Sinamkol

Last updated

Sinamkol
Directed byRanjith Joseph
Written byTheepachelvan
Ranjith Joseph
Based onAftermath of Sri Lankan Civil War
Produced byRaja Jayakulasingham
Karikalan
Gayathiri Ranjith
Bakialakhmi Venkatesh
StarringAravindhan
Narvini Dery Ravishangar
Leelawathy
Sinthar Athith
Mathumathi
CinematographyM R Palanikumaar
Edited byArunachalam Sivalingam
Music by N. R. Raghunanthan
Production
companies
Skymagic Pictures
Bakialakhmi Talkies
Release date
  • 4 January 2020 (2020-01-04)
Running time
121 minutes
CountriesIndia
Sri Lanka
LanguageTamil

Sinamkol is a 2020 Tamil-language war drama film directed by Ranjith Joseph and starring Aravindhan. It is a Sri Lankan-Indian co-production.

Contents

Plot

Sinamkol is the story of a Tamil Eelam soldier Amudhan, his incredible journey and tribunals, as he searches for his wife and daughter after being released from detention by the genocidal Sri Lankan regime. Parallely, a Tamil family from diaspora visiting Tamil Eelam encounters troubles of post-war challenges. Sinamkol carries a powerful political message of post-war challenges faced by the minority Tamils.

Cast

Production

The film is about the change that Jaffna has undergone in the past ten years. [1] The film was shot in northern and eastern Sri Lanka. [2] Other than three cast members, most of the cast are newcomers. [3] The film was in the making for the past ten years. [4] The film was shot in Jaffna and Mullaitivu. [5] The film was shot in places affected by the Sri Lankan Civil War. [6] Much of the crew members are Sinhalese and the film was funded by Tamilians living abroad. [7] The film is about a militant who is released from a Sinhalese controlled prison and returns to his motherland. [8]

Awards and nominations

YearAwardCategoryNomineeResultRef.
2020 Norway Tamil Film Festival Best Feature Film Tamil – DiasporaSinamkolWon [9]
Best Director Tamil – DiasporaRanjith JosephWon
Best Actor Male Tamil – DiasporaAravindhanWon

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam</span> Militant Tamil organisation in Sri Lanka (1976–2009)

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam was a Tamil militant organization that was based in the northern and eastern Sri Lanka. The LTTE fought to create an independent Tamil state called Tamil Eelam in the northeast of the island in response to violent persecution and discriminatory policies against Sri Lankan Tamils by the Sinhalese-dominated Sri Lankan Government.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sri Lankan Civil War</span> 1983–2009 conflict

The Sri Lankan Civil War was a civil war fought in Sri Lanka from 1983 to 2009. Beginning on 23 July 1983, it was an intermittent insurgency against the government by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam led by Velupillai Prabhakaran. The LTTE fought to create an independent Tamil state called Tamil Eelam in the north-east of the island, due to the continuous discrimination and violent persecution against Sri Lankan Tamils by the Sinhalese-dominated Sri Lanka government.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Velupillai Prabhakaran</span> Leader of militant Tamil organisation in Sri Lanka (1954–2009)

Velupillai Prabhakaran was an Eelam Tamil revolutionary. Prabhakaran was a major figure of Tamil nationalism, and the founder and leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The LTTE was a militant organization that sought to create an independent Tamil state in the north and east of Sri Lanka in reaction to the oppression of the country's Tamil population by the Sri Lankan government. Under his direction, the LTTE undertook a military campaign against the Sri Lankan government for more than 25 years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tamil National Alliance</span> Centre-left political alliance in Sri Lanka

The Tamil National Alliance is a political alliance in Sri Lanka that represents the country's Sri Lankan Tamil minority. It was formed in October 2001 by a group of moderate Tamil nationalist parties and former militant groups. The alliance originally supported self-determination in an autonomous state for the island's Tamils. It supported negotiations with the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to resolve the civil war in Sri Lanka. The TNA was considered a political proxy of the LTTE which selected some of its candidates even though its leadership maintains it never supported the LTTE and merely negotiated with the LTTE just as the Government did.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sri Lankan Tamils</span> South Asian ethnic group

Sri Lankan Tamils, also known as Ceylon Tamils or Eelam Tamils, are Tamils native to the South Asian island state of Sri Lanka. Today, they constitute a majority in the Northern Province, form the plurality in the Eastern Province and are in the minority throughout the rest of the country. 70% of Sri Lankan Tamils in Sri Lanka live in the Northern and Eastern provinces.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tamil Eelam</span> Proposed independent state in Sri Lanka

Tamil Eelam is a proposed independent state that many Tamils in Sri Lanka and the Eelam Tamil diaspora aspire to create in the north and east of Sri Lanka. Large sections of the North-East were under de facto control of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) for most of the 1990s–2000s during the Sri Lankan Civil War. Tamil Eelam, although encompassing the traditional homelands of Eelam Tamils, does not have official status or recognition by world states. The name is derived from the ancient Tamil name for Sri Lanka, Eelam.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1984 Kokkilai massacre (LTTE)</span>

The Kokkilai massacre was a massacre of Sinhalese civilians carried out by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in the coastal village of Kokkilai. It was the group's second massacre of Sinhalese civilians.

The Anuradhapura massacre occurred in Sri Lanka in 1985 and was carried out by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. This was the largest massacre of Sinhalese civilians by the LTTE to date; it was also the first major operation carried out by the LTTE outside a Tamil majority area. Initially, EROS claimed responsibility for the massacre, but it later retracted the statement, and joined the PLOTE in denouncing the incident. The groups later accused the LTTE for the attack. Since then, no Tamil militant group has admitted to committing the massacre. However, state intelligence discovered that the operation was ordered by the LTTE's leader Velupillai Prabhakaran. He assigned the massacre to the LTTE Mannar commander Victor and it was executed by Victor's subordinate Anthony Kaththiar. The LTTE claimed the attack was in revenge of the 1985 Valvettiturai massacre, where the Sri Lanka Army killed 70 Tamil civilians in Prabhakaran's hometown. In 1988, the LTTE claimed that the massacre was planned and executed under the guidance of Indian intelligence agency, RAW.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jaffna District</span> Administrative District in Northern, Sri Lanka

Jaffna District is one of the 25 districts of Sri Lanka, the second level administrative division of the country. The district is administered by a District Secretariat headed by a District Secretary appointed by the central government of Sri Lanka. The capital of the district is the city of Jaffna.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kilinochchi District</span> Administrative District in Northern, Sri Lanka

Kilinochchi District is one of the 25 districts of Sri Lanka, the second level administrative division of the country. The district is administered by a District Secretariat headed by a District Secretary appointed by the central government of Sri Lanka. The capital of the district is the town of Kilinochchi.

Eelam War I is the name given to the initial phase of the armed conflict between the government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lionair Flight 602</span> 1998 airliner shootdown

Lionair Flight 602 was a Lionair Antonov An-24RV which crashed into the sea off the north-western coast of Sri Lanka on 29 September 1998. The aircraft departed Jaffna Airport with 48 passengers and a crew of seven; it disappeared from radar screens ten minutes into the flight. Initial reports indicated that the plane had been shot down by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) using a man-portable surface-to-air missile, which has since been confirmed. All aboard were presumed killed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jaffna hospital massacre</span> Massacre in October 1987 during the Sri Lankan Civil War

The Jaffna hospital massacre occurred on October 21 and 22, 1987, during the Sri Lankan Civil War, when troops of the Indian Peace Keeping Force entered the premises of the Jaffna Teaching Hospital in Jaffna, Sri Lanka, an island nation in South Asia, and killed between 60 and 70 patients and staff. The rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, the government of Sri Lanka, and independent observers such as the University Teachers for Human Rights and others have called it a massacre of civilians.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1989 Valvettiturai massacre</span> Killing of Sri Lankan Tamil civilians by Indian soldiers

The 1989 Valvettiturai massacre occurred on 2 and 3 August 1989 in the small coastal town of Valvettiturai, on the Jaffna Peninsula in Sri Lanka. Sixty-four Sri Lankan Tamil civilians were killed by soldiers of the Indian Peace Keeping Force. The massacre followed an attack on the soldiers by rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam cadres. The rebel attack had left six Indian soldiers, including an officer, dead, and another 10 injured. Indian authorities claimed that the civilians were caught in crossfire. Journalists such as Rita Sebastian of the Indian Express, David Husego of the Financial Times and local human rights groups such as the University Teachers for Human Rights have reported quoting eyewitness accounts that it was a massacre of civilians. George Fernandes, who later served as defense minister of India (1998–2004), called the massacre India’s My Lai.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of Sri Lanka (1948–present)</span>

The history of Sri Lanka from 1948 to the present is marked by the independence of the country through to Dominion and becoming a Republic. Currently, there is a peaceful situation in Sri Lanka and the country is being run very well. The civil war in Sri Lanka ended in 2009 and there is no problem between the Sinhalese and Tamil people of Sri Lanka and they live in harmony. Sri Lanka's independence in 1948 made Sri Lanka the prosperous state it is today.

Sri Lankans in India mainly refer to Tamil people of Sri Lankan origin in India and non resident Sri Lankans. They are partly who migrated to India and their descendants and mostly refugees from Sri Lanka because of the recently concluded Sri Lankan Civil War. There is also a small population of Sinhalese people in India, numbering about 3,500 and mostly located in Delhi and Chennai. 57 Sri Lankans have become Indian citizens through naturalization since 2017. According to records with the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, as on January 1,2021, there were 58,843 Sri Lankan refugees staying in 108 refugee camps in Tamil Nadu and 54 in Odisha.

The Indian intervention in the Sri Lankan Civil War was the deployment of the Indian Peace Keeping Force in Sri Lanka intended to perform a peacekeeping role. The deployment followed the Indo-Sri Lankan Accord between India and Sri Lanka of 1987 which was intended to end the Sri Lankan Civil War between separatist Sri Lankan Tamil nationalists, principally the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), and the Sri Lankan Military.

A mass murder of Police officers took place on 11 June 1990. Members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a militant organization, are alleged to have killed over 600 unarmed Sri Lanka Police officers in Eastern Province, Sri Lanka. Some accounts have estimated the number killed as high as 774. It was the deadliest terrorist incident in the world at the time until the September 11 attacks occurred in 2001.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1987 Eastern Province massacres</span> Massacres of Sinhalese in the Eastern Province by Tamil militant groups

The 1987 Eastern Province massacres were a series of massacres of the Sinhalese population in the Eastern Province of Sri Lanka by Tamil mobs and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) during the Sri Lankan Civil War. Though they began spontaneously, they became more organized, with the LTTE leading the violence. Over 200 Sinhalese were killed by mob and militant violence, and over 20,000 fled the Eastern Province. The violence has been described as having had the appearance of a pogrom, with the objective of removing Sinhalese from the Eastern Province.

Contributions to popular culture involving direct reference to the Sri Lankan Tamil community in Indian cinema are listed below. All communities that speak Tamil and originally came from Sri Lanka are included. Tamils of Sri Lanka today are a trans-national minority and are found across the globe. While most films on the topic are made in Tamil cinema, there has also been Malayalam and Hindi content on the area.

References

  1. "Sinhalese technicians in a film on war-torn Eelam". DT Next . 6 May 2019. Archived from the original on 31 May 2023. Retrieved 31 March 2024.
  2. "First Eelam film to screen across Western countries receives rave reviews". Tamil Guardian . 5 January 2020. Archived from the original on 28 December 2021. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
  3. Rajendran, Gopinath (14 September 2020). "Tamil producers and actors are not ready to try new ideas: Phathmen". The New Indian Express . Archived from the original on 19 January 2022. Retrieved 15 June 2021.
  4. "'I've been working for the last ten years to create this film' – interview with director of Sinamkol". Tamil Guardian . 22 February 2020. Archived from the original on 10 October 2020. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
  5. "For the first time, film on Tamil Eelam gets 'U' certificate". The Times of India . 20 May 2019. Archived from the original on 22 May 2019. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
  6. Aiyappan, Ashameera (6 May 2019). "Sinamkol, 'first film shot in war-torn Sri Lankan regions'". The New Indian Express .
  7. "இலங்கை தமிழர்கள் வாழ்க்கையை பின்னணியாக கொண்ட சினம் கொள்". Dinamalar (in Tamil). 30 January 2017. Archived from the original on 30 May 2019. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
  8. குமார், முத்துராசா (18 May 2018). "இது நடந்திருந்தால் முள்ளிவாய்க்கால் படுகொலையைப் பார்த்திருக்க மாட்டோம்" - ஈழக்கவிஞர் தீபச்செல்வன்! #VikatanExclusive". Ananda Vikatan (in Tamil). Archived from the original on 16 May 2022. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
  9. "NTFF 2020: The Winners of Feature film| Short film | Music Video|Official Selection| Tamil – Diaspora|". Norway Tamil Film Festival . Archived from the original on 10 October 2020. Retrieved 9 October 2020.