• Co-Director Chathurangana De Silva on the upcoming movie

The popularity of boy bands is seen globally, and many American, British, and Korean groups have a strong fanbase in Sri Lanka. However, music producer Chathurangana De Silva, along with his team, is determined to draw attention to local boy bands, taking their talents from stage to screen. He is doing this through the upcoming movie, ‘Solo Town’, which is promoted as Sri Lanka’s first boy band movie.

Stage Adventures Production, in association with Gullio Studios, is presenting the movie, which is produced by Uditha Cooray and Sewwandi Weerasinghe. The story and screenplay are by De Silva, Ayesha Jayarathne, and Prasadi Abeygunarathne, with Sahan Wickramarachchi credited as Director of Photography and Co-Director.

The cast includes Raween Kanishka, Shenaya Vanhoff, Michelle Dilhara, Semini Iddamalgoda, and Sujeewa Priyalal, with guest appearances by Duleeka Marapana, Falan Andrea, Reffealla Fernando, and Mihindu Ariyaratne.

With the movie set to hit theatres soon, De Silva spoke to The Daily Morning Brunch about ‘Solo Town’, what inspired its creation, and how the team hopes to add a new tune to Sri Lanka’s film industry.

A movie for everyone

According to De Silva, the target audience is the young adult fan base, but the plot of the movie will be of interest to the community as a whole. “The movie starts where the band has already disbanded, and the movie addresses what made them go on their own path. By the end of the movie, there is this one community purpose that the band is coming together to perform for,” he shared, adding that there is a secondary storyline, where a sister is trying to bring this band together, so that her little sister gets to see the band performing live.

“Though we claim to be a young-adult-targeted movie, we are actually trying to reach the whole community through the movie,” De Silva shared.

The movie is a musical drama, and has about eight songs in total. When asked if he has seen a demand or interest for musical dramas in Sri Lanka, De Silva explained that music plays a big part in the country’s entertainment industry, and De Silva’s own work as a music producer was a big influence on ‘Solo Town’ being a musical drama.

While talking about ‘Solo Town’ the movie, De Silva mentioned that last year, they established a band by the same name, and the movie came about as a way to promote the band. “By the launch of the latest song, ‘Suralaliniye’, there was good feedback for the boy band concept in Sri Lanka. Mainly, our fanbase is looking at BTS, One Direction, etc., but there was a vacuum locally, which was filled by Solo Town. That really drew a lot of attention to the band, and encouraged us to do something and take the band even further.” 

A team effort

De Silva touched on the crew of the movie, pointing out that it was a collaborative effort, with most aspects of production involving at least two people. “The movie concept is about teamwork,” he said, sharing that, as a music director and now a filmmaker, he has noticed that what we lack most in all aspects in the country is the ability to work together.

“One of my personal visions is to bring people together so that we can work together. For example, I did the directing with another person. We co-directed the movie. The screenplay was with two colleagues. The art direction was done by two people,” he said, adding that one can achieve long-term success if they work together.

In terms of the cast, it is evident that a lot of new talent will be sharing the screen with veteran actors. De Silva said four newcomers faced the challenge of not just singing and dancing, but also acting. They attended workshops and underwent training, and worked with seniors like Duleeka Marapana, Semini Iddamalgoda, and Sujeewa Priyalal. They also had the opportunity of working with actors their own age, like Raween Kanishka and Michelle Dilhara.

When asked about the challenges of working with such a large cast and crew, De Silva said: “It went well, mainly because of the concept of the movie. Because the concept was relatively new to the industry, even the senior artists hadn’t done much related to a boy band, and it was a very different experience for them.”

He added that the movie aimed to deviate from the genres typically seen in Sri Lankan cinema, such as romance. “If you look at the movies that have been successful in the recent past, such as ‘Gajaman’, ‘Adaraneeya Prarthana’, and ‘Visal Adare’, all these movies have very current topics. The music is very current, and people want to see this on the big screen, rather than watching a music video or teledrama. We can see that people have a thirst to see some new concepts on the big screen.”

He went on to say: “We always see Hollywood and Bollywood movies coming up with new concepts, such as picturesque movies or science fiction movies. New concepts are brought to the screen by these industries, but in our industry, it is always the same old content, even though we are fed up.” De Silva said this motivated them to offer something fresh for local audiences, and said they believed this new concept would draw audiences to ‘Solo Town’.

He will be continuing his efforts to give something new to Sri Lankan cinephiles, meeting the demand he sees for good movies and different topics.

In terms of what comes next, De Silva said they plan on holding a concert series under the name ‘Solo Town’, especially since the movie brings together many popular artists, such as Kanchana Anuradhi, Supun Perera, Mihindu Ariyaratne, and Falan Andrea.