If It Was Easy, We’d Be Bored

The first challenge? Finding two boys who were (1) cute but innocent, (2) above 13, (3) could act, (4) one Sinhala, (5) one Tamil, (6) not busy with Grade 5 scholarship exams.

Simple right? Just a quick trip to the St. Thomas’ admissions office.

Models in Sri Lanka are scarce enough, but kid models? You basically have to send search parties into the deepest jungles. On top of that, the new law says we can’t use kids under 12 in commercials. Section III of Who The Hell Cares. But honestly, maybe that’s a blessing.. who actually likes working with kids anyway?

Double Trouble

You’re probably wondering… why one Sinhala boy and one Tamil boy? I’ll tell you why.. because we also had to shoot a Tamil adaptation. Which meant… double everything.

• Double the model costs

• Double the production design

• Double the amount of dishes cooked

• Double the cultural aesthetics

• Double the tea/coffee consumption

• Double the “just one more take” moments

But hey, doubling up is fine as long as it’s costed for right? Right?... right?

On the surface, this looked like a two-day shoot job. Two days, two different sets. But we knew better, separating days for the two families would be like… like asking Sri Lanka Railways to run on time.

Consistency is King (and Also a Nightmare)

As creators, the word of the day was consistency. Same emotions. Same actions. Same slider shots. Same everything.

Problem is, pulling off a perfect 20-second story in two languages is easy. [cue crying emoji]. Doing it twice with no mismatched shots? That’s borderline masochism.

So instead of splitting the shoot like how you would, we hatched a plan better than the Trojan Horse. (Okay fine, maybe not that good. But close.)

The Master Plan: Sinhala, Tamil, Repeat

We decided to swap sets between every single shot.

Yep. Sinhala → Tamil → Tamil → Sinhala. Like clockwork.

Sounds insane? It was. But it worked. Because we only leaned on two key cultural cheat codes:

1. Wardrobe – instantly screams “culture”

2. Cookware & plating – believe it or not, I will get to this in a bit.

The rest was minor set dressing; a painting here, a flower pot there, a random ornamental elephant statue… done.

Our Secret Weapon

Our ultimate stroke of genius? Drumroll please… silverware.
“Give the Tamil family silverware, Silver where? Here and there, everywhere.”

It sounds stupid. It is stupid. But it worked like magic.

The Price of Perfection

Of course, all this came with compromises:

1. Model costs doubled again since we booked both families both days.

2. Set design crew basically trained for the Olympics.

3. Set rental doubled.

4. Production assistants developed trust issues.

Was it worth it? Abso..freaking..lutely. Or as my Tamil colleagues put it; satta padi mutta curry, *chef’s kiss.*

I mean just look at it..

(Showing GIF of a few frames from both commercials playing side by side.)

Oh Right, The Music

Nearly forgot,  we also doubled up on music. Because nothing screams culture like a tabla on one side and a thavil on the other. Without it, the films would’ve felt like bad karaoke.

That’s a Wrap

So there you go. Rasamusu in two cultures, one chaotic master plan, and zero kids under 12 harmed in the process.

So if you want to work with a team that turns logistical nightmares into chef’s special mutta curry commercials? Call us.

We promise to only double your budget sometimes.