By: Staff Writer Colombo (LNW): Lyca Productions Sri Lanka, a unit of UK-based communications and Indian entertainment group said it has been financing six movies in the South Asian Island, which will be released in the Middle East, Europe and North America. Of the six movies to be produced, five will be in Sinhala and one will be in Tamil. “Every film we have announced to release today has come with heavy investments on our part, which cannot be recovered in the Sri Lankan market,” Janaki Wijeratne, Vice President of Lyca Productions Sri Lanka told reporters in Colombo. “Through the Lyca Groups film distribution channel, we look forward to screening Sri Lankan films to Middle Eastern, European and North American audiences. To win those markets we have to raise our filmmaking standards, which Lyca has a vested interest in.” Lyca Productions “aims to bridge the gap between up-to-date industry technology and art appreciation among Sri Lankan audiences, and to enable effective competitiveness of Sri Lankan films in the global film industry,” Group Chairman Allirajah Subaskaran said in a statement. The six movies to be produced by Lyca Productions Sri Lanka are directed by Asoka Handagama, Prasanna Vithanage, Jayantha Chandrasiri, Priyantha Colombage and Channa Perera. Last year, Lyca Productions’ Telugu language film, RRR (2022), became India’s highest opening-day grossing film to date, Indian media reports said. RRR was then released in the United States and Japan, and grossed 88 million dollars worldwide, according to Forbes, a US-based business magazine. Lyca Productions India has a strategic partnership with EAP Films and Theatres in Sri Lanka and has collaborated with Prasanna Vithanage and Shyam Fernando in the last two years, releasing Ponniyin Selvan I Lyca Productions is an Indian entertainment company which was established by Sri Lankan-born Subhaskaran Allirajah in 2014. It is a subgroup of Lyca Mobile, a telecommunication company based in London, England. Lyca Production Studio in Chennai has been involved in the production and distribution of films made in Kollywood, Chennai. Subhaskaran started his career as a small businessman in France and later shifted his business to England. He is the founder and chairman of Lyca Mobile Company. He is also the producer of many Tamil films. In September 2021, he became the new owner of Jaffna Kings for the Lanka Premier League. Lyca Kovai Kings is a cricket team representing Coimbatore city, the textile and machinery hub of Tamil Nadu. The team is managed by Lyca Productions.