Maariya (The Ocean Angel) is a gripping Sri Lankan Sinhala thriller directed by Aruna Jayawardene. Based on a true incident faced by Indonesian fishermen, it marks a historic milestone in Sri Lankan cinema as the first film to be entirely shot in the middle of the deep sea. The film features an all-male cast and masterfully explores the fragility of human psychology under isolation.
🎥 Runtime: 120 mins
📅 Release: 2024
🎭 Genre: Thriller / Adventure / Drama
- Title: Maariya (මාරියා) - The Ocean Angel
- Release Year: 2024
- Director: Aruna Jayawardene
- Producer: Indrajith Silva (D&D Films)
- Main Cast: Hemal Ranasinghe, Mahendra Perera, Ashan Dias, Darshan Dharmaraj, Dasun Pathirana, Priyantha Sirikumara
- Genre: Thriller / Adventure / Drama
- Language: Sinhala
A group of friends—Willy, Bennett, Anthony, Oska, Dia, and Tenny—belonging to different races and religions, peacefully engage in their livelihood on a multi-day fishing trawler in the Indian Ocean. Before the ship leaves the shore, a young man named Marlon secretly boards the vessel with the sole intention of illegally immigrating to Australia. Deep into their journey, the crew spots an unknown object floating in the water. After hauling it aboard, they discover it is a beautiful, lifelike doll.
Considering the doll a gift from the heavens, the men become deeply infatuated with it. This sudden obsession shatters the mutual trust and long-standing brotherhood among the crew, plunging them into a spiral of jealousy and psychological tension. The captain’s desperate attempts to restore order prove futile. Chaos erupts when Marlon and the doll mysteriously disappear into the deep waters, leaving behind only a mobile phone containing shocking video footage. To bury their dark secrets forever, the remaining crew casts the phone into the abyss, leaving the truth submerged at the bottom of the sea.