The coming of age movie ‘Funny Boy’ set to be screened on Netflix next month faced several issues before it could actually be shot in Sri Lanka.
The Director of the movie Deepa Mehta told Daily Mirror in a video interview that it took one year to obtain permission to shoot the film in Sri Lanka.
Mehta said that initially she was not given permission to record the film in Sri Lanka.
The authorities were of the opinion that the movie did not give the correct depiction of Sri Lanka.
She also found it hard to rope in Tamil actors and actresses from Sri Lanka to appear in the movie.
“Tamils were apprehensive to appear in a homosexual film. They don’t want to be in the limelight because they don’t know what will happen to them,” she said.
Deepa Mehta said that she had approached a number of Tamils in Colombo, Canada, London and New York to appear in the film.
Despite all the issues, Mehta says she was committed to go ahead with the movie as she wanted the oppression of minorities in Sri Lanka to be brought out into the open.
The movie, based on the book by Shyam Selvadurai, is now set to be screened at a human rights event in India and is also Canada’s pick for the Academy Awards (Oscar).
