- UAE TV and Lankan talent
The Sri Lankan film industry is one that is full of limitless potential, from the screen-facing side of incredibly talented performers to the behind-the-scenes skill of visionary filmmakers, directors, editors, and technical crew as well as the potential of our country as a destination for filmmaking.
One such production that recently made Sri Lanka its home is the Emirati historical drama series ‘Al-Boom.’
The show, now in its second season, is a historical drama series that first premiered during Ramadan in 2024 on Abu Dhabi TV. The show is set on the cusp of World War II and explores the life of an Emirati sailor named Shahab, also referred to as Shihab, played by Omar Al Mulla.
The story follows Shahab’s redemptive journey as he seeks to regain his status as a respected captain or ‘nokhada’ by establishing a lucrative maritime trade route between the Gulf and Southeast Asia.
The series highlights the crucial role seafarers played in shaping the UAE’s cosmopolitan society, acting as foreign correspondents and traders who brought diverse goods and stories back to their communities. It also touches on the geopolitical tensions of the time, including the British Empire’s efforts to establish a naval base in the region.
The second season of ‘Al-Boom’ sees its characters venture to India and Sri Lanka, which at the time was a British colony named Ceylon. This season sees many supporting characters play various parts in the story, including four Sri Lankan actors – Ashan Dias, Yashoda Wimaladharma, Dinara Punchihewa, and Ryan Wijayaratne.
The Sunday Morning Brunch spoke to Ashan, Yashoda, Dinara, and Ryan on the journey ‘Al-Boom’ has taken them on, both personally and professionally, as well as their thoughts on the future of the industry, particularly in terms of film tourism and international collaboration.
The experience of ‘Al-Boom’
For Dinara, who plays the role of Malika, a tea plucker, with a lot of her scenes shot in Nuwara Eliya, the experience of ‘Al-Boom’ was an exhilarating one.
“The scale of the production was different and that comes with funding. ‘Al-Boom’ had bigger budgets to work with, which was new to us, but what was most interesting was the experience of meeting people, especially actors from different parts of the world. At the end of the day it was an incredible learning process and I am really excited to see the final product,” she said.
In addition to the scenes shot in Sri Lanka, Dinara was also part of a shoot in Dubai which involved scenes on board a ship.
“It was pretty interesting as the location was on a boat and some days of filming lasted 13 hours. You could get off the boat only at the end of the day when you finished shooting. It was probably the hardest part of the shoot, but a very interesting experience,” she added.
Ryan, who plays an Indian character named Mahinda who befriends one of the main characters, explained that his character’s arc was that of being taken to Sri Lanka as a labourer. Ryan, who is also a photographer and filmmaker, shared that despite being an international production, much of how the ‘Al-Boom’ operation worked was similar to local and smaller-scale productions.
“The majority of the crew such as lighting, camera, and production tends to be local with these kinds of productions. However, the main creatives will come from wherever the production is based – in this case, the UAE. They had slightly different methods, but their way of going about things was much the same as we would,” he stated.
Ashan takes on an antagonistic role in the series, playing Sanjay, a labour trader, whom he described as “a hustler trying to make money any way he can – in this case, selling workers from India to Sri Lanka to work in tea fields. He meets this crew of sailors in India [the main characters of ‘Al-Boom’] and uses the sailors’ ship to take the workers to Sri Lanka.”
“Compared to other international productions I’ve been part of, I think this is probably the best one in terms of production quality and output quality of the crew,” Ashan reflected, noting that it was not without its challenges, a predominant one being the language barrier given that the Director could speak little English.
“The Director would brief us and then the Assistant Director would translate, but if the Assistant Director was not available, we were left trying to figure out what was needed. It was tough at times, but as time went on, it became an interesting challenge to figure out what was needed despite not knowing the language and we became more comfortable with our character arcs,” he added.
Yashoda plays an Indian single mother who comes to Sri Lanka looking for a job. She ends up becoming the leader of a group of women on the ship who are all being brought to Sri Lanka for work and has a fair amount of conflict with Ashan’s character, who seeks to exploit them.
“I have been part of several international movies and worked with lots of foreign directors, so the experience wasn’t really new to me. However this was an Arabic series and that was a first for me. It was great to get to work with different people. Every single film or production is a new experience. Technology-wise, I found the ‘Al-Boom’ production to be far superior and ahead of us,” she said.
Yashoda explained that with local teledramas and similar productions, the crew often filmed with one or two cameras and sometimes three. However, ‘Al-Boom’ was shot with four cameras, which gave it an edge.
The highs and lows of filmmaking
Filming ‘Al-Boom’ came with its fair share of challenges, but these obstacles only made the final product more rewarding. Dinara recalled how difficult it was to adapt to the physically demanding aspects of shooting.
“I had to push myself. There were days when I felt exhausted, but looking back, those were the moments that made me stronger. One of my favourite moments was one scene with Ashan; it was a very long and dramatic scene we shot without any stops and pauses. Filming a long scene in one take was quite new to me,” she said.
Ashan highlighted the unpredictable nature of shooting in real locations. “You can plan all you want, but you still need to be flexible and adapt quickly,” he stated, recounting that on the first day of shooting on board the ship, which had been meticulously created by the production to be period-appropriate, the ship’s 60-foot mast had broken as the vessel started rocking in choppy waters.
“It was during the first scene and you could see it slowly crack and fall onto the deck as if in slow motion, like something out of a movie. It actually fell on top of a few people and one person got stuck underneath, but no one was hurt. However, we had to cancel shooting for the day,” he added.
Ryan spoke about the deep bond the cast formed while overcoming these challenges. On his fondest memories of ‘Al-Boom,’ he said: “We had long shoots, which sounds bad, but it was also fun because we developed a connection with those we were acting with,” he explained.
“I think one of the more interesting days was our first day of shooting in Dubai. The first scene took a while to set up, but it was eventually a 10-minute scene that we finished in a single take. The next scene, which was only meant to be two-and-a-half minutes long, ended up requiring more than 29 takes, which took about six hours, and then there wasn’t time to do anything else that day. It was a good first day,” he added.
Yashoda also fondly recalled the connections formed while filming, noting that her role in ‘Al-Boom’ was a first in terms of the things her character had to do on screen. “There was a scene where I had to deliver a baby and act as a midwife. It was the first time I had done anything like that and it was an exciting experience,” she said.
Sri Lanka as a film destination
Sri Lanka as a film destination is not a new concept. We are, of course, much famed for our country being the set for productions like ‘Bridge on the River Kwai,’ ‘Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom,’ and ‘The Good Karma Hospital.’
Renowned filmmaker Chandran Rutnam first pioneered capitalising on Sri Lanka’s potential as a film production hub in the 1970s through his production and facilitation company, Asian Film Location Services. Other companies such as The Film Team and Frames TV and Film Production have also since developed similar endeavours – promoting Sri Lanka as a destination and facilitating international productions locally.
However, Sri Lanka still has far to go in terms of reaching its full potential as a global hub for filmmaking, and Brunch explored how we can better work towards this.
Dinara reiterated Sri Lanka’s potential for filmmaking. “We have so much potential because the country is so beautiful. Some of the sets in ‘Al-Boom’ are just stunning and they are not made up; it is just our scenery – our tea plantations and roadside scenes,” she said, adding that promoting the country as a film production destination would also generate further opportunities.
That was how she and many other Sri Lankan actors as well as crew got to be part of ‘Al-Boom’ in the first place. “There is so much we have to offer – from our locations to opportunities for actors and also production crew. Foreign productions will lead to more opportunities, which in turn has huge potential for our local film industry,” she added.
Ryan pointed out that the road to properly becoming a global film hub required collaboration from multiple sectors, both State and private. “We are fully capable of handling large productions, both as an industry itself and as a whole, but we also need to look at how other countries incentivise productions to pick them as a location,” he shared.
“Thailand, for example, is often picked over us because it gives productions massive incentives to shoot there, from tax rebates to matching investments made by productions that come to Thailand through cash rebates or other incentives.
“The Thai Government makes it cheaper or easier for productions to shoot in certain areas. The Thai industry is also strong with actors and crews capable of working anywhere in the world, which the Sri Lankan industry can also do, but this requires greater professionalism from the industry,” he stated.
Yashoda highlighted the need for stronger education and training for actors in order to strengthen Sri Lanka’s positioning as an all-inclusive film production destination. “Even though we win awards at foreign festivals, we still do not have an international market for our film industry. This is a problem where the State needs to get involved.
“We do not have the right institutions to train actors. We can build more opportunities if we can collaborate with a bigger school in another country. Sri Lanka is a small country, so our industry is small and will not be recognised unless we personally go and build ourselves up.
“A school for actors is greatly needed. The quality of our productions is dropping, especially when it comes to things such as teledramas and soap operas. There are also many new and talented actors who sometimes struggle with learning skills. A school will encourage them to get to know their jobs and teach discipline.
“For many years, no government has looked at strengthening actors. I have personally approached several international film schools, but for them it does not make sense because we are a small country. This is why the Government needs to get involved and form a collaboration with a reputed international school,” she explained.
Ashan highlighted that Sri Lanka as a film production destination had been a phenomenon for decades and there was already infrastructure in place, with companies like Asian Film Location Services, The Film Team, and Frames TV and Film Production able to cater to this niche. However, unhealthy competition within this niche industry can sometimes serve to hinder productions that do choose Sri Lanka as a production base.
“The Sri Lankan industry needs a governing body. The Government needs to get involved and actually support local industry or, at the very least, get involved in creating a better setting and infrastructure for foreign productions. For instance, the Ministry of Tourism and the National Film Corporation of Sri Lanka could collaborate better on promoting us as a destination for filmmaking and to make processes easier.
“I know how much red tape companies have to go through to get things done and organised. People are working really hard and if they can get more support from the Government and the tourism industry, that would be huge in terms of taking our industry to the world. We have everything we need to become a tourism and film destination,” he said.