Entertainment

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Rookantha & Chandralekha

Another place, another time

By Ishara Jayawardane
They wanted to do something unique and they believed that there is talent in Sri Lanka. This is the concept behind S-Three, a group of three influential women who are responsible for bringing Rookantha & Chandralekha down from the United States for a performance.

Rookantha is here in Sri Lanka after nearly four years and will be performing for local audiences.
S-Three is a collaboration of Sangeetha Weeraratne a veteran actress and model, Sudharma Nethicumara, the visionary behind S3 event management company and promoter of the company with her business expertise and Shereen Kumarathunga, a well known name in the entertainment industry. All three have exposure in Sri Lanka as well as abroad in their respective fields.

“We wanted to make a change in the entertainment industry. We wanted to do something new. Rookantha influenced the music culture of the ’90s. We wanted to bring the duo back [Rookantha and Chandralekha], so we invited them and they agreed to come” said Sangeetha.
“We thought that this is the change we were looking for [Rookantha and Chandralekha],” she added.
Sudharma Nethicumara also voiced a similar opinion. “We wanted to bring something new and we decided to create the organisation” she said.

This is the first live performance organised by S3. And they have great ambitions.
“From beauty pageants to fashion shows, from Musicals to Dance extravaganzas, from foreign artistes to Bollywood Superstars, Sri Lanka is about to be hit by a wave of entertainment like never before.” was the bold statement printed in the pamphlet given at the press briefing organised by S3.

Rookantha Goonetilleke and Chandralekha Perera who left Sri Lanka four years ago, at that time did not know when and if they would come back. “It is not the island that was. There is so much change. I am a citizen and lover of this country.
There is now hope and peace. There are new opportunities for music.” said Rookantha.

At the press briefing Rookantha was asked whether he would ever come to Sri Lanka with his family. He answered that for the next few months he would be coming and going, but the basic idea is to come and reside here.
Rookantha and Chandralekha will be performing live at the Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium on August 14 at 7.00 p.m.

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Fun and adventure in deep freeze

ICE AGE 3

By Ishara Jayawardane
Put two gigantic Tyrannosaurus Rexes and a group of mammals hell bent on rescuing a friend of their’s, who has been captured and taken to a subterranean world of dinosaurs, and you have ICE AGE 3 – a fun packed, absolutely thrilling animated adventure.

When I got to Liberty cinema there was excitement. The screening was for invitees only, and the cinema was packed to capacity. The kids loved it right throughout the movie, while the adults too, were caught up in the movie. It was a load of fun.
The story is located in a time called the ICE AGE and begins with a group of Mammals comprising a Mammoth husband called Maddy and a pregnant Mammoth wife called Ellie. There is also an ageing sabre tooth Tiger called Diego, who feels he is losing his “edge”, and a lovable ground Sloth called Sid.
Even though everyone thought the Dinosaurs were extinct, Sid discovers a subterranean passage leading to a lost world of Dinosaurs, located below the earth’s surface.

The events that occur before this discovery by Sid are quite touching. Ellie and Maddy, the Mammoth parents are about to take on the responsibilities of parenthood. Diego, the sabre tooth Tiger feels he is no longer as fast or powerful as he used to be and hence, no longer a part of his group of friends. Therefore, he plans on leaving.

Sid is upset at the fact that his group of friends are breaking up and wants a family of his own, so he will not feel lonely. And it is this yearning that gives rise to some incredible events that makes ICE AGE 3 a memorable and hilarious animated movie.
Sid wanders through the world of the ice age. Suddenly the earth below him breaks and he plummets into an underground cavern where he discovers three eggs; Three Tyrannosaurus Rex eggs. Sid, ignorant of this, is deliriously happy, now that he can form his own family. He takes the eggs out of the cavern and prepares to raise them as his own. And when the mother Tyrannosaurs Rex finds that her eggs are missing, she emerges from the lost world of Dinosaurs and into the Ice Age through the passage way.

Soon the Dinosaur eggs hatch and three baby Dinosaurs emerge into the Ice Age, unaware that their home is the lost world of the Dinosaurs located beneath the surface. However, this is all about to change when the mother Tyrannosaurus finds Sid and her babies. Due to the bond formed between Sid and the T-Rex babies, the mother T-Rex carries them all away to the lost world of the Dinosaurs.

Maddy, Ellie, Diego and Crash and Eddie, two fraternal twin brother Opossums form a fellowship and descend into the world of the Dinosaurs in search of their friends. There they meet “Buck” a one-eyed buccaneer Weasel, who tells them that there is a bigger, fiercer and more dangerous T-Rex than the T-Rex that carried Sid away. This T-Rex is called “Rudy”, and Rudy is the reason why Buck has lost one eye. Incidentally, the knife that Buck carries is a tooth of Rudy’s removed from a dangerous escape when Buck was in Rudy’s mouth.

Buck, out of the goodness of his heart, decides to help the mammals from the Ice Age find their friend, and from that moment onwards, it is an exhilarating and fantastic adventure of love, sacrifice and friendship.
So make a date to watch ICE AGE 3, it is well worth it.

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