Praana (Seeds) - Film

4th June 2023 at 6.15pm – Events Cinemas, Castle Hill

Sydney Screening is proudly presented by Sri Lankan NSW Catholic Association Inc. in association with Lanka Events

For Info and Tickets Please contact  Aubrey 0408118246 or Suranga 0433926385

Online Tickets Available soon via this website

Praana (Seeds)  is a 2022 Sri Lankan trilingual drama film directed by Sanjaya Nirmal and produced by Janaka Perera. The film stars Shyam Fernando, Niranjani Shanmugaraja, Darshan Dharmaraj in lead roles, whereas Nita Fernando and King Ratnam made supportive roles.

The film is based on the true story of the Great Catholic Christian Massacre of nearly 700 Christians that took place in 1544  in Mannar and the chain of events related to the same massacre that took place in 1560.

Synopsis

According to the historical data dated back to 1560 AD, Father Melchio, a Portuguese Franciscan missionary father, meets an Indian priest named Lisano in a certain Jesuit hermitage in India. In the conversation between the two of them, it is revealed that Father Melkio is a father of the Portuguese campaign to punish King Cankali, the then King of Jaffna - who committed the Christian massacre in 1544, due to the massacre of Christians in Tottaveli, Mannar, Sri Lanka in the year 1544, and that was political. Both the fathers there do not approve of the purpose of the power-led trip. It is further revealed in that conversation that Father Lisano was a missionary priest who was sent to Sri Lanka in 1544 to fulfill the request made by the people of Mannar to send a priest to Father Francis Xavier. In this meeting, Father Lisano wrote about his experience of going to Sri Lanka from India, the people who embraced Christianity based on his missionary work, how about seven hundred people died due to the anger of the angry King Cankili, and the nature of the intense pain he faced there. The book was given to Father Melchio by Father Lisano. In the story that unfolds the way in which religion is used as a weapon for the Portuguese's political imperialist position and survival, and the nature of King Cankali, who used religion as a political weapon, this is the life character of Father Melkio who lives up to the glory of martyrdom in the midst of political struggles and conflicts. Father Melkio, who is steadfast in his position for the truth, sacrifices his life for it in the end.

Around 700 Parava Catholics in the island of Mannar had been killed by Cankili king. Angered by this Catholic priests have complained to the Portuguese rulers in Goa. Even though the Portuguese authorities did not wage a reprisal immediately mainly due to the opposition they were facing in India, later a direct order from the then King in Portugal. Subsequently a battalion lead by Dom Constantino left Portugal in 1558 with the aim of punishing the Jaffna King and his action.