One of the first conversations cinematographer Douglas Koch had with director Deepa Mehta was about his using a handheld camera in shooting “Funny Boy,” a coming-of-age story set during the civil war in Sri Lanka.
The plan was to allow complete flexibility as Koch worked with two actors — Arush Nand and Brandon Ingram — playing the role of Arjie from boyhood to adolescence as he discovers his sexual identity. As war rages between the Tamil and the Sinhalese, Arjie is further at risk in a nation where homosexuality is punishable by law. Koch made sure the camera was always motivated by the space the actors were in, and that the performers dictated how the camera moved, not the other way around.
The film was originally targeted as Canada’s foreign-language Oscar entry but was disqualified for containing too much English. Netflix resubmitted the film, which bowed in early December, in the best picture and general categories.
The plan was to allow complete flexibility as Koch worked with two actors — Arush Nand and Brandon Ingram — playing the role of Arjie from boyhood to adolescence as he discovers his sexual identity. As war rages between the Tamil and the Sinhalese, Arjie is further at risk in a nation where homosexuality is punishable by law. Koch made sure the camera was always motivated by the space the actors were in, and that the performers dictated how the camera moved, not the other way around.
The film was originally targeted as Canada’s foreign-language Oscar entry but was disqualified for containing too much English. Netflix resubmitted the film, which bowed in early December, in the best picture and general categories.
- 1/14/2021
- by Jazz Tangcay
- Variety Film + TV
From her groundbreaking Elements Trilogy to “Funny Boy,” her gorgeous new queer coming-of-age tale currently streaming on Netflix, Deepa Mehta makes films to delight all of the senses. For her immersive adaptation of Sri Lankan-Canadian author Shyam Selvadurai’s beloved novel “Funny Boy,” Mehta kept one particular sense in mind: “I want people to smell ‘Funny Boy.’ You should smell it, smell the palm trees, you can smell the water.”
Raised in New Delhi and living in Toronto since 1973, the lauded Indo-Canadian filmmaker’s body of work spans globally in location and subject matter. Mehta is best known for her Elements Trilogy (the origin of that name are a mystery to her), which includes the controversial lesbian romance “Fire” (1996), the Partition era family drama “Earth” (1999), and the Oscar-nominated “Water” (2005). India submitted the film for the 2007 foreign-language Oscar, and this year submitted “Funny Boy,” but the Academy deemed it ineligible because it used too much English,...
Raised in New Delhi and living in Toronto since 1973, the lauded Indo-Canadian filmmaker’s body of work spans globally in location and subject matter. Mehta is best known for her Elements Trilogy (the origin of that name are a mystery to her), which includes the controversial lesbian romance “Fire” (1996), the Partition era family drama “Earth” (1999), and the Oscar-nominated “Water” (2005). India submitted the film for the 2007 foreign-language Oscar, and this year submitted “Funny Boy,” but the Academy deemed it ineligible because it used too much English,...
- 1/1/2021
- by Jude Dry
- Indiewire
There is nothing funny about growing up gay in a conservative country. Trust me. Everything seems to be conspiring against you. Not only must you deal with the changes your body undergoes during puberty and start wondering why you have no interest in the naked ladies in the magazines your classmates pass around during recess, you also hear many pejoratives thrown around carelessly, even by people you love, as they announce what they believe you will become. In addition to this, conservatism usually means your humanity is in peril, as you become the embodiment of everything they’re trying to eradicate.
This sense of looming danger is lacking in Deepa Mehta’s Funny Boy, a coming-of-age story about a Sri Lankan Tamil gay boy, seen through butterfly wings. Although the film follows Arjie from his childhood (where he is played by Arush Nand) to his adolescence (Brandon Ingram plays the...
This sense of looming danger is lacking in Deepa Mehta’s Funny Boy, a coming-of-age story about a Sri Lankan Tamil gay boy, seen through butterfly wings. Although the film follows Arjie from his childhood (where he is played by Arush Nand) to his adolescence (Brandon Ingram plays the...
- 12/21/2020
- by Jose Solís
- The Film Stage
Photo: 'Funny Boy'/Netflix 'Funny Boy' opens with an image of Sri Lanka that evokes paradise. Children navigate through pockets of shade among cavernous palms, like fawns prancing through the forest, as they run along the sand of an azure seashore. We see a mock bridal procession led by our young protagonist Arjie (Arush Nand), who wears bright red lipstick and a sari to match. His younger sister Sonali (Araina Nand) runs alongside him, dressed in a groom’s suit--trailing behind them are their girl cousins. Arriving at their family’s estate, where much of the film takes place, they continue the ceremony. One of the cousins officiates as Arjie and Sonali exchange their “I do’s” and kiss each other on the cheek. The bridal party erupts in applause and cheers, tossing flower petals into the air, but cousin Tanuja (Thenaya Senarie Geeganage), a visitor from England,...
- 12/11/2020
- by Daniel Choi
- Hollywood Insider - Substance & Meaningful Entertainment
On the surface, “Funny Boy” has very little to do with the Barbra Streisand musical its title is riffing on. The story of a fey Sri Lankan Tamil boy growing up in 1970s Colombo is a far cry from Fanny Brice’s ascent from the Lower East Side to the heights of show business. The title comes from the Sri Lankan-Canadian novelist Shyam Selvadurai’s 1994 novel, which is read and taught widely in Sri Lanka today. Though Arjie (Brandon Ingram), the film’s wide-eyed central figure, is more of a David Bowie fan, the title’s slight homage to the beloved diva seems apt. Especially when young Arjie steels himself from bullying by declaring, “don’t mess with the grand diva,” the faintest hint of Streisand rising from behind his red feather boa.
set amidst a vicious ethnic conflict that is regionally specific, but tragically universal. It is the latest...
set amidst a vicious ethnic conflict that is regionally specific, but tragically universal. It is the latest...
- 12/10/2020
- by Jude Dry
- Indiewire
“Don’t mess with the grand diva,” says 8-year-old Arjie, usually in private or under his breath, to a world determined to mess with him from all sides. Taught to him by an understanding, open-minded aunt, it’s a self-defense mantra that sees him through various forms of bullying as he comes to terms with his nascent homosexuality — no easy cross to bear in a conservative Sri Lankan household through the 1970s and 1980s.
It’s of less use, however, when his life is more violently rocked by the first bloody stirrings of the Sri Lankan Civil War: Both gay and Tamil, young Arjie is a doubly imperiled minority. Adapted from Shyam Selvadurai’s well-regarded semi-autobiographical novel, Deepa Mehta’s “Funny Boy” ambitiously braids internal and external conflict, familial and national strife, to engrossing if somewhat heavily condensed effect. Selected as Canada’s official Oscar entry, it’s the Indo-Canadian...
It’s of less use, however, when his life is more violently rocked by the first bloody stirrings of the Sri Lankan Civil War: Both gay and Tamil, young Arjie is a doubly imperiled minority. Adapted from Shyam Selvadurai’s well-regarded semi-autobiographical novel, Deepa Mehta’s “Funny Boy” ambitiously braids internal and external conflict, familial and national strife, to engrossing if somewhat heavily condensed effect. Selected as Canada’s official Oscar entry, it’s the Indo-Canadian...
- 12/10/2020
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
Arush Nand is very good as a gay Tamil boy in Deepa Mehta’s coming-of-age drama set in a period building to civil war
There is something a bit soapy and melodramatic about this queer coming-of-age drama from Sri Lanka, picked up by Ava DuVernay’s company Array and released by Netflix. It’s the tale of a gay Tamil boy, Arjie (played first by Arush Nand and later Brandon Ingram), growing up in the 1970s and 80s as tensions escalate between Tamils and the Sinhalese majority. The storytelling works better in the first half, with some heart-tugging scenes as puzzled little Arjie struggles to understand why boys are not allowed to wear lipstick and play the bride in dress-up games.
Nand plays it beautifully. Arjie is an irrepressibly sunny eight-year-old from a privileged family, but his aunties smirkingly call him “a funny boy” – or as his cousin puts it,...
There is something a bit soapy and melodramatic about this queer coming-of-age drama from Sri Lanka, picked up by Ava DuVernay’s company Array and released by Netflix. It’s the tale of a gay Tamil boy, Arjie (played first by Arush Nand and later Brandon Ingram), growing up in the 1970s and 80s as tensions escalate between Tamils and the Sinhalese majority. The storytelling works better in the first half, with some heart-tugging scenes as puzzled little Arjie struggles to understand why boys are not allowed to wear lipstick and play the bride in dress-up games.
Nand plays it beautifully. Arjie is an irrepressibly sunny eight-year-old from a privileged family, but his aunties smirkingly call him “a funny boy” – or as his cousin puts it,...
- 12/10/2020
- by Cath Clarke
- The Guardian - Film News
"Every human creature is constituted to be that profound secret and mystery to every other..." Array has debuted the first official trailer for Funny Boy, the latest film from acclaimed Indo-Canadian filmmaker Deepa Mehta. This is premiering directly on Netflix in December, and has been chosen by Canada as their entry into the Best International Film category at the Academy Awards for 2020. Shot on location and set in Sri Lanka in the 1970s and 80s, the film explores Arjie's sexual awakening from a young boy to a teenager who falls in love with a male classmate at his school, just as political tensions escalate between the Sinhalese and Tamils in the years leading up to the 1983 uprisings. The indie film stars Arush Nand, Brandon Ingram, Nimmi Harasgama, Ali Kazmi, Agam Darshi, Seema Biswas, & Shivantha Wijesinha. It looks wonderful, and also heartbreaking, but still a ...
- 11/1/2020
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
In the first trailer for “Funny Boy,” which is directed by Deepa Mehta and is released by Ava DuVernay’s Array, we explore the sexual awakening of a young boy in 1970s and ’80s Sri Lanka just as political tensions will bring the country to a boiling point.
“Funny Boy” is based on the Canadian novel by Shyam Selvadurai and spans across a decade as it follows Arjie (played by both Arush Nand and Brandon Ingram at different ages) as he comes of age in a society and family that don’t embrace differences outside of societal norms.
The film chronicles Arjie’s struggle to find balance and self-love despite the absence of empathy and understanding, and it’s all happening as the fight between the minority Tamils and the majority Sinhalese rages on.
Mehta’s film on Thursday was announced as Canada’s official selection for the Best International Feature Film at the 2021 Oscars,...
“Funny Boy” is based on the Canadian novel by Shyam Selvadurai and spans across a decade as it follows Arjie (played by both Arush Nand and Brandon Ingram at different ages) as he comes of age in a society and family that don’t embrace differences outside of societal norms.
The film chronicles Arjie’s struggle to find balance and self-love despite the absence of empathy and understanding, and it’s all happening as the fight between the minority Tamils and the majority Sinhalese rages on.
Mehta’s film on Thursday was announced as Canada’s official selection for the Best International Feature Film at the 2021 Oscars,...
- 10/30/2020
- by Brian Welk
- The Wrap
Acquired by Ava DuVernay’s Array Releasing earlier this month, Deepa Mehta’s “Funny Boy,” an adaptation of Shyam Selvadurai’s 1994 novel of the same name, has been announced as Canada’s official selection for Best International Feature Film for the 2021 Academy Awards. Set for release on Netflix beginning Thursday, December 10, Array has premiered a first-look trailer for the film.
Shot on location in Colombo, Sri Lanka, “Funny Boy” centers on the “awakening of sexual identity by a young boy named Arjie. As political tensions escalate to a boiling point between the minority Tamils and the majority Sinhalese, a young boy comes of age in a society and family that doesn’t embrace difference outside of societal norms. The film chronicles Arjie’s struggle to find balance and self-love despite the absence of empathy and understanding.”
It’s a coming-of-age story about growing up in Sri Lanka during one of...
Shot on location in Colombo, Sri Lanka, “Funny Boy” centers on the “awakening of sexual identity by a young boy named Arjie. As political tensions escalate to a boiling point between the minority Tamils and the majority Sinhalese, a young boy comes of age in a society and family that doesn’t embrace difference outside of societal norms. The film chronicles Arjie’s struggle to find balance and self-love despite the absence of empathy and understanding.”
It’s a coming-of-age story about growing up in Sri Lanka during one of...
- 10/30/2020
- by Tambay Obenson
- Indiewire
Ava DuVernay’s Array Releasing has dropped the first trailer and poster image for Deepa Mehta’s “Funny Boy.”
On Thursday, “Funny Boy” was announced as Canada’s entry to the 2021 Oscars, in the international feature film category.
The film is based on the best-selling 1994 coming-of-age novel by Canadian-Sri Lankan author Shyam Selvadurai that won the Lambda Literary Award for gay fiction. Mehta co-wrote the screenplay with Selvadurai.
Shot on location and set in Sri Lanka in the 1970s and 1980s, “Funny Boy” explores the sexual awakening of a young boy named Arjie (portrayed by Arush Nand and Brandon Ingram). As political tensions escalate to a boiling point between the minority Tamils and the majority Sinhalese, a young boy comes of age in a society and family that doesn’t embrace difference outside of societal norms. The film chronicles Arjie’s struggle to find balance and self-love despite the absence of empathy and understanding.
On Thursday, “Funny Boy” was announced as Canada’s entry to the 2021 Oscars, in the international feature film category.
The film is based on the best-selling 1994 coming-of-age novel by Canadian-Sri Lankan author Shyam Selvadurai that won the Lambda Literary Award for gay fiction. Mehta co-wrote the screenplay with Selvadurai.
Shot on location and set in Sri Lanka in the 1970s and 1980s, “Funny Boy” explores the sexual awakening of a young boy named Arjie (portrayed by Arush Nand and Brandon Ingram). As political tensions escalate to a boiling point between the minority Tamils and the majority Sinhalese, a young boy comes of age in a society and family that doesn’t embrace difference outside of societal norms. The film chronicles Arjie’s struggle to find balance and self-love despite the absence of empathy and understanding.
- 10/30/2020
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
Coming-of-age story will premiere on Netflix outside Canada on December 10.
Canada has selected Deepa Mehta’s coming-of-age drama Funny Boy as its submission for the Oscar international feature film category.
Mehta, whose Water was the Canadian Oscar submission in 2007, co-wrote the feature with Shyam Selvadurai based on the latter’s novel about a gay boy growing up in Sri Lanka during the Tamil-Sinhalese conflict.
Brandon Ingram makes his feature film debut alongside Nimmi Harasgama, Ali Kazmi, Agam Darshi, and Arush Nand. David Hamilton and Hussain Amarshi served as producers.
The film was one of 11 submissions. Telefilm Canada coordinates and chairs...
Canada has selected Deepa Mehta’s coming-of-age drama Funny Boy as its submission for the Oscar international feature film category.
Mehta, whose Water was the Canadian Oscar submission in 2007, co-wrote the feature with Shyam Selvadurai based on the latter’s novel about a gay boy growing up in Sri Lanka during the Tamil-Sinhalese conflict.
Brandon Ingram makes his feature film debut alongside Nimmi Harasgama, Ali Kazmi, Agam Darshi, and Arush Nand. David Hamilton and Hussain Amarshi served as producers.
The film was one of 11 submissions. Telefilm Canada coordinates and chairs...
- 10/29/2020
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Canada has picked Deepa Mehta’s Funny Boy, an adaptation of Shyam Selvadurai’s coming-of-age novel of the same name, to represent the country in the 2021 Oscar race in the international feature category.
Ava DuVernay’s Array Releasing has already sold the Sri Lanka-set drama to Netflix for a Dec. 10 bow. The indie, which stars Brandon Ingram, Nimmi Harasgama, Ali Kazmi, Agam Darshi and Arush Nand, will also bypass movie theaters are it premieres on the CBC network in Canada on Dec. 4.
Shot on location in Sri Lanka and set in the 1970s and ’80s, Funny Boy portrays a ...
Ava DuVernay’s Array Releasing has already sold the Sri Lanka-set drama to Netflix for a Dec. 10 bow. The indie, which stars Brandon Ingram, Nimmi Harasgama, Ali Kazmi, Agam Darshi and Arush Nand, will also bypass movie theaters are it premieres on the CBC network in Canada on Dec. 4.
Shot on location in Sri Lanka and set in the 1970s and ’80s, Funny Boy portrays a ...
- 10/29/2020
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
Canada has picked Deepa Mehta’s Funny Boy, an adaptation of Shyam Selvadurai’s coming-of-age novel of the same name, to represent the country in the 2021 Oscar race in the international feature category.
Ava DuVernay’s Array Releasing has already sold the Sri Lanka-set drama to Netflix for a Dec. 10 bow. The indie, which stars Brandon Ingram, Nimmi Harasgama, Ali Kazmi, Agam Darshi and Arush Nand, will also bypass movie theaters are it premieres on the CBC network in Canada on Dec. 4.
Shot on location in Sri Lanka and set in the 1970s and ’80s, Funny Boy portrays a ...
Ava DuVernay’s Array Releasing has already sold the Sri Lanka-set drama to Netflix for a Dec. 10 bow. The indie, which stars Brandon Ingram, Nimmi Harasgama, Ali Kazmi, Agam Darshi and Arush Nand, will also bypass movie theaters are it premieres on the CBC network in Canada on Dec. 4.
Shot on location in Sri Lanka and set in the 1970s and ’80s, Funny Boy portrays a ...
- 10/29/2020
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Deepa Mehta’s “Funny Boy” is heading to the CBC.
The Canadian public broadcaster, whose film division CBC Films funded the feature with Telefilm Canada, has lined up a Dec. 4 premiere. Based on the eponymous, best-selling novel by Shyam Selvadurai, the film follows a young boy’s sexual awakening in Sri Lanka during the turbulent Tamil-Sinhalese conflict leading up to the civil war. Ava DuVernay’s Array Releasing picked up the film for distribution earlier this month.
“Funny Boy” will air on CBC on Dec. 4 at 8 p.m. and will be available to stream on the broadcaster’s VOD service CBC Gem. It will also receive a theatrical release in Canada, as well as select cities throughout the U.S. in December. As revealed exclusively by Variety, the film will premiere on Netflix in the U.S., U.K., New Zealand and Australia on Dec. 10.
Shot on location in Colombo,...
The Canadian public broadcaster, whose film division CBC Films funded the feature with Telefilm Canada, has lined up a Dec. 4 premiere. Based on the eponymous, best-selling novel by Shyam Selvadurai, the film follows a young boy’s sexual awakening in Sri Lanka during the turbulent Tamil-Sinhalese conflict leading up to the civil war. Ava DuVernay’s Array Releasing picked up the film for distribution earlier this month.
“Funny Boy” will air on CBC on Dec. 4 at 8 p.m. and will be available to stream on the broadcaster’s VOD service CBC Gem. It will also receive a theatrical release in Canada, as well as select cities throughout the U.S. in December. As revealed exclusively by Variety, the film will premiere on Netflix in the U.S., U.K., New Zealand and Australia on Dec. 10.
Shot on location in Colombo,...
- 10/27/2020
- by Manori Ravindran
- Variety Film + TV
Ava DuVernay’s Array Releasing has acquired the highly-anticipated dramatic feature Funny Boy directed by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Deepa Mehta. The film is based on the best-selling Canadian novel by Shyam Selvadurai and will open theatrically in select cities and debut on Netflix on December 10.
Mehta is best known for her trilogy element-title trilogy Fire (1996), Earth (1998) and Water (2005). She co-wrote Funny Boy with Selvaduri. The film was shot on location and set in Sri Lanka in the ’70s and ’80s and explores the awakening of sexual identity by a young boy named Arjie (portrayed by Arush Nand and Brandon Ingram). As political tensions escalate to a boiling point between the minority Tamils and the majority Sinhalese, a young boy comes of age in a society and family that doesn’t embrace difference outside of societal norms. The film chronicles Arjie’s struggle to find balance and self-love despite the absence of empathy and understanding.
Mehta is best known for her trilogy element-title trilogy Fire (1996), Earth (1998) and Water (2005). She co-wrote Funny Boy with Selvaduri. The film was shot on location and set in Sri Lanka in the ’70s and ’80s and explores the awakening of sexual identity by a young boy named Arjie (portrayed by Arush Nand and Brandon Ingram). As political tensions escalate to a boiling point between the minority Tamils and the majority Sinhalese, a young boy comes of age in a society and family that doesn’t embrace difference outside of societal norms. The film chronicles Arjie’s struggle to find balance and self-love despite the absence of empathy and understanding.
- 10/15/2020
- by Dino-Ray Ramos
- Deadline Film + TV
Deepa Mehta’s latest film, an adaptation of Shyam Selvadurai’s Sri Lanka-set coming-of-age novel “Funny Boy,” has been picked up by Ava DuVernay’s Array Releasing, and will land on Netflix this December, Variety can reveal.
The Oscar-nominated “Earth” and “Midnight’s Children” director wrote the screenplay for the film alongside Selvadurai, whose debut 1994 novel is set in Sri Lanka during the 1970s and 1980s and was ground-breaking in its discussion of identity politics against the backdrop of escalating conflict between the island nation’s Sinhalese majority and Tamil minority.
Shot on location in Colombo, the film explores Tamil protagonist Arjie’s (Arush Nand/Brandon Ingram) sexual awakening from a young boy, deemed “funny” by disapproving family, to a teenager enamoured by a male classmate, just as political tensions escalate between the Sinhalese and Tamils in the years leading up to the 1983 uprisings — violence that led into a 26-year civil war.
The Oscar-nominated “Earth” and “Midnight’s Children” director wrote the screenplay for the film alongside Selvadurai, whose debut 1994 novel is set in Sri Lanka during the 1970s and 1980s and was ground-breaking in its discussion of identity politics against the backdrop of escalating conflict between the island nation’s Sinhalese majority and Tamil minority.
Shot on location in Colombo, the film explores Tamil protagonist Arjie’s (Arush Nand/Brandon Ingram) sexual awakening from a young boy, deemed “funny” by disapproving family, to a teenager enamoured by a male classmate, just as political tensions escalate between the Sinhalese and Tamils in the years leading up to the 1983 uprisings — violence that led into a 26-year civil war.
- 10/15/2020
- by Manori Ravindran
- Variety Film + TV
Grand salute to Ajay Devgn in bringing alive the great Maratha pride in telling the story of the great warrior - Tanhaji Malusare in Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior. Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj said, ? gad aala pan singha gela? when Tanhaji laid his life for the pride of Marathas. After watching this epic I can say, ? Ajay Devgn aale ani Tanhaji punha jeevant jhale?.
The Story of Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior
Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj pledge of Swaraj is getting a stiff challenge from the Mughals, the mighty Aurangzeb in his greed now wants to rule Deccan and capture the prestige of Shivaji ? the fort of Kondana.
He assigns the wild, dangerous, cunning and brutal Uday Bhan (Saif Ali Khan) to siege the Deccan. Kondana needs to be protected from the mighty Mughal onslaught. But, Shivaji Maharaj most trusted weapon - Tanhaji Malusare (Ajay Devgn) is busy with his son's wedding and the...
The Story of Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior
Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj pledge of Swaraj is getting a stiff challenge from the Mughals, the mighty Aurangzeb in his greed now wants to rule Deccan and capture the prestige of Shivaji ? the fort of Kondana.
He assigns the wild, dangerous, cunning and brutal Uday Bhan (Saif Ali Khan) to siege the Deccan. Kondana needs to be protected from the mighty Mughal onslaught. But, Shivaji Maharaj most trusted weapon - Tanhaji Malusare (Ajay Devgn) is busy with his son's wedding and the...
- 1/9/2020
- GlamSham
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