Sri Lankan actress Nimmi Harasgama is in the news again. She is playing a role on British television in the medical drama series ‘The Good Karma Hospital’ which is set to shoot its third season later this year. She plays the character of head nurse Marie Rodriguez with a more prominent role in the second series.
The drama has become a hit in the UK and Australia. The original ‘Good Karma Hospital’ is based in a small town in Kerala but Sri Lanka stands in for the Indian town. The drama is being shot in Unawatune, a popular coastal tourist haven situated deep south of the island.
The series is about a disillusioned British doctor, Ruby Walker (Amanda Redman), who leaves for South India to make a fresh start. A sprawling 19th century Portuguese-style mansion belonging to a well-known aristocratic family in Sri Lanka has been turned into the hospital to shoot the drama starring British, Indian and Sri Lankan actors. The ‘hospital’ has also become a popular destination for the busloads of British tourists visiting the island.
Nimmi told Leisure Plus that “Nurse Mari’s character wasn’t as prominent in series one but in series 2 the writer/creator Dan Sefton, who is a doctor by profession, expanded the role and we get to see more of who Mari is and learn about her life outside the hospital. It has been an awesome experience. Everyone involved, the Sri Lankan and international cast and crew, the executives, everyone has been fantastic and so supportive. And, we are very excited because we just found out that they have commissioned a third series.”
She also said that her first time on the set of Good Karma Hospital was rather emotional as there is a large Sri Lankan crew involved and most of them were people she had worked with in the past.
Multi-talented Nimmi has been one of the most underrated actress in Sinhala cinema despite her remarkable skills honed in the early days of her career on English stage.
After completing her primary studies in England, Nimmi learnt acting in the University of London and New York Film Academy. After returning to her native land she started working on Colombo English stage and landed her debut role in ‘Mother Teresa: In the Name of God’s Poor’ in 1997 directed by Kevin Connor (The Lion of Africa, Sunset Grill, Marco Polo) filmed in Sri Lanka.
She caught the eye of one of the most prolific Sinhala filmmakers of this generation, Prasanna Vithanage, who cast her in his controversial film about the Sri Lankan ethnic war, Ira Mediyama (August Sun). The film was a critical success both at home and abroad, earning her acting honours at 2004 International Film Festival of Las Palmas and 2006 SIGNIS Salutation Awards Ceremony in Sri Lanka.
This was followed by Akasa Kusum (Flowers of the Sky), also directed by Vithanage, and had its world premiere at the Pusan International Film Festival in October 2008 winning numerous awards at various world festivals. Nimmi’s character as a HIV-positive, pregnant, unmarried young woman working at a Colombo karaoke night club marked another landmark in her film career.
She stood far apart from her contemporaries with her well honed skills and stark simplicity but she could not find any other opportunities in Sinhala cinema capable of harnessing her talent.
She has many similarities to the doyenne of Sri Lankan films, theatre and TV, Iranganie Serasinghe. Though Nimmi is about five decades younger than Iranganie, she too is perfectly bilingual like her senior counterpart. Both had studied acting in reputed institutions in other countries and began their careers on English stage in Sri Lanka. Both had worked in television, Iranganie lending her remarkable talent to several well-known Sinhala tele serials made in the early days of television.
Iranganie is an actress who began her career in the heyday of the Sinhala cinema becoming a much sought after actress but when Nimmi began to act, Sinhala cinema had hit the doldrums unable to counter the threat of television.
Nimmi has also appeared on the British television series Doctors and following her appearance on ‘Good Karma Hospital’ she was approached to appear in an episode on the British BBC series ‘Requiem’ that is also available in Sri Lanka on NETFLIX. She describes the character of the detective as a role she always wanted to play.
A web series titled Auntie Netta in which Nimmi acts as an elderly, nosy, Sinhala school-educated woman with a messy hair style became a Youtube sensation. In the series she conducts interviews with prominent celebrities speaking a typical brand of hybrid English spoken by the Sri Lankans, prying open their private lives and poking fun at them.
She says she came up with the character of eccentric old woman when she was in England after she got bored staying at home. A theatre company in England liked the character and wanted her to do a one woman show which she even took to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Nimmi says she used the ‘Auntie Netta’ character to explore the asylum seekers’ issues in England.
After 40 episodes she decided to take a rest, winding up the character of Auntie Nettie, saying that she can resume the series at any time she wants. For the moment she is concentrating on her international television career.
