Chandran Rutnam

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Chandran Rutnam
Chandranfilmproducer.jpg
Rutnam in 1991
Born Chandran Rutnam
Sri Lanka
Nationality Sri Lankan
Occupation Film director, producer, screenwriter, entrepreneur
Known for Film making
Title President & CEO of Asian Film Locations Services
&
Chairman of Asian Aviation Centre
&
Chief Consultant at selvaass.com
Religion Christian
Children James, Daniel, Evelyn, Chanel & Danara
Website
Asian Film Locations Services
Asian Aviation Centre
selvaass.com

Chandran Rutnam is a well known film maker from Sri Lanka who has been in Los Angeles for more than 38 years. He is of mixed Tamil and Sinhalese ancestry. Having started his movie career with Britain's David Lean in The Bridge on the River Kwai at the age of 16 and studied with American director George Lucas in film school, Rutnam brought numerous Hollywood movies to Sri Lanka. He worked as the production supervisor in Sri Lanka for Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) amongst many other Hollywood movies.

Steven Spielberg once referred to Rutnam as "Our most valued friend in the Far East".[1][2][3]

He is the President & Chief Executive Officer of the Asian Film Location Services which mostly hosts foreign films to be shot in Sri Lanka.

He founded the once-popular local airline company, Lionair and currently owns the Asian Aviation Centre in Sri Lanka.

He is the chief consultant at selvaass.com which is on film promotion via social media and location services worldwide.

Contents

Biography [edit]

Rutnam(right) with Ben Kingsley (left) and Ben Cross (centre) at a Railway Station in Sri Lanka, during shooting of the Rutnam-directed film A Common Man.
Chandran Rutnam with Steven Spielberg, in the Gala Dinner held on December 9th, 2009 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California, honoring Steven Spielberg.
Chandran Rutnam, a Finalist Award Winner, is seen with the award in the presence of Judith Rutnam (Third from Left), James Rutnam (Fourth from Left) and other personalities at the 2011 New York International Television and Film Awards which was held in Las Vegas, Nevada in conjunction with the NAB Show. In the Best Film category, five films were selected by the New York Festivals Grand Jury and out of over 150 films, from 36 countries, the Sri Lanka film, The Road from Elephant Pass, directed, produced and written by Chandran Rutnam, was a Finalist Award Winner, judged by an International Panel of the world's best creative professionals.

Chandran Rutnam was born to a Sri Lankan Tamil father Dr. James T. Rutnam and a Sinhala mother Evelyn Wijeratne, who gave him all his yearning for freedom and adventure. Rutnam was 16-year-old school boy when David Lean arrived in Sri Lanka to shoot his Second World War epic, The Bridge on the River Kwai. The film crew hired a house that belonged to his parents for the shooting, and Rutnam hung out at the sets volunteering odd jobs until finally, he got hired as a stand-by props assistant and gofer. His big moment, Rutnam recalls, came when it was time to shoot the blowing up of the bridge — the film's finale — on location at the scenic Kitulgala river in central Sri Lanka. The crew had laid out only a couple of yards of rail track on either side of the bridge, not enough to show an approaching train. Rutnam's job was to run through a stretch of the jungle on one side working up smoke with a pair of smoke bellows. Of course, those who saw the film only saw the smoke, synchronized with the chugging sounds of a rapidly approaching train.[1][2]

Due to this exposure, to the consternation of his parents, he dropped out of school and went to London to pursue his dream of a career in films. He later moved to the United States and attended the film school at the University of Southern California and the San Fernando Valley College of Law. While working in Hollywood studios, Rutnam's break in selling Sri Lankan locations to international film-makers came when he managed to convince John Derek, director of "Tarzan the Apeman", to shoot the film starring his wife Bo Derek, in Sri Lanka rather than Africa.[1][2][3]

Film career [edit]

Tarzan, the Ape Man [edit]

Ghosts Cant Do It [edit]

  • He also took Bo and John Derek to beaches in Bentota to film Ghosts Cant Do It. There is a carving on a stone in Bentota, which says "Great Scot Loves You" - a message from late John to Bo.

Mother Teresa [edit]

Adara Kathawa [edit]

  • Rutnam also brought to life a beautiful love story between a Tamil boy and a Sinhalese girl in Adara Kathawa (Love Story in Sinhalese) based on the story of his parents. This was prior to the commencement of the current Sri Lankan civil war in 1983.

Poronduwa/Janelaya [edit]

  • He also wrote and directed the Sinhala films, Poronduwa (1993) & Janelaya.[1][2]

The Road from Elephant Pass [edit]

A Common Man [edit]

Prince of Malacca [edit]

The story of a Wall Street hedge fund billionaire and his activities.[4]
Johny, a Wall Street hedge fund billionaire is gathering political intelligence from a Senator in Washington inside information on political trends and the upcoming market and industry affecting legislative decisions. After the arrest of a hedge fund manager, Johny is concerned whether what he is gathering through the Senator would be exposed in the future.[5]
After Johny read an article in the Newsweek magazine by a professor at New York University, he becomes interested in ola-leaf reading which is known as Nadi astrology.[5]
Johny, after seeking nadi astrology in India, gets into a double deal by becoming a CIA’s intelligence officer with a special directive from the President of the United States of America to detect a drug cartel in Southeast Asia, in an exchange for using space and satellite technology to locate an island in the Strait of Malacca where in a tribal community his lover of previous birth is born as a beautiful dancer. According to astrology, when he was a prince and admiral in the Kingdom of Malacca in 1411 A.D., she was a daughter of a Javanese prince and the administrator of Singapura(present day Singapore), a province under the Kingdom of Majapahit based in Java.[4]
The astrology divulges that their untimely death in the previous birth is passing onto the current birth and by getting married to her is the only way he could be saved from the forthcoming disaster.[4]
After practising mantras in the Himalayas under a sage, he acquires the power of controlling others’ thoughts and actions even from remotely and the power of teleportation where he could shift himself between two locations without crossing the physical space. He is using those powers and the latest satellite technology to locate the island and then rescue her in a deadly battle with a dreaded drug lord who wants to possess her.[4]
(The original screenplay is written by Rajkumar Kanagasingam who also authored the book, German Memories in Asia.)[4]

Other credits [edit]

Producer
Production Supervisor
  • Indochine (Malaysian shoot)(Academy Award Winner Best Foreign Language Film 1992)
Production Manager
Director
  • A Common Man (2012)
  • The Road from Elephant Pass (2009)
  • Poronduwa (1993)
  • Witness to a Killing - Janelaya (1990)(Sarasaviya Award)
  • Adara Kathawa (1984)
Writer

Gallery [edit]

See also [edit]

References [edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e f "Dream locales in Lanka". Nirupama Subramaniam. Retrieved 2008-02-04. 
  2. ^ a b c d e f "Moving movie man dreams on". Bandula Jayasekara. Retrieved 2008-02-04. 
  3. ^ a b "Hollywood gets Tsunami plea". BBC. 2005-01-19. Retrieved 2008-02-05. 
  4. ^ a b c d e f "Prince of Malacca, a detective sci-fi & fantasy film, is to be directed by Chandran Rutnam". PR Inside. Retrieved 2012-04-11. 
  5. ^ a b Sashi, Rathi (October 5, 2012). "Chandran Rutnam set to direct "Prince of Malacca" is about a Wall Street hedge fund billionaire and his activities". PR Inside. Retrieved 2012-10-05. 

External links [edit]

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