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Sri Lankan filmmaker attacked by mob

Sri Lankan filmmaker Thushara Peiris lies on a hospital bed in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on Thursday as he recovers from injuries sustained during a trip to India. PHOTO: AFP

A Sri Lankan filmmaker has ended up in hospital after making a damning film on the Tamil Tigers and trying to have it processed in a studio in a Tamil-majority region of India.

Thushara Peiris was set upon by a furious mob outside Gemini Studios in Chennai, capital of southern Tamil Nadu State, on Monday, witnesses said.

He was rescued by film studio staff and police, and flown back to Colombo -- but has lost the original film rolls which are still with the studio.

"They punched me on the eye, on the nose and hit me on my head. I fell on the ground," Peiris, 39, said from his bed in a hospital late last week.

"I was ultimately rescued and returned to Colombo the same evening. I want the studio to return my film and the negative without damage," he said.

Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama, meanwhile, said he would use diplomatic channels to secure the release of the film footage, a state-run Sri Lankan newspaper reported on Saturday.

Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels still command some support in Tamil-majority parts of India, even though they are held responsible for the 1991 murder of former Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi and has been branded a terrorist outfit by New Delhi.

Peiris' movie is titled Prabhakaran, the same name of the Tamil Tiger leader who has been battling Sri Lanka's Sinhalese majority since 1972.

The movie portrays the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam as a ruthless terror outfit that forces schoolchildren to join their ranks -- something that has been well documented by rights groups.

But the film takes the allegations of ruthlessness a step further, with the protagonist forced into suicide missions despite being pregnant.

The ethnic Sinhalese director, however, insisted he was being objective -- even though he admits his inspiration for some of the characters come from accounts given by the Sri Lankan military.

"Those protesters misunderstood my film. They thought it was against the Tamils, but I was only making a statement against terrorism and pointing out that innocent and poor people end up as victims," Peiris said.
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