“Giri Shikara Meda” is a tele drama produced by Roger Sveen, a Norwegian, and his wife, Janaki Sveen Sinhala. They have produced this teledrama, mainly due to their daughter Ainas’s love for music and drama. Aina and her brother Nikolai are also acting in the teledrama. Roger Sveen is a resident of Sri Lanka, since 1989.
The theme of the drama is that the Sinhala and Tamil people should live in peace and harmony, helping each other and as members of one family and that the young generation should not blindly follow the out-dated concepts of the older generation.
In the story, Saraswathi (Veena Jayakodi), is a poor Tamil woman working in a tea estate. She is undergoing immense difficulties to educate her son, Neelan (Ruwan Wickramasinghe). The Superintendent of the estate (Buddhadasa Vithanachchi) and his wife Nelka (Sriyani Amarasena) think that it is only their son, Kosala (Amitha Abeysekara), who should study and get high positions. Neelan and Kosala are of the same age and despite objections from his parents, Kosala is very close to Neelan and helps him in his studies. Kosala is also friendly with Lisa (Aina Sveen) and Niko (Nikolai Sveen), the children of Thompson (Roger Sveen), the owner of the estate. Happiness, sadness, tears and all their thoughts and fancies are the story of Giri Shikara Meda.
The other characters of the drama, are potrayed by Sumana Wanninayake, Suneetha Wimalaweera, Edward Gunawardane, Kumara Thirimaduwa, Saddha Uthpala Kandage, Victor Ramanayake, Ravindra Kodagoda and Suramya Mapitiya.
“Giri Shikara Meda”, which is produced by Roger and Janaki Sveen, is directed by Malith Hirnaya. Others involved are, Camera : Aruna Luniwila, Editing : Kanchana Amaratunga, Art Direction: Suneth Nandalal, Music : Navaratna Gamage, Lyrics : Wasantha Kumara Kobawaka, Songs: Uresha Ravihari and Script: Leel Ananda Gajanayaka.
Roger and Janki Sveen, have also produced another Sinhala teledrama in Norway. This will be broadcasted in Sri Lanka shortly.