Minister sitting tight as 'Aussie' Tamil seeks his family cinema

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/minister-sitting-tight-as-aussie-tamil-seeks-his-family-cinema/story-e6frg6so-1226458453805

• AMANDA HODGE, SOUTH ASIA CORRESPONDENT 
• From:The Australian 
• August 27, 2012 

The Sridhar Cinema in Jaffna has been occupied for 16 years by Sri Lanka's Minister for Traditional Industries and Small Enterprise Development. Picture: Parameswaran Navaratnam Source: Supplied

IN its 1970s heyday - before war and poverty made movie theatres a luxury northern Sri Lankans could ill afford - the Sridhar Cinema was Jaffna's "A Number One" film house.

The smart new cinema, with its dress circle and regular Bollywood offerings, was hugely popular in the northern capital, as was its young owner Ratnasabapathy Mahendraraviraj, who built the theatre on family land just 1.5km from the heart of Jaffna town.

But the decline and current predicament of the once-grand Sridhar Cinema - and its now Australian-resident owner - reflects a wider problem plaguing many displaced Tamils as they return to their war-ravaged homes.

For 16 years the cinema has been occupied by one of the region's most feared politicians, pro-government Tamil paramilitary chief and Eelam People's Democratic Party founder Douglas Devananda.