COLOMBO: Award-winning Kollywood actress Pooja Umashankar has been invited to play the role of Princess Pabawathi in Sinhalese film ‘Kusa Paba’. Being done by the Film Makers’ Guild, a group of 10 top producers and directors, ‘Kusa Paba’ is touted as the Sri Lankan film industry’s contribution to the on-going year-long celebration of the 2,600th anniversary of Buddha’s enlightenment.
The mega production, based on a popular Buddhist Jataka tale, has veteran Sinhalese character actor Jackson Anthony in the lead as Prince Kusa. Written by late Tissa Abeysekara, ‘Kusa Paba’ is about the Buddha in one of his previous births.
The tale, which has all ingredients of an Indian mythology, is about how the ugly but talented Prince Kusa wins the love of Princess Paba after many trials and tribulations. The film carries a message that one can attain one’s cherished goals through qualities of head and heart, regardless of physical deformities.
Pooja had won awards in Tamil Nadu for her role as a blind beggar in the Kollywood film ‘Naan Kadavul’ in 2009.