- Ashan Dias on recovering from Covid-19 and the post-pandemic cinema industry
Having been a theatre enthusiast since childhood, Ashan Dias found his passion for acting purely by chance. He was given an opportunity to act in a movie: The Road from Elephant Pass in 2008, which he took up, and the rest is history.
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Photo: Krishan Kariyawasam[/caption]
For Dias, until 2017, acting was just a hobby; at the time, he was pursuing architecture, but eventually ventured into acting full-time. He hasn’t had a very long career but has been part of many movies that went on to put Sri Lanka on the map.
Brunch caught up with Dias to chat about the cinema industry, his career and his recent recovery from Covid-19.
The current cinema industry
The biggest challenge that Dias had to face was being financially stable while taking on acting as a career, simply because the industry is not very professional in Sri Lanka, according to his experience. “Picking and choosing the roles you want to play is also a challenge because you do get offered a lot of roles, but not often are they really good roles,” he commented, adding that it is a hard choice because he needs to work, as well as earn money, because if you’re too choosy and pick only the projects that work for you 100%, then you won’t be making enough money to live.
Another challenge in the industry for Dias has been the system that was created a long time ago, which simply does not work for modern times. “This system has been held steadfast by some of the older generations, who don’t want the younger generation to come up and affect their system,” described Dias, adding that this system was put in place for the industry to move forward, but not for newer actors.
As someone that is relatively new to the cinema industry, we asked him for his thoughts on it. “I believe there is a lot of potential and a lot of talent in every area of our industry but the current system doesn’t allow for it to thrive,” he explained, suggesting that a lot of changes need to be made in the system, and for that, everyone involved needs to unite and be of a certain consensus. He added that a lot of people don’t want to change for fear of being left out or for fear of being shunned by the industry which is an issue.
Talking about the effect of the pandemic on the industry, he commented: “In terms of film, and cinema, the last three years have been a really bad time for the industry. Because of that, there is an obvious change coming.” He explained that theatre is going to become obsolete and production and content will move towards online platforms, and therefore, less and less people will go to cinemas to watch films. In one way, he observed that this is an opportunity for the younger generation to get their content out there, concluding that while it is a bad time for the cinema industry, it is also a hopeful time because there will be more opportunities.
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Photo: Poorna Shehan[/caption]
Dias told us that he is currently involved with two TV series that he’s excited about. Currently, they are on hold, but as the situation gets better, the rest of the year will be spent on these two series for him. He has also received a few film scripts that he hasn’t agreed to as yet but if he does, he added that there will be a couple of movies happening in his future as well. All of these will only come to fruition if the situation gets better because he is very vocal about not wanting to work in such dangerous times. When things get back to normal, Dias mentioned that he will be pretty busy.
Coping with Covid-19
On 13 August, Dias was diagnosed with Covid-19, and at the time, Covid-19 was (and still is) particularly rampant everywhere. “I was using my social media platforms to tell people not to go anywhere, and to try not to go to work if you don’t absolutely have to. I was preaching a lot, but I, myself, made the mistake of going for one shoot that I probably shouldn’t have during the height of the pandemic,” he informed us. This shoot, he hypothesised, is where he contracted Covid-19, as a few days later, he got sick with fever. He decided on getting a PCR test done, and a few days later, found out he had tested positive. As Dias lives alone, with only his several pets for housemates, he didn’t want to publicise the fact that he had Covid-19, as he didn’t want his parents to worry. Taking his responsibility for his pets to mind, he spoke to his PHI and decided on quarantining at home. “Even if I was to go to a quarantine facility, my house would have been marked as infected with Covid-19, so no one would have been able to go inside to feed the animals,” he said on why he decided on quarantining at home.
“It was scary,” he admitted. “But one of my closest friends is a doctor, and she prescribed all the medicine I needed and gave me a list of things I had to do every day to get over it.” He handled Covid-19 with the advice of his doctor as well as his brother who checked up on him every day.
Dias commented that the first five days were tough because he felt all the symptoms of the flu-like sore throat, fever and a cold. He added that the fever was the toughest part, plus he had body aches where every joint and muscle in his body would hurt and was unable to do something as simple as opening a bottle cap.
“The first five days were especially difficult because you still have to function, you still have to wake up and cook, and take your meds, and cook for your pets and make sure they eat three times a day, so this was the hardest part,” he explained.
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Photo: Prashan Warnakulasuriya[/caption]
After the first five days, his fever receded; all that was left was a sore throat and sticking to his daily recovery routine. His routine consisted of steam inhalation, taking medication on time, drinking warm beverages, and not exerting himself. He followed his doctors’ advice to the T and made a speedy recovery.
In about 11 days after being diagnosed, he woke up feeling brand new, like he wasn’t sick anymore. “It wasn’t a gradual process, I just woke up one day and felt great. I had heard from other people with Covid-19 that they too, suddenly woke up and felt fine.” Unfortunately, he made the mistake of doing some exercise and promptly felt sick the next day. He commented that this is something people need to be mindful of. “When doctors tell you not to exert yourself; when you’re young and fit, you think that you’re strong and can handle it, but that is not the case. Take the doctor’s advice.” He added that even now, after weeks, his doctor still advises him not to do anything too strenuous, because we are constantly hearing about people dying or getting sick again, even after recovering from the virus.
Talking about what he learned from his experience with Covid-19, he commented that everyone should get proper medical advice from a doctor: “The advice I got, worked for me: I was told to take vitamin C, vitamin D, and Zincovit, a zinc-based multivitamin which is especially good to boost your immunity against Covid-19.”
He added that he drank special Ayurvedic beverages like paspanguwa and suwadarma twice a day, and inhaled steam every day to clear his system and to kill the virus from lingering in his throat or respiratory system. He also urged anyone with the virus to eat as much as they can, as they need to provide their body with fuel to fight the virus.
“As far as I know, there is no medicine to cure yourself, all you can do is boost your immunity, hydrate, not exert yourself, and eat well,” he advised. 