There’s nothing quite like watching a movie in one’s own language, or listening to the music of a favourite local artistes to feel at home even at 35,000 feet, a fact that Emirates, the world’s largest airline, has invested in with an award-winning inflight entertainment system that caters to hundreds of nationalities including Sri Lankans.
Taking Sri Lankan popular culture to the skies across the world, Emirates’ ICE (Information, Communications, Entertainment) inflight entertainment system offers four Sinhala movies and 13 channels of Sinhala music, catering to a wide palette of genres and styles that will surprise and delight travellers from the paradise isle.
“For a global airline flying to over 160 destinations, catering to local and regional tastes is not an easy task, but Emirates continues to show how much it cares about making passengers feel at home with its inflight entertainment system,” said Chandana de Silva, Emirates Area Manager for Sri Lanka and the Maldives.
“Not many Sri Lankan passengers are even aware of the effort made to offer Sinhala and Tamil content, and while some would choose to watch the latest Hollywood blockbusters featured each month, the availability of local music and movies is a great touch, and something that will make Sri Lankans feel proud.
“This also provides an opportunity for tourists visiting the country for the first time to get a glimpse of the sights and sounds of Sri Lanka through the country’s movies and music,” he said.
The selection, featured in the latest Emirates ICE Guide on board Emirates flights and viewable at www.emirates.com encompasses movies in the comedy, historical drama and romance genres, with titles such as Bimba Devi alias Yashodhara, Dr. Nawariyan, Porisadaya and Nilanjana.
The choice of Sinhala music on ICE is eclectic, ranging from the classics of Pandit W. D. Amaradeva, Victor Rathnayake and Nanda Malini to the evergreen hits of Clarence Wijewardena, Keerthi Pasquel, Jananath Warakagoda, Freddie Silva and C. D. Fonseka; and the vocal stylings of Deepika Priyadarshani Peiris, Shanika Sumanasekera, Priyani Jayasinghe, and Shashika Nisansala. For Tamil speaking passengers, ICE also features 10 Tamil movies, two Tamil TV shows and two music channels including the hits of A. R. Rahman that are enjoyed by many Sri Lankans.