Grand Charity Banquet to honour the late Gamini Dissanayake

Gamini was a visionary but not a dreamer. He had a pragmatic plan, which would have ensured that his vision became a reality. His vision and plans were not merely for the tomorrow. His visions encompassed the first decade of the 21st century and beyond.

Seven Hundred and Twenty of the countries glitterati including Cricketers, from the present and the Past gathered at the Ballroom of the Waters Edge for a charity event, to honour the late Gamini Dissanayake’s contribution to Sri Lanka’s entry to World Cricket.

In this room covered in midnight blue on the walls which was background for a myriad jets, that sparkled like the stars in the night sky, tributes were paid to the late Gamini by the likes of Arjuna Ranatunge and Ranjan Madugalle. There was entertainment galore with music from Sohan and the Xperiments and several leading guest stars, among them Anushan Perera and his partner in a Latin American dance performance. The evenings proceedings was compered by Arun Dias Bandaranayake, and the unusual decor and table centres were the creations of Dhiraj de Almeida.

There was no lack of styles and well dressed women and among them were the family members and extended family of the late Gamini. Making fashion news were some of the leaders of style. Badhra Wijesena had her long black top dramatically adorned with a single large white flower on a long stalk. There was Rohini Weerassoriya in a green kandyan saree gently bordered in gold, Ramani Fernando had her yellow saree patterned in splashes of turquoise for her to wear with an unusual necklace of cabochon turquoise. Sandra Opatha, wife of former cricketer Tony had her ivory saree with a border and pallu richly woven in black, red and gold. Her daughter Neshanie Dahanayake had draped her red saree bordered in gold in a variation of the fall, she wore with a splendid Indian collar necklace in red stones and gold. Samadara Ranatunge favoured the simplicity of a white saree and Lanka Dissanayake a black saree with woven borders and pallu. via Mirror Life

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”Casablanca” on Sri Lankan ethnic conflict

An Indian filmmaker is remaking “Casablanca”, swapping the Rick’s Cafe of the Oscar-winning classic for a restaurant in south India, and the World War Two backdrop for the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka.

In the 1942 film, Humphrey Bogart played a club owner who romances a married Ingrid Bergman and helps her escape the Nazis with her husband, a resistance leader.

“My film will be a tribute to the original,” said Rajeev Nath, the director who plans to premiere his Malayalam language remake, “Ezham Mudra” (The Seventh Seal), in the coastal Moroccan city where the original was set.

“As a student of films, I had watched this great classic 20 times.”

Nath’s protagonist is an Indian diplomat-turned restaurateur who helps his lover and her husband, both Tamil separatist rebels fighting the Sri Lankan government, escape from India.

In the adaptation, the hero and his lover meet in a beachside restaurant.

Nath says his film will swap the World War Two background of the original for the separatist movement in Sri Lanka — where Tamils have been fighting for a separate ethnic homeland in the north and east of the island — but does not indulge in any politics.

“It is neither against nor in support of their cause,” said the 55-year-old director, who met some Tamil Tiger rebels during a trip to Norway.

The war strikes a strong chord across the Palk Strait in southern India where more than 60 million Indian Tamils live. India has had a complex political and military link to the conflict and Tamil rebels have also taken refuge here.

Nath begins shooting next month and some parts are to be filmed in Sri Lanka. The film is slated for a 2008 release.

“Ezham Mudra”, which is Nath’s 12th project as director, features Malayalam actor Suresh Gopi and Bollywood actress Mandira Bedi in the roles famously essayed by Bogart and Bergman.

Nath, who won India’s prestigious national award for direction in 1999 for his Malayalam film “Janani” (Mother), said remaking “Casablanca” was a dream come true.

“Casablanca” ranked third after “Citizen Kane” and “The Godfather” on a list of 100 best American films in a poll conducted by the American Film Institute in 2007.

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