Gehenu Lamai

Introduced by Shivendra Singh Dungarpur

The story of two young sisters in a Sri Lankan village whose romantic aspirations are crushed by the class barrier and the conflict between tradition and progress. The poetic black and white imagery beautifully captures the confusion and fragility of adolescent yearning, supported by an outstanding performance from the 16-year-old Vasanthi Chathurani in her debut role. In 2018, the director of the Film Heritage Foundation, Shivendra Singh Dungarpur, set out with the film’s director Sumitra Peries to restore her debut feature. ‘The Girls’ had been recognized as Outstanding Film of the Year at the 1978 London Film Festival, but was now in danger of being lost. After six years, with the clock ticking on the deteriorating film material, the funding for the restoration was finally secured.

Shivendra Singh Dungarpur is a filmmaker, producer, film archivist and restorer. The founder of the Film Heritage Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of India’s cinematic heritage, he is also director of the Mumbai Film Festival.