A Coincidental meeting of a soldier and an Army Officer, at a dark night, in a forest burning with war. The soldier’s efforts born out of sheer respect to save the life of his critically wounded senior officer become futile at the end. At the senior officer's death, he, nagged constantly by his conscience, and its questioning, feels that he too was responsible for the death of his senior officer. In the face of this, the soldier begins to probe into the past of the Army Officer’s life and engages in boundless sacrifice to bring justice to him and in that process he gets his past wrongs corrected Thus, “Beneath Sun and Moon” will tomorrow bring us the true strength of the human bond created between an ideal soldier and a dying Army Officer.
Ira Hada Yata ... explore life, to perceive life, to appreciate life,… You Meet….
Mahasen
He, who wished for an equitable world, hence, would not pardon even the wrongs committed by his own kindred, was always truthful. He was just. He, as a hot current of waters under sea, posses a sensitive and compassionate heart underneath his Khaki uniformed, dignifiedly principled persona. He tried to relish life by being unconventional and by falling in love with his sensitive heart that pounded lovingly under his rigid principles.
He, who was not fortunate enough to adorn the crown of his love, the results of a disobedient decision, has gone too far by then. He was Mahasen.
Rakhitha
He, who lives with an inexplicable fear about life, takes boundless efforts to probe into the past of a fine persona he meets at war-front. Though he tries hard to save a life that is on the brink of dying out, when his efforts became a non-reality, he begins to reproach himself thinking that it was because of his fault that the death of his senior officer occurred. Therefore, to compensate for his negligence, he makes bondless sacrifices in his quest for the dead person’s past, showering compassion to the dead person’s kindred on behalf of the deceased. He sensitively depicts the authentic feelings of an ideal soldier. He is Rakhitha.
Rekha
She, who reveled in the joys of the youth, knows no lamenting about life other than saying ‘life is beautiful’. She has the solid character to sacrifice limitlessly for the sake of one person with whom she becomes closely acquainted in her life, and to wait for him for a long time. Outwardly, nobody could have seen that she is a woman with such capacity for sacrifice, but she who adopts perfection for a soldier’s life, is Rekha
Banu
She is a young girl, at the sacrifice of her life, has taken arms and stepped into the battlefield for the sake of the salvation of her race. She, who generously sacrifices all her young emotions for the cause of her organization, would sometimes raise her voice against the malpractices and injustices that take place within their organization itself. From time to time, it can be seen that, from her, who has buried all wonderful youthful wishes in order to support a struggle to salvage her race, the forcefully repressed human feelings of the unconscious mind coming into surface. She directs us to read about strong human feelings that surge against ruthless terrorist feelings. She is Banu.
Thiruba Devi
She saw through life within the miseries of a refugee camp, which she thought was her destiny. She might perhaps have inherited from her blood relatives the courage to live courageously further on, when the bonds of love were broken and deserted her in front of her own eyes. Though, born with rigid cultural bonds, she possessed the courage to go against those cultural bonds to live with the man she loved, also, to bear all the sorrow that came to her at an unexpected moment, to face all the humiliations that were directed to her by the two prejudiced races. With true compassion she bestows her womb to bear a child of Sinhala blood, hence, she is one of the true links of the peace causeway that unites North and South. She is “Thiruba Devi”
Herath Menike
Due to her respect towards cast based traditions that descend from generations, she intervenes into her children’s personal lives in different ways not letting her children flee by their free feelings and thoughts. At the end, when she resolves to disentangle herself from the traditional ways of her past-thinking and tries to enter into an enlightened world, everything has come to and end. This is how Herath Menike is.
Sama
She too is born with five senses and owns a sensitive mind though born to a Sinhala father from a Tamil mother’s womb. However, she is still naïve to understand how the red blood, which is the life flow of every human being, is categorized as Sinhala or Tamil. As a little girl, she is bred in a Tamil society but later on, she lives in a Sinhala society bearing different kinds of sorrows. It is not a problem for her whether she belongs to Sinhala or Tamil nationality. She has rights by blood inheritance both for the Sinhala and Tamil societies. Therefore, she too has t he right to live freely anywhere in this country. This little girl is “Sama”. Please extend your compassionate hands to her.
‘Ira Handa Yata’ is to be played by an experienced cast including Mahendra Perera, Palitha Silva, Chandani Seneviratne, Roger Seneviratne, Kaushalya Fernando, Damitha Abeyratne, Bimal Jayakody together with newcomers Sheryl Becker and Dharshani Tasha.
“What the war has presented to multi ethnic and multi religious background of this country is a question that we all must ask from ourselves,” says Benette. The experienced director is to discuss how we could understand the events of the vicious war we are experiencing throughout the recent history and how we could use the truth revealed for the advancement of society.
“As preached by the Lord Buddha if there is something that we cannot hide eternally that is only the Sun, Moon and the truth. “Ira Handa Yata” is to resurrect the series of events that took place in this country by disclosing the truth behind them,” the director said.
While the film will be done in Sinhala, English subtitles will be added for international screenings. Benette is also planning to release a Tamil dubbed version of the film for the Tamil filmgoers.
The technical staff of the film include Priyantha Dissanayake as the make-up artist, Sujeewa Gunaratne as art director, Kumara Karawdeniya as costume designer, Nadeeka Guruge as music director.
Cinematographer is Kalinga Deshappriya, Ranjan Prasanna is the assistant director, Priyantha Kithalagama and Anura Gambeera Arachchi will handle production management.
