‘Give my film back’, Director tells India

Thushara Peiris who directed the controversial film ‘Prabhakaran’ yesterday pleaded with President Mahinda Rajapaksa to help get back the positives, negatives and the sound track of his film now in the custody of a film development laboratory in Chennai, India.

On Wednesday, a Chennai city court restrained the laboratory from releasing the prints amid allegations that the film hurt the sentiments of the Tamil community. The order was issued on a civil suit filed by the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) and the next hearing has been fixed for Tuesday.

However, Mr. Peiris, who was reportedly assaulted in India, strongly denied these allegations and said the film which was based on the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka and the recruitment of child soldiers, in no way denigrated the Tamil community.

“It is a film that speaks out against terrorism and terrorists. This is a democratic state and in such a place it is against democracy to uses a knife against another. It is terrorism and this is what I have depicted in this film,” he said and added that the majority of the cast and crew were Tamils and if they had considered it detrimental to their own community then they would have refused to take part in the filming.

He said that some of those in the cast were once members of the LTTE and the film was shot in war-torn areas of the East such as Thoppigala and Vakarai.“However, I am yet to receive a letter from the Gemini Studio in India confirming the safety of my film. This is my film. It belongs to me and they have no right to keep it there”, he said.

Speaking on behalf of the Film Producers Association, film producer Dilman Jayaratne called on film makers to unite and as a mark of protest, agitate to stop the screening of Indian films in Sri Lanka.“This is a work of art and we have to save it. We have to fight stronger than what we have been doing so far”, he said.

The National Movement Against Terrorism (NMAT) on Friday handed a letter to the Indian High Commission urging it to help the film director recover his film and ensure that relations between the two countries were not damaged. Meanwhile, a spokesperson of the Foreign Ministry said that they were looking for suitable lawyers to appear on behalf of Mr. Peiris.

“We were in the process of trying to retrieve the film, when this restraining order was made. If not for this development, the matter could have been resolved earlier. The Sri Lanka Deputy High Commissioner in Chennai has advised the concerned parties to obtain the services of a lawyer”, the spokesperson said.