- Chandran Rutnam
-
Chandran Rutnam Born Sri Lanka Nationality Sri Lankan Occupation Film director, producer, screenwriter, entrepreneur Known for Film making Title President/CEO
of
Asian Film Locations Services(Pvt)Ltd.
&
Asian Aviation Centre(Pvt)Ltd.Religion Christian Children James, Daniel, Evelyn, Chanel & Danara Website Asian Film Locations Services(Pvt)Ltd., Asian Aviation Centre(Pvt)Ltd. Chandran Rutnam is a well known film maker from Sri Lanka and was more than 38 years in Los Angeles. He is of mixed minority Tamil and majority Sinhalese ancestry. Having started his movie career with Britain's Sir David Lean in The Bridge on the River Kwai at sixteen, and having studied with American director George Lucas in film school in the USA, Rutnam has 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.
He is the President & Chief Executive Officer of the Asian Film Location Services(Pvt)Ltd. in Sri Lanka which mostly hosts foreign films to be filmed in Sri Lanka.
He founded the once popular local airline company, Lionair and currently owns the Asian Aviation Centre(Pvt)Ltd. in Sri Lanka.
Contents
Biography
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. Chandran 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 standby 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 doing jobs 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. Steven Spielberg refers to Rutnam as "My most valued friend in the Far East.[1][2][3]
Film career
- The movie, "Tarzan and the Ape Man" starring Bo Derek as Jane was shot at Udawatte Kelle, Kandy.
- He also took Bo and John Derek to beaches in Bentota beaches to film "Ghosts Cant Do It". Even today there is a carving on a stone in Bentota, which says "Great Scot Loves You" - a message from late John to Bo.
- Mr. Rutnam and his team brought the Geraldine Chaplin and Mother Teresa to Sri Lanka and built Calcutta in Colombo and a little bit of Oslo at a warehouse in Kelaniya.
- 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 real life story of his parents. This was prior to the commencement of the current Sri Lankan civil war in 1983.
- He also wrote and directed the Sinhala films, Poronduwa (1993), Janelaya and The Road from Elephant Pass (2009) which won several awards.[1][2]
Other credits
- Producer
- Dheewari (2006)
- The Sleeping Dictionary (2003)
- Mother Teresa: In the Name of God's Poor (1997)
- The Second Jungle Book: Mowgli & Baloo (1997)
- Bloodsport III (1997)
- Bloodsport 2 (1996)
- Ghosts Can't Do It (1990)
- Stein des Todes, Der (1987)
- Death Stone (1986)
- Production Manager
- Beyond Rangoon (1995)
- The Iron Triangle (1989)
- Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)
- Director
- Poronduwa (1993)
- The Road from Elephant Pass (2008)
- Writer
See also
- Evelyn Rutnam Institute for Inter-Cultural Studies
References
- ^ a b c d "Dream locales in Lanka". Nirupama Subramaniam. http://www.hinduonnet.com/mag/2005/04/17/stories/2005041700600800.htm. Retrieved 2008-02-04.
- ^ a b c d "Moving movie man dreams on". Bandula Jayasekara. http://www.sundaytimes.lk/980524/plus6.html. Retrieved 2008-02-04.
- ^ "Hollywood gets Tsunami plea". BBC. 2005-01-19. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4186727.stm. Retrieved 2008-02-05.
External links
- Chandran Rutnam at the Internet Movie Database
- 'Water' the Best Foreign Film at Hollywood
- Deepa Mehta's film - 'WATER'
- Film company sues Mahaweli Authority, NFC
- Alimankada –Behind the scenes
- A 'land like no other' for film locations
- Breaking the artificial barriers
- Water nominated for Academy Awards
- New York Festivals
- On horseback for peace and charity
- Chandran Rutnam Videos
Categories:- Sri Lankan Tamil people
- Sinhalese people
- Living people
- English-language film directors
- American film editors
- American film producers
- American film directors
- American screenwriters
- People from Los Angeles, California
- American people of Sri Lankan descent
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