Sri Lankans are huge fans of Bollywood. With the long-drawn battle with the LTTE over, people of the emerald island are now enjoying the fantasies Bollywood sells, and encouraging Indian filmmakers to shoot there too.
“Hindi films are huge here. My father actually learnt Hindi by just watching Hindi films. That’s how big it is here. Most people here prefer watching a Hindi film than an English film, even though English is widely spoken,” Sri Lankan actress Jacqueline Fernandez, who featured in the Hindi film Aladin, says.
Indian cinema has a large following in the country, with Hindi films shown in theatres throughout the year. There is at least one shown on local television almost every day. Amanthi Gunawardena, a student, says, “Bollywood is very famous here. Many Hindi films release in theatres and we even watch them on local TV with Sinhalese sub-titles.”
Posters of Bollywood actresses Madhuri and Aishwarya adorn many shops. As far as Sri Lankans’ favourite actors are concerned, locals swear by Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan. Currently, Shah Rukh’s My Name Is Khan is running in one theatre in the city. “We love SRK, I’ve seen many of his films, like Kal Ho Naa Ho... He is too good. I am fond of Amitabh Bachchan too,” says Asanka, a shopkeeper.
After the end of the civil war last year, the Sri Lankan government is aggressively trying to promote the country as an ideal place to shoot Hindi films. “Hindi films are very popular here and Sri Lanka can become a good place to shoot,” says George Michael, secretary of the nation’s tourism minister.
The last Hindi film shot in the country was Ram Gopal Varma’s Agyaat, which was filmed extensively in the Sigiriya jungles in 2008. In 2004, Deepa Mehta shot her critically acclaimed Water there. She filmed the John Abraham-Lisa Ray starrer just outside of Colombo.
Right now, the Sri Lankan capital is gearing up to host the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) awards from June 3-5. “We need to develop greater association between Sri Lankan cinema and Indian cinema,” IIFA brand ambassador Amitabh Bachchan said in Sri Lanka when the announcement was made last week.
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