An Unidentified Group Torched A Raavanan Cinema Hall

Calling for boycott of films featuring Indian film stars who failed to attend the recently held IIFA awards ceremony in Colombo, a group in eastern Sri Lanka has torched a cinema hall for showing 'Raavanan'.An unidentified group has called on theatre owners in Batticaloa to refrain from screening movies produced in Tamilnadu in a move to hit back at Indian film stars who boycotted the IIFA awards ceremony in Colombo.The group sent Sinhala and Tamil handbills to cinema owners, telling them to stop the screening of south Indian movies from June 18 till the end of the month.

The handbill says the boycott by the Indian artistes of the IIFA event had brought disrepute to Sri Lanka and therefore, such a retaliation was just and appropriate.The giant screen at the Shanthi Cinema in eastern Batticaloa was torched on Thursday. This was a day before the movie 'Raavanan' was released.The film’s main star cast Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai and director Mani Ratnam were among those who did not attend the IIFA ceremony in Colombo, toeing the south Indian film industry’s boycott of the event to protest against alleged war crimes by Sri Lanka

With several new cases of swine flu emerging during the last few days, the health officials attribute the sudden spurt in infections to the onset of monsoon.There is the inherent fear that the virus may flourish since the germs spread more rapidly in the humid conditions.

A medical official stated, "Usually the virus spreads rapidly when day temperatures are low and this could be one reason why there are a greater number of swine flu cases now."The District Medical & Health Officer Dr. Jayakumari on Saturday sounded a high alert urging the Health Department to gear up for what appears like another cycle of the pandemic. She reinforced the need to launch awareness campaigns to tackle the disease.