...It is the brushing away of a strand of hair, the fleeting look to the side that expresses so much more than words, the tears that fall that made the entire audience feel the pain...the first time I watched Akasa Kusum I was blown away by Malini Fonseka's performance! Am I allowed to say that? Can I say good things about a film that I am in? The first question I was asked during the Q and A at the South Asian Film Festival in New York was what I thought of the film and the first words that came to my mouth were " I was blown away by Malini Fonseka's performance. She is amazing!!!!" So what I can say I have to be honest and write from the heart!

It is a great privilege for me to work again with Prasanna Vithanage again and I thank him from the bottom of my heart to be involved in a film with such strong female characters and strong actresses to take them on!!

In fact one of the questions from the audience was whether the Screen play was written by a woman and if not then surely there must have been a female influence on the actual writing of it. They could not believe as another woman commented that a man had written with such sensitivity and understanding the pain and anguish, the happiness, the sexual subtleties of such a rich and varied ensemble of female characters.But as the credits state this Screen play was soley the work of Prasanna Vithanage. I wonder what reasoning we feminists can give for the commendation of a man's understanding of a womans self? Do we put it down to the fact that it is 'someones' interpretation of 'woman' Or do we acknowlege as did the women in the audience at the SAIFF festival that he truly has captured a reality?