Chandran Rutnam

Chandran Rutnam was born to a Tamil father Dr James T. Rutnam and a Sinhalese mother Evelyn Wijeratne. Rutnam was 16-year-old schoolboy when David Lean arrived in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) to shoot his World War II epic The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957). The production hired a house which belonged to his parents. Rutnam spent his time around set volunteering for odd jobs until, finally, he was hired as a standby props assistant and gopher. His big moment, Rutnam recalls, came when it was time to shoot the blowing up of the bridge -- the film's finale -- on location on the banks of the scenic Kelani River at Kitulgala. The crew had laid out only a few yards of rail track on either side of the bridge; not enough for an actual steam train. Rutnam's job was to run through a stretch of the jungle working up smoke with a pair of smoke bellows. Those who saw the film simply saw the smoke synchronized with the chugging sounds of a rapidly approaching train. Following this experience -- and to the consternation of his parents -- Rutnam dropped out of school and traveled to London to pursue his dream of a career in film. He later moved to the United States and attended the University of Southern California and the San Fernando Valley College of Law (now part of University of West Los Angeles). While working in Hollywood, Rutnam's break in selling Sri Lankan locations to international filmmakers came when he managed to convince John Derek to shoot Tarzan the Ape Man (1981), featuring his wife Bo Derek, in his native country rather than somewhere in Africa.