‘A Common Man’ wins bronze at New York festival

Colombo Gazette: The movie ‘A Common Man’ which was filmed in Sri Lanka and Directed by Chandran Rutnam, won a bronze medal at the New York Festivals’ International Television and Film Awards recently.

The awards show celebrated the world’s best TV programs and films at NAB in Las Vegas. The Grand Jury awarded 119 gold world medals, 145 silver, 104 bronze, and 327 finalist certificates from entries submitted from 50 countries.

The movie won in the feature films category, and was produced by Manohan Nanayakkara, Chandran Rutnam and B.S. Radhakrishnan. Paul Mason and Jon Sheinberg are the executive producers while Chandran Rutnam is the director. Music for the movie was composed by Ramesh Vinayakam, James Rutnam is the editor and Asia Digital Entertainment Private Limited the production house.

“The plot of the movie revolves around the character played by Kingsley, and an attempt by terrorists to blow up Colombo,” Rutnam told the Colombo Gazette when the movie was being shot in Sri Lanka.

Rutnam said that once he wrote the script for the movie he sent it to Hollywood and Sir Ben Kingsley, who has won several international awards including an Oscar for his portrayal of Gandhi, liked the story and offered to play the lead role.

“The story is adapted from a concept that has been done before. But I have taken that concept and turned it around into a situation in Sri Lanka. This is a rare opportunity for Sri Lanka because this is the first time we are having the opportunity to direct Hollywood actors. We shot the entire picture within 27 days,” Rutnam added.