Demise of Titus Thotawatte, a great loss - President

The demise of great teacher Titus Totawatte who guided the new generation in the world of arts is a great loss not only to the television and cinema sectors but to the entire country, states President Mahinda Rajapaksa in a condolence message issued on the death of veteran artiste Titus Thotawatte.

The message said:

It is with a deep sense of grief that I join thousands of fans mourning the death of Kalasuri Titus Totawatte who earned numerous honours from the people.

Totawatte showed his cinematic miracle by joining the ranks of great creators born to the Sri Lankan cinema. He will remain immortal in the minds of fans as a person who ventured into the two forms of media - cinema and television. A veteran artiste, Totawatte nurtured the indigenous arts as a director, editor, sound mixer, cinema artiste and a screenplay writer.

A member of the Hela Havula, he rendered a dedicated service towards the protection of the country, language and the people and became an artiste loved by language lovers and linguists.

Totawatte who played roles in films like 'Chandiya', 'Sinhasana', 'Hara Lakse' and 'Maruwa Samaga Wase' made a valuable gift to our younger generation by creating a film like Handaya. It was Totawatte who first dubbed popular English cartoons in Sinhala and brought them to the children through television. He brought several global classical creations to the Sinhala cinema and gifted them into the tastes of viewers by translating them to languages of other countries. This brought him honour and recognition from art lovers.

The great artiste named Titus Totawatte was able to win numerous awards such as the Grand Prix award, Kalasuri award, UNDA special award, Ranathisara award, Vishva Prasadinee award, Janapathi Purogamee award, BUNKA award and the Presidential Cinema award. The demise of this great teacher who guided the new generation in the world of arts is a great loss not only to the cinema and television sectors but to the whole country.

I take this opportunity to offer condolences on behalf of the government and on my personal behalf to the family, relatives and friends of Totawatte including his wife Sujatha Totwatte and son Damith.

May he attain Nibbana.