Celebrating Sri Lanka ‘Jayaflava’ way

A HarperCollins-Published Author and Sri Lankan Food Storyteller Tasha Marikkar

Executive Producer, Director and Creator Afdhel Aziz

Dentsu Grant Group Chairperson and Managing Director Neela Marikkar

Cinnamon Hotels and Resorts Colombo City Hotels Vice President and Cinnamon Life General Manager Kamal Munasinghe

Cinnamon Hotels and Resorts Vice President Brand Excellence Brandon Ingram

Dentsu Grant Communications Planning and Media Strategy Vice President Bakmee Perera

 First ever Sri Lankan six-part food and travel series premiers on National Geographic South Asia tomorrow

By Uma Chandrasiri

A Sri Lankan’s love letter to her resplendent isle, “Jayaflava: celebrating Sri Lanka”, will explode onto South Asian televisions spotlight, as a six-part food and travel series, told through a lense of authentic Sri Lankan food, venturing to touch the core of the country while embodying her flavours, culture, people and generosity of spirit. 

Inspired by Sri Lankan food storyteller Tasha Marikkar’s Harper Collins published cookbook, Jayaflava, the series will be hosted by Marikkar herself and directed by Afdhel Aziz, who will continue his stories of all things proudly local, following the cinematic triumph of “The Genius of the Place” his documentary on Geoffrey Bawa. 

“Jayaflava has been a mad, chaotic, fun and slightly unhinged journey but also a real eye opener and I envisioned my Sri Lankan cookbook to be real and not diluted nor apologetic and represent my home as I knew it- multi-ethnic, modern, generous, opinionated and completely obsessed with flavour. The birth of the TV series stemmed from my realisation that I should focus beyond the recipes, to the streets where koththu was chopped at midnight, the village kitchens, bars and beaches that breathe the soul of Sri Lanka,” Marikkar explained at the media conference held at Cinnamon Life at City of Dreams on Tuesday.

“Sri Lanka is often presented to the world, either as a postcard or a tragedy where the truth is usually overlooked. My hope with Jayaflava is simple, I want people to tune in, fall in love and book trips. I envision Sri Lankans watching with pride and the rest of the world meeting my island nation through my love letter to her,” she added.

Filmed across the island over a duration of two years, spanning from Colombo to Jaffna, Hiriketiya to Puttalam and skirting Bentota to Galle, Jayaflava celebrates not just bold and flavourful cuisine but also a modern and fresh perspective of island life, each episode focusing on an iconic dish, and following it outward to its origin, a village, a kitchen and a story- koththu in Colombo, crab curry in Jaffna, good times in Hiriketiya, hoppers along the south coast and Colombo, coconut in Puttalam and lamprais in Galle. 

Audiences will also meet some of the most influential voices shaping the Sri Lankan food and cultural journey, chef Dharshana Munidasa from Ministry of Crab, Lahiru and Don from Smoke and Bitters, booker prize winning author Shehan Karunathilake, chef Karan Gokani of London Hoppers and broadcaster and author Nihal Aththanayake. 

Jayaflava Director, Creator and Executive Producer, Afdhel Aziz proudly concluded that every episode has harnessed 100% local talent, along with Juice Productions and Dentsu Grant. “ Tasha and I always believed that Sri Lanka should be seen through a modern lense, not just as a destination but as a culture. I believe that Sri Lankan food is the best in the world, albeit under recognised and feel that it is the right time to tell the story of an island, her culture and her food, that will be bold, joyful and deeply Sri Lankan “ he said. 

Dentsu Grant Media has brokered a landmark deal, recognised as one of the first of its kind in Sri Lanka, with National Geographic India and it’s commercial partners, providing a Friday 8.00 p.m. prime time slot with a repeat on Sunday at 1.00 p.m., prime time, targeting a highly valued audience as it will be broadcast across Sri Lanka, India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and the Maldives. 

Dentsu Grant Vice President Communications, Planning and Strategy, Bakmee Perera said:  “Dentsu Grant Media with a legacy spanning over 60 years, has a strong footprint in the local media/ advertising sphere and is proud to be associated with Sri Lanka’s long term content partnership agreement with an international network. National Geographic India, a member of the Geostar network and Disney International, marks Dentsu Grants foray into international content affiliation and management.”

Widely regarded as the Sri Lankan hospitality brand, Cinnamon Hotels and resorts leads as the title sponsor, with Jayaflava showcasing four of its seventeen hotels and resorts, Cinnamon Grand Colombo, Cinnamon Wild Yala, Cinnamon Bentota Beach Signature Selection and Cinnamon Life at City of Dreams. 

Cinnamon Hotels and Resorts Senior Vice President Colombo Hotels and Cinnamon Life at City of Dreams General Manager, Kamal Munasinghe reiterated the brand›s belief in promoting Sri Lanka with style and elegance adding that Jayaflava is a perfect way to showcase Sri Lanka and specifically target our biggest tourist market, India. “We have surpassed the 2018 figures of tourist arrivals to the country, as approximately half a million Indians visited Sri Lanka last year, while a 25-30% increase is expected this year” he added. 

“It is our duty as a Sri Lankan brand to support local stories that connect with a global audience and attract that audience to this magnificent island. Jayaflava is such a story and a salute to our treasured gastronomical traditions” added Cinnamon Hotels and Resorts Vice President brand excellence, Brandon Ingram. 

The media was privileged to view a snippet of an upcoming episode where Tasha visits Jaffna and uncovers a hitherto unknown, vibrantly colorful and inventive world of the Jaffna kite festival, catches and later releases mud crabs down Gangewadiya and enjoys a breakfast of boiled manioc with toddy with Rockland Distilleries Group Managing Director, Amal de Silva Wijeratne who explains that toddy is one of the oldest spirits of the world, tapped only in Sri Lanka, to his knowledge.

Mastercard joins Jayaflava as main sponsor, while Flying Ravana Adventure park comes in as a sponsor. Advertisers include Noritake, SriLankan Airlines and the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau.

 Pix by Lasantha Kumara