Tissa bids adieu to nation on Wednesday

Sachitra Mahendra

Veteran artiste and Sri Lanka Television Training Institute former Chairman Dr. Tissa Abeysekara passed away on April 18 at the Intensive Care Unit of the Colombo National Hospital.

Dr. Abeysekara was 69 when he died of a brain nerve dysfunction. The remains will be kept at his residence at 494/2, Rajagiriya Road, Rajagiriya till 10 p.m. today. The remains will then be taken to the Sri Lanka Sama Samaja Party Headquarters and will be kept there till 12 noon on April 21. Thereafter the body will be kept at the Art Gallery until April 22.

Abeysekara enjoyed parallel careers in both cinema and literature. His funeral will take place at Independence Square,Colombo.

He first entered the cinema scene as a dialogue writer of Dr. Lester James Peries' Gamperaliya which won the Golden Peacock for the best feature film.

His debut performance as Ven. Kudapola in Dr Peries' Puran Appu earned him the Presidential award for the best supporting actor.

He scripted more than eight films such as Nidhanaya (which was selected the Best Film in Fifty Years of Sri Lankan Films in 1997 by a critics poll), Welikathara, Uthpalawanna and Kulageya. His maiden teledrama Pitagamkarayo won all the major awards at the National Television Awards. His maiden novel Bringing Tony Home - a story in three movements (which was later republished with three more stories) won the Gratiaen award for Sri Lankan English literature. He has authored a number of works: Ayale Giya Sitaka Satahan, Cinema Sitivili, Roopa Svaroopa, Viragaya screenplay.

In My Kingdom of the Sun and the Holy Peak, Roots and Reflections and Reminiscences. He handled both English and Sinhala with equal mastery. He had been an ardent supporter of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party since younger days.

Abeysekara started his professional career by joining the Government Film Unit (GFU) in 1972 as a film director working under the supervision of legendary German film maker Paul Zils.

He produced over 40 documentaries before he left GFU later to become a freelance film maker.

Abeysekara was conferred D. Litt (Honoris Causa) by the University of Colombo in June 2007.