Deepa Mehta Returns to Sri Lanka to Celebrate Cinema and Storytelling

COLOMBO (News 1st) - Acclaimed filmmaker and Academy Award nominee Deepa Mehta will return to Sri Lanka this month for a special event celebrating her work and the country’s role in international filmmaking.

Mehta, best known for her powerful and thought-provoking films such as Water (2005), Midnight’s Children (2012), and Funny Boy (2020), has a unique and ongoing connection to Sri Lanka. All three films were either entirely or partially shot in the country, using its diverse landscapes and cultural settings to bring deeply emotional and politically complex stories to life.
   
Her visit, taking place on May 31 and June 1, is part of a larger effort to highlight Sri Lanka as a vibrant destination for global cinema and film tourism. The event includes film screenings and discussions, offering audiences and filmmakers a chance to reflect on how Sri Lanka has helped shape some of Mehta’s most memorable work.

Originally planned to be filmed in India, Water—a story about widows in pre-independence India—faced protests and political pressure that forced the production to relocate. Mehta chose Sri Lanka as an alternative, where the film was successfully completed. It later received an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film, earning global recognition.

Similarly, Midnight’s Children, based on Salman Rushdie’s Booker Prize-winning novel, and Funny Boy, an adaptation of Shyam Selvadurai’s coming-of-age novel set during the Sri Lankan civil war, both drew deeply from the country’s history, landscapes, and people.

Her return is more than a personal visit—it is a recognition of Sri Lanka’s cinematic potential and a call to international filmmakers to rediscover the island as a compelling canvas for storytelling.

The special event is being hosted by Cinnamon Hotels & Resorts as part of its Signature Weekend series, which brings together culture, creativity, and conversation in iconic Sri Lankan settings.