Paving the way to a global platform 

‘Bend in the Coffin’ to take local cinema worldwide

“This film is for the people,” stated producer Hiranya Perera when talking about the upcoming film Bend in the Coffin, which both herself and director Ilango Ram hope will take local cinema to a global market. The dark comedy, with underlined political satire, written, directed and filmed by Ilango, like the name suggests, centres around a funeral. Giving us a glimpse of what to expect, Ilango told us that the story revolves around the death of a father and how his two sons handle it.

Ilango has been working on another film that features a bit more serious content than this one for a very long time. Needing to get away from the long-awaited completion of that particular film looming over him, he embarked on Bend in the Coffin as a lighter project to work on and he added that the inspiration for this film struck him quickly.

Although this film is a political satire, Ilango doesn’t believe in sending messages through his films. “A good film doesn’t really need a message,” he claimed, explaining that a good film is a slice of life and depicts what’s happening in society. 

“If you ask me whether I’m trying to send a message, the answer is no, but at the same time I believe any film should bring out certain political messages by itself,” he stated, adding that films have many layers. “Although it may be a dark comedy, subtle or hidden messages around a political context should be decoded while watching my films.”

Demand from other Asian countries

Hiranya told us that when the film was only at script level, they’d also applied for the co-production market Film Bazaar in Goa, India where many European producers gather. In the year they applied, she informed us, they were amongst the chosen 16 projects out of a thousand applicants. 

“In that year, ours was the only Sri Lankan project that was selected,” she added. From there on, they held an open pitch, where they pitched the film to producers, co-producers, and financiers from all over the world and created some exciting buzz for this project. 

“There were many big Indian production companies who were willing to come on board – with the condition that we make the film in India in Hindi,” Hiranya told us. They were hesitant to take the offer, and as a compromise, the company offered for the film to be made in Tamil, as that is Ilango’s heritage. 

“We considered it, but later thought that since we created this for Sri Lanka, we want it to be a Sri Lankan project,” Hiranya stated. They also weighed the fact that in our country, we tend to always remake Indian or Korean films, and wanted to avoid that. 

“If this project has a big demand in countries like India and Korea – as I pitched this in the Asian Film Market in Busan, Korea – we decided to make the film in Sri Lanka as a local project, so it can be picked up as a remake in the South and East Asian market,” Hiranya explained, adding that they want it to be known as the Sri Lankan film that got remade. She also revealed that the film was supposed to begin production earlier this year, but had to be pushed back due to the current crisis our country is facing. 

If their plan is to succeed, according to Hiranya, this film will be one of the first in the Sri Lankan film industry to be remade in other Asian countries, which she feels will be a huge stepping stone for our country. In this regard, Ilango revealed that they have received offers for the film to be remade in India in Tamil or Malayalam, so it seems the stepping stones are already in place. 

The film is to be shot in Panadura over the next few months, with about 80% of it being filmed in an old “walauwa” (colonial villa). We asked her if they intended on showcasing Sri Lanka through the movie, since they hope to take the film to a global audience, to which she responded: “A walauwa is pretty unique to Sri Lanka, and features traditional Sri Lankan architecture,” adding that the audience will get to understand how rich our architecture and structuring is. 

Hiranya added that they are incredibly thankful to the crew and the cast, who have been really helpful. 

“They pushed us and reminded us of our passion to put this story out as a locally produced film.” Hiranya told us, noting that everybody on set is very united, and understands and is in line with the subject. “Even when we have script reading sessions, the chemistry amongst the cast members is clear,” she told us, adding that because of this, they believe the film will undoubtedly come out well.

A global platform for Lankan cinema

We asked Hiranya if, as a producer, she sees hope for our film industry to be taken to a global platform. “Yes,” she responded enthusiastically, explaining that local films talk about Sri Lankan culture and people, and that we have so many stories that could go global. “This is one such film that has much potential to go global; it’s universal, and that is why there are so many interested parties from other countries that want to remake the film,” she told us. 

While she agrees that there are other local films that have reached an international audience, she believes that Bend in the Coffin will be an important step in taking our industry global. She mentioned how well South Korea’s film industry is doing after the release of movies and TV series such as Parasite and Squid Game. “Once these were released, the spotlight was on the Korean film industry, which then expanded into the Asian film industry,” she said, noting that South Korea paved the way for smaller countries like ours.

Hiranya observed that we have many talented filmmakers, script writers, and producers in Sri Lanka that lack access to a proper platform, and with the release of this film, they hope to provide them with this platform to showcase their talents on a global scale.

Meanwhile, Ilango told us that he has a few more projects in the pipeline, although he has put them all on hold and is directing all his energy towards Bend in the Coffin. Once it is complete, he will be flying to India to work on a feature film as a cinematographer. He also views most Sri Lankan films to be either extremely arthouse or commercial films that are highly influenced by Indian films. He thus hopes Bend in the Coffin would strike a healthy balance between the two, and fill the niche in the market. 

Ilango stated he is striving to keep this film out of the bracket of highly intellectual arthouse films, as well as sub-standard commercial Indian remakes, and hopes this film will connect with people on a human level. 

“Because of this, we are certain that this film will be a crowd-puller,” Ilango concluded.

Scriptwriter/Director and DOP – Ilango Ram

Executive Producer – Hiranya Perera

Producers:

Hiranya Perera

Navaneetha Nachimuthu

Pon Umapathy

Assistant Director – Niroshan Edirimanne

Production Designer and Costume Stylist – Ajantha Alahakoon

Production Manager – Manjula Perera

Editor – Aathan Sivananthar

Make-up – Rajitha Dikhinna

Cast

Kaushalya Fernando

Priyantha Sirikumara

Thusitha Laknath

Chandani Seneviratne

Dilhani Ekanayake

Chamila Peiris

Sulochana Weerasinghe

Ranjith Panagoda

Aloka Gayathrie

Saman Koralage