COLOMBO: September 30, 2011, will go down as a landmark in the annals of Sri Lankan Tamil cinema. Orey Naalil ( In a Single Day), which was released on that day, happened to be the first Lankan Tamil film to be released after Eelam War IV, and also the first Lankan Tamil film to be made entirely by Lankans (with no input whatsoever from India) in the last 18 years.
Mann, the last Lankan Tamil film, was released in 2006, before Eelam War IV began. And it was not made by local talent, but by Tamil expatriates living in the UK. And some of the artistes and technicians were from Chennai.
The last entirely indigenous Lankan Tamil film was Sharmilavin Idhaya Raagam (Sharmila’s Song of the Heart) released way back in 1993.
“Therefore, Orey Naalil produced by Ashraf Ali and directed by ARM Razim is the first truly indigenous Lankan Tamil film to be released after the war,” said film historian T Thevathasan.
Sharmilavin Idhaya Raagam produced by Peradeniya Junaideen, and directed by Sunil Soma Peiris, had bombed at the box office. This deterred other Lankans from making a Tamil film, but Ashraf, Razim and his “right hand” assistant director P Sivakanthan, were determined to make a statement.