real culprits behind the dangerous business. Among them Asela (played by Kanchana Mendis) hailing from Colombo-7 is the night clubbing, 'Ecstasy' addict spoilt girl while 'Poddi (Damitha Abeyratne) is drug peddler in slums. Another high-class cocaine addicted girl played by Rozanne Diasz is also a smuggler while Cynthia (Angela Seneviratne) a highly socialized, philanthropist who also runs an art gallery is the mastermind behind the drug trade. Marco (Saumya Liyanage) a Casanova is the manager of the business. Ravindra Randeniya plays the role of a minister in Silent Honour.

'Silent Honour' which has 29 locations started its shooting at the Colombo Mayor's House last week. The other locations are Hotel Holiday Inn, 'Ganshara' Art Gallery and Sea Sand floating restaurant in Bentota. The highlighting feature of Silent Honour is that forty percent of its filming is done at Welikada and Bogambara prisons.

Scriptwriter of Silent Honour

It was a story of a fan and friend of Nita, Yolanda Weeraratne that became the film 'Silent Honour'. Yolanda wrote her original script in English and translated by Tanuj Anawaratne who became the director of the film. "Nita and I realised that he had the real ability to do the justice to my story," said Yolanda.

"It is a story straight from my heart. That is why I feel it. This is where the writer's voice comes into play. I experienced through a life of incidents that has been important to my story. I took a specific idea and developed it fictionalised and add to it to make it a universal truth," explained Yolanda about her story which is a novel theme to Sri Lankan cinema. "I dedicate this story "Silent Honor" to all the drug addicts who are lost their precious lives by using ill-legal drugs around the globe and also to our future- the younger generation," she added.

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