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| Wednesday, 15 December 2004 |
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Scriptwriter and actor Father and son turn entertainers by K. A. Perera
Drama is a fine art that has evolved throughout the ages. The glamour, excitement and emotion it creates cannot be matched by any other form of art. Hence as long as humanity exists, drama will continue to entertain us. Sirisena Premalal, a well-known scriptwriter, father of actor Janak Premalal has entertained the public for more than a decade with his performances. Janak Premalal began acting in stage plays by playing a lead role in 'Kathavak Athara Hadiyak' produced by Ariyapala Pathirajha in 1976. The play won the first place in the All Island Inter-School Drama Competition at the age of 18. He has acted in several stage plays including Douglas Siriwardane's 'Ambu Samiyo', Jayalath Manoratne's 'Maha Giri Dambara' and Susil Gunaratne's 'Numba Vitharak Thala Elalui'. It was due to the guidance and encouragement of his father Sirisena Premalal that he became an actor and brought international fame to Sri Lanka.
Janak has also produced a number of plays written by his father. 'Raja Kapuru' was one such drama staged in Japan. Some of the popular stage plays written by Sirisena Premalal are, 'Abuddassa Kolama' (1984), 'Rajakapura' (1988), 'Suriyakgrahanaya' (2002) and 'Sakwala Kolama' (2004). 'Abudassa Kolama' won seven awards at the All Island Drama Competition conducted by the National Youth Services Council in 1984. 'Raja Kapuru' won three awards at the All Island Stage Drama Competition in 1988. His latest play 'Sakwala Kelambilla' was produced recently and within ten months it has held more than 100 performances in different parts of the island. The theme of the play depicits environmental pollution prevailing throughout the world. The second part of the play reveals the global pollution and the damage to the Ozone layer. In this play the planets are the most important characters. The earth sends missiles and rockets to the planets of the solar system and the harmony in space is disturbed. The sun receives information from the flying saucers that the sender of the rockets is the earth. The sun convenes an assembly of planets of the solar system. When the sun questions the earth over the latter's misdeeds the earth says it is not responsible for creating the pollution. In its verdict expels man from the solar system. Man admits that he is responsible for all these disasters. He says there is no use of expelling him because all men have died due to pollution.
Janak Premalal is also a teledrama actor who has played different characters. His popular teledramas include "Sandagiri Pawwa", "Himakumari" and "Suriya Daruwo". His father Sirisena Premalal was a teacher at Govinna Senior School in 1952. He has written a series of children's plays and out of them two plays "Gumu Gumu" produced in 1981 and "Hisata Sevanak" won the first place in the All Island Drama Festival. He has held a number of concerts during his thirty five years of service to raise funds for development of schools which had been appreciated by the public. His plays and the quality of acting were of high quality. **** Back **** |
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