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Stories Set in Sri Lanka

Stories Set in Sri Lanka — top stories

Ondaatje's island, tea-estate bungalows, civil-war ghosts and elephant passes — Ceylon's stories smell of cinnamon and rain. Start with these ten, then open Sri Lanka on StoryTerra's map.

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10 famous stories set in Sri Lanka

Live snapshot of the top 10 most popular catalogue items (2026-09-04). Click any card to open this entry on the live map.

Browse 17 books and 21 movies set in Sri Lanka.

A Private War

A Private War

Kamala Films-Thunder Road-Denver & Delilah Films-Savvy Media Holdings-Our Time Projects
movie

One of the most celebrated war correspondents of our time Marie Colvin is an utterly fearless and rebellious spirit driven to the frontlines of conflicts across the globe to give voice to the voiceless.

Setting: Syria; Sri Lanka; Libya; London, UKTime Period: 2000s-2010s
Monkey Kingdom

Monkey Kingdom

Disneynature
movie

A newborn monkey and its mother struggle to survive within the competitive social hierarchy of the Temple Troop a dynamic group of monkeys who live in ancient ruins found deep in the storied jungles of South Asia.

Setting: Sri LankaTime Period: Contemporary
Kannathil Muthamittal

Kannathil Muthamittal

Madras Talkies
movie

A little girl is told by her parents that she is adopted. Determined to find her birth mother her family eventually agrees to take her to Sri Lanka where they encounter the militant group known as the Tamil Tigers.

Setting: Sri LankaTime Period: 2002
Matangi / Maya / M.I.A.

Matangi / Maya / M.I.A.

Cinereach-Doc Society-Hard Working Movies
movie

Drawn from a never before seen cache of personal footage spanning decades this is an intimate portrait of the Sri Lankan artist and musician who continues to shatter conventions.

Setting: Sri Lanka; UK; USATime Period: 1970s-2010s
Madras Cafe

Madras Cafe

JA Entertainment-Rising Sun Films
movie

An Indian intelligence agent journeys to a war-torn coastal island to break a resolute rebel group and meets a passionate journalist.

Setting: Sri Lanka; IndiaTime Period: 1980s
Pravegaya

Pravegaya

movie

A Young man fights for his lost bike with courage. Honest Gangster with his foolish brother who destroyed everything. This is a remake of Tamil movie Polladhavan aka.Ruthless Man (2007)

Setting: Sri LankaTime Period: 2015
The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism

The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism

by Naomi Klein
book

In her ground-breaking reporting from Iraq, Naomi Klein exposed how the trauma of invasion was being exploited to remake the country in the interest of foreign corporations. She called it "disaster capitalism." Covering…

Setting: ['New Orleans, Louisiana (United States)', 'Chile', 'Argentina', 'Uruguay', 'Bolivia', 'Brazil', 'United Kingdom', 'Indonesia', 'Russia', 'South Africa', 'Iraq', 'Sri Lanka']Time Period: 2006
A Common Man

A Common Man

Myriad Pictures-Asia Digital Entertainment-Gemini Industries-Imaging
movie

A terrorist plants several bombs throughout the city of Colombo Sri Lanka and threatens to detonate them unless prisoners are released.

Setting: Colombo, Sri LankaTime Period: 2010s
The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon

The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon

by David Grann
book

A grand mystery reaching back centuries. A sensational disappearance that made headlines around the world. A quest for truth that leads to death, madness or disappearance for those who seek to solve it. The Lost City of…

Setting: ['Brazil', 'Trincomalee (Sri Lanka)']Time Period: 1925; Fawcett's Amazon expedition
Born Wild: The Next Generation

Born Wild: The Next Generation

movie

In celebration of the 50th anniversary of Earth Day National Geographic presents BORN WILD: THE NEXT GENERATION hosted by “Good Morning America’s” co-anchor Robin Roberts. The one-hour television event presents stories…

Setting: Australia; California, USA; Hawaii, USA; Minnesota, USA; Sri Lanka; KenyaTime Period: 2020

The 10 stories above are just a sample of the 38 in the catalogue for this entry. For the full live catalogue, open Sri Lanka in the StoryTerra app. On the live map you can also filter by the exact time the stories take place — any year, decade or century, from BCE to the future.

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