Synopsis
Gaadi is a film based on historical fiction, set in 1814 in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka)
at the time British
rule prevailed in the coastal belt of the island.
Stripped from nobility and forcibly married to an outcast, an aristocratic woman
fights to keep her
birth dignity by rejecting to succumb to her destiny. In her journey for survival in
a war torn land
with an outcast, she comes to realize many truths about life outside of her
sheltered upbringing.
Other Information
Language
Sinhalese (with English subtitles)
Runtime
103 minutes
Genre
Drama, Romance, Fiction, History
Release Date
World Premier – November 2019
Local release – March 2020
Prasanna Vithanage
Director’s Message
This film relates to me in both political and personal levels.
In this historical epic journey, two people from two different social strata are brought
together
against their will and struggle to co-exist refusing to lose their identity. When pushed
to the limits
of survival, in order to survive, they finally come to realize that life doesn't exist
on identity
itself.
I thought of using this theme as an allegory to question this illusion, in a world where
humans
constantly wage wars in the name of national or religious identity.
For me, sharing this story with Sri Lankans is important, because our nation went
through three decades
of a brutal civil war waged in the name of racial and religious identities. Since the
struggle to uphold
identities has not stopped in post war Sri Lanka, I believe it is important to raise the
question, "Is
identity more important than the sanctity of life?"
On a personal level, this story is about a man trying to win over a woman by taming her.
But during the
journey, they are challenged by the circumstance beyond their control and forced to come
to accept that
the most important things in life are love and self-respect.
I believe the same struggle for superiority still exists in a relationship of a man and
woman even at
present in post-modern society. I felt strongly to make a film to counter that.
Cast and Crew
Tikiri
Dinara Punchihewa
Vijaya
Sajitha Anuththara
Ehelepola Adigar
Ravindra Randeniya
Bulathgama Disawe
Shyam Fernando
Bulathgama Disawe’s Mother
Irnaganie Serasinghe
Bulathgama Disawe’s Sister
Dhamyanthi Fonseka
Bulathgama Disawe’s Son
Anuspathi Gayantha
Bulathgama Disawe’s Daughter
Vishmi Purnima
Bulathgama Disawe’s Servant
Rohini Dewa Surendra
John Doyly
Mohamed Adamaly
Ausada
Mervyn Kroon
Ukkuwa
Ananda Kumara Unnahe
Ukkuwa’s Mother
Nethali Nanayakkara
Village Youths
Kalana Gunasekara
Thilina Perera
Mahesh Hettiarachchi
Prasanna Dakumpitiya
Writer Director
Prasanna Vithanage
Producers
Alan McAlex
Ajay Rai
Sandya Salgado
H.D. Premasiri
Prasanna Vithanage
Director of Photography
Rajeev Ravi
Editor
A.Sreekar Prasad
Music Composer
K.
Art Director
Dhammika Hewaduwatha
Sound Designer
Tapas Nayak
Our Awards & Achievements
Awards
Special Jury Mention (Asian Film Competition)
18th Dhaka International Film Festival 2020
Emerald Dove Award
3rd Independent Film Festival of Chennai
Cultural Diversity Award (UNESCO)
14th Asia Pacific Screen Awards
Festivals
24th Busan International Film Festival 2019
24th International Film Festival of Kerala 2019
3rd I San Francisco International Film Festival 2019
49th International Film Festival Rotterdam 2020
18th Pune International Film Festival 2020
18th Dhaka International Film Festival 2020 (In Competition)
3rd Independent Film Festival of Chennai 2020
11th Bengaluru International Film Festival 2020
51 st International Film Festival of India 2020
CULTURAL DIVERSITY AWARD 14TH ASIA PACIFIC SCREEN AWARDS
www.asiapacificscreenawards.com"One of the most prominent Sri Lankan filmmakers, Prasanna Vithanage, has told an incredibly tough but important story with delicacy and beauty. The story of oppression, cruelty and rejection, juxtaposed with the exquisite beauty of nature and the inhabitants of this land is striking. But the most important thing conveyed by the director is depicting the strength of the spirit of the people in the struggle for their freedom."
- APSA International Nominations Council
Director’s Profile
Prasanna Vithanage became involved in theater on leaving school. He translated and
directed Bernard
Shaw's Arms and the Man in 1986, and Dario Fo's Trumpets and Raspberries in 1991.
In 1992, he directed his first film Sisila Gini Gani (Ice of Fire). It won nine OCIC
(Sri Lanka) Awards
including Best Director, Best Actor and Best Actress.
Four years later in 1996 was his second feature Anantha Rathriya (Dark Night of the
Soul), which he
wrote and directed. It was based on Leo Tolstoy's last novel Resurrection. It
participated in several
international film festivals and won a Jury's Special Mention in the First Pusan
International Film
Festival. The film also won all the main awards at the 1996 Sri Lanka Film Critics Forum
Awards
(affiliated with FIPRESCI) including awards for Most Outstanding Film, Best Director and
Best
Screenwriter.
Pawuru Walalu (Walls Within), his third feature in 1997 won the Best Actress Award for
Nita Fernando in
her role as Violet, at the 1998 Singapore International Film Festival. It even won ten
out of eleven
awards including Best Picture and Best Director at the Sri Lanka Film Critics Forum
Awards.
His fourth feature Purahanda Kaluwara (Death on a Full Moon Day) of the same year, 1997,
which he wrote
and directed was produced by NHK (Japanese Broadcasting Corporation). It won the Grand
Prix at the
Amiens Film Festival. Initially banned by the minister in charge of film industry, it
was released after
a yearlong legal battle. It was given the release under a Supreme Court verdict. Since
then it has
become one of the most successful films over half a century history of cinema in Sri
Lanka. Prasanna
Vithanage completed Ira Madiyama (August Sun) his fifth film in 2003. It went on to win
many
international awards and was featured prominently in the world festival circuit.
In 2007, Vithanage co-produced the hit film Machan a comedy about a group of working
class con artists
posing as a handball team, directed by The Full Monty producer Uberto Pasolini. Machan
premiered at the
65th Venice Film Festival in 2008. It was shown widely all over the world winning 11
international
awards.
2008 also saw the world premiere of Prasanna Vithanage's sixth feature film as director,
Akasa Kusum
(Flowers of the Sky) in Pusan, Korea and screened over forty film festivals to wide
acclaim winning
numerous international awards.
In 2012 Oba Nathuwa Oba Ekka (With You, Without You) is his seventh feature won four
international
awards and nineteen national awards.
His feature debut Documentary "Silence in the Courts" was the first Documentary film
which had a
theatrical run in Sri Lanka in 2016, despite being initially banned from public
screening by the Colombo
District Court of Sri Lanka.
Producer’s Profile
Film Island
Film Island is a premier Sri Lankan film production company with a global outlook.
We offer a professionalism that is unrivalled in the country. The expertise of the
team includes
internationally renowned multiple award winning directors and Sri Lanka's most
sought after producer /
line producer combination, together with best in class creative and strategic
thinkers and managers.
This highly experienced team has worked with distinguished film directors and film
crews from around
the
world.
Film Island has the know-how to manage and flawlessly execute any production as line
producers, from
feature films, TV shows, documentary and commercial productions, meeting global
standards and the
latest
technology requirements.
With Sri Lanka's most sought after industry experts, Film Island offers turn-key end
to end
professional
production solutions to those who consider Sri Lanka as their preferred filming
destination.
JR Pictures / Alan McAlex and Ajay Rai
Alan McAlex and Ajay G. Rai came together to form Jar Pictures. They are two dynamic film production professionals with a wide body of experience ranging from independent cinema, to non-mainstream art house films to commercially successful Bollywood hits between them. They have created a versatile production company steadily gaining a stronghold in the Indian film industry, producing critical gems like Geethu Mohandas' LIAR'S DICE (2014), which was India's submission to the 2014 Academy Awards and screened at Sundance. KILLA (2014), winner of the Crystal Bear for Best Film in Generation Kplus at the Berlinale 2014 and NIL BATTEY SANNATA (2015), internationally released as THE NEW CLASSMATE, which won several acclaims in India and abroad. The company's most recent film ONCE AGAIN (2018) by Kanwal Sethi was a co-production between Germany, Austria, and India.
H D Premasiri
H D Premasiri has been recognized as a well known producer for many successful Sri Lankan movies where he has already produced 07 movies, among them the movie ‘Yashodhara’ by Emeritus Professor Sunil Ariyaratne has been awarded as the ‘Highest Patron Response Film” in 2008 by the Presidential Film Festival and Block Buster Movie of the Year – 2018. His major purpose of film producing is recognized to be for the development of Sri Lankan Cinema in every aspect.
Prasanna Vithanage
Prasanna Vtihanage Productions was launched by the Film Director Prasanna Vithanage as a proprietorship in the year 1997 to produce his fourth film " Death on a full moon Day" in the year 1997 with NHK Japan. Later He co-produced "Flowers of the Sky" with H. D. Premasiri and A. Sreekar Prasad in the year 2008. He co-produced his documentary "Silence in the Courts" with H.D. Premasiri in the year 2015.
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