When someone asks which film was shot at the highest-altitude, it might be difficult to give a direct answer. But it’s none other than the film ‘Guru Geethaya’, directed by Upali Gamlath and produced by Dr. Arosha Fernando. It was filmed at the highest-altitude in the Everest mountain range of Nepal at an altitude of 11,000 to 18,000 feet above the sea level.
The theme of the film ‘Guru Geethaya’ is the world famous novel ‘The First Teacher’ written by Chingiz Aitmatov born on December 12, 1928 in Sheker, Kyrgyzstan. The book has been translated into Sinhala under the title ‘Guru Geethaya’.
Snow-covered plateau
Director Upali Gamlath
Film producer Dr. Arosha Fernando
The director, art director and the film production team have made extensive efforts to capture the environmental factors and personal characters described in the original novel in almost the same way. As stated in the novel, the focus was on a land covered with snow for most parts of the year. In the end, the isolated village of Manang, near the Everest mountain range in Nepal was selected as the most suitable place to shoot the film. The village Manang is a snow-covered plateau in a mountainous area.
During the day, generally the temperature in the Manang area is usually around minus four degrees Celsius. At night, the temperature drops to minus eight degrees Celsius, said director Gamlath.
“We faced many challenges while shooting the film. The first was to endure the extreme cold. There is a distance of 90 kilometres from the last place accessible by vehicle to the filming location. We had to walk a 90-kilometre steep mountain road. It takes ten days to travel on the difficult snow-covered road filled with loads of donkeys.
After walking for about three days, we encountered snowy terrain. On the fourth day, we stayed at a tourist resort that provides accommodation for tourists. But unfortunately, a snowstorm that night covered the tourist hotel right up to the roof. Many of our team, frightened by this episode said that they could not continue any further and returned. Many of the actors, a group of lighting crew and more than half of the production team, including makeup artistes, returned. However, a few remained and were of the opinion that despite all the challenges, they would somehow complete the task. The few of us who remained walked for days and reached an altitude of 11,000 feet,” said Gamlath.
Ordinary folk
Another special feature of the film is that the extras were made up of ordinary folk from the Manang village. The director and his team took steps to provide about one- and- a-half months of training to these people, who had no knowledge of film acting on the basic elements of acting and dialogue pronunciation. After about one- and- a- half months, the backdrops were created and filming began, he added.
Shooting the film first commenced in late 2011. The initial fiming was done until March 2012.
“Since most of the actors returned, only four including Kalpani Ranasinghe and Roshan Ravindra who were chosen for the lead roles were left to act. Due to this, the Manang villagers were used in many minor roles. Also, due to the shortage of actors about 20 percent of the planned scenes could not be completed,” the director added.
“The area where the film was shot, which is between 11,000 and 18,000 feet above sea level, is generally uninhabited and only a few families belonging to a traditional tribe live there. Even the people of this area cannot bear the extreme cold during the winter and come to lower lying areas.
However, since the older actors and actresses from Sri Lanka could not bear the extreme cold, a similar environment was created in the Nuwara Eliya area and the remaining parts of the film was made there. The art director worked hard for about three months to create a film backdrop similar to the environment in Nepal’s Manang area.
However, the train scenes described in the book and the scenes where Dr. Altheena opens the school were filmed in Russia and India. The film was shot in four countries. Then, in 2013, the Director returned to Nepal to film the background scenes required for the film.
When we asked film producer Dr Fernando, how he got involved in the making of the film, he said he got to know about the half-finished film from friends at the National Film Corporation.
“I met director Gamlath and watched the parts that had been filmed until then. They were of a very high standard. I then expressed my interest to be involved in the film,” he added.
“I have been interested in films since my school days. That is why I entered the film industry as a producer. I have produced many films so far. Although I cannot make any financial profit from a film, I am involved in film production because it brings me self-satisfaction,” said Dr. Fernando.
International arena
“Bringing much pride to Sri Lanka in the international arena, ‘Guru Geethaya’ brings the local film industry to the next level. A high budget movie ‘Guru Geethaya’ which was filmed in Everest Mountain in Nepal, making a world record in Russia and in India has been released in 50 theatres islandwide including PVR Cinema at the Galle Face One Mall from December 12,” he added.
However, as Chingiz Aitmatov said in his book, there is no doubt that the director, producer and the team who presented ‘Guru Geethaya’ as a work of art have made a commitment and sacrifice not second to the dedication and sacrifice shown by a teacher to give free education to students without expecting any gain or benefit.
