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Tuesday, 11 September 2012 |
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Telling stories using a series of pictures is an old tradition in many cultures. In Sri Lanka, Buddhist temple paintings and murals were the earliest form of this practice, and can be considered the forerunner of the modern day chitra katha. The popular English term for what appears in newspapers and magazines is comic strip, even though not all stories are comical or satirical. The Sinhala term chitra katha (literally, picture stories) is thus more meaningful. The Sinhala comics, popularly known as Chitra Katha, completed 60 years in Lankan newspapers. Today’s Wiz Quiz offers a few glimpses from that colourful history, which has been chronicled by the noted researcher on popular culture Dr Sunil Ariyaratne in his 2007 book titled Chitra Kathawe Wansa Kathawa. 1. According to historians of this popular art form, the first Sinhala comic story or chitra katha was published in the Sunday Lankadeepa newspaper on October 28, 1951. It was called Neela, and was a collaboration between Dharmasiri Jayakodi of the Lankadeepa editorial staff, who wrote the story, and a leading artist and political cartoonist of the day who worked for the Times of Ceylon newspaper group. Who drew this pioneering Sinhala comic or chitrakatha?
2. Another young artist, originally inspired by the first Sinhala comic Neela, himself took to creating comics and later joined the Lankadeepa editorial where his first creation was a comic named Hora Hawla, published in 12 parts in 1952. He went on to draw serialized comics such as Bilee Poojawa, Landesi Hatana and Hengi Muttan all of which were extremely popular in the 1960s. Ran Doopatha (Golden Island), which was serialized in Wanitha Withthi newspaper and written by Lankadeepa staffer Dharma Sri Caldera, was published as a book in 1960. Who was this artist, who was also an accomplished singer, whose artistic output spanned over half a century?
3. Although chitra katha started in Ceylon as a pure entertainment format in newspapers, some editors soon tapped it for disseminating socially relevant and useful messages - an early example of edu-tainment! In 1957, an artist named K Francis started drawing a series of chitra kathas based on Christian history and characters. These first appeared in a well established Sinhala newspaper affiliated with the Catholic Church, and later collected into a book in 1959, simply titled Chitra Katha. This became the first ever chitra katha book in Sinhala. In which newspaper were the stories initially serialized? 4. All early chitra kathas in Sinhala newspapers appeared in black and white, or with a spot colour. Full colour illustrations were used only sparingly in the 1950s and 1960s when all were printed using letterpress printing machines (unlike today, when offset printing makes colour commonplace). It was the Lake House Sinhala daily newspaper Dinamina that introduced the tradition of full colour chitra kathas, the first of which was Nala Damayanthi, a story based in ancient India. The talented artist who created this story worked at Lake House from 1962 to 1978, in which time he created dozens of chitra kathas and thousands of newspaper illustrations. Half a century on, he is still active illustrating for newspapers, books and designing stamps. Who is this versatile artist? 5. It was Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Limited (better known as Lake House) that also published Sri Lanka’s first weekly newspaper devoted entirely to chitra kathas. It was Sathuta, first published on August 29, 1972 - which soon spawned many imitators and competitors. Name the senior journalist who was first editor of Sathuta. 6. Senior chitra katha artist Daya Rajapakse started drawing for Lake House newspapers in the early 1960s and is still professionally active half a century later. In this time, he has created hundreds of serialized chitra kathas and thousands of pocket cartoons. His contemporary stories and style attracted much attention from film and television directors. Which chitra katha by Daya Rajapakse was the first to be adapted into a Sinhala feature film in 1976 under the same name? Since then, Rajapakse has had more of his stories adapted as films and tele-dramas than any other Sinhala chitra katha artist. 7. Another senior Lankan artist and cartoonist who has been creating chitra kathas for over half a century is Camillus Perera, the most prolific and popular political cartoonist and satirist in Sinhala journalism. He began working as a cartoonist in 1966 developing characters for the Observer and Sarasaviya newspapers. In 1972, Camillus created his most popular character, the liveliest of all cartoon characters in the domain of humour or gag cartoons in Sri Lanka. Stories featuring this ‘everyman’ have appeared in several newspapers as Camillus moved, and later started his own comics publishing company. What is this character who endlessly pokes fun at politicians, fraudulent businessman and other pompous persons in Lankan society? 8. Among the chitra katha creators in Sri Lanka, very few have focused exclusively on children’s stories. A trail blazer in this respect was the creator of the long-running serialized story called Onna Babo which appeared in the Lake House children’s newspaper Mihira for over a decade straddling the 1960s and 1970s. He also created other popular characters like Yodaya and Pandithuma. Who is this artist who drew his own stories? 9. With the launch of the world’s first artificial satellite Sputnik 1 in October 1957, a whole new frontier opened up for exploration, exploitation and for making international law. The United Nations (UN) responded in 1959 by creating a committee dealing exclusively with international cooperation in the peaceful uses of outer space. It is tasked to review international cooperation in outer space, study legal problems arising from space exploration and encourage continued research and the dissemination of information on outer space matters. What is this committee known as? 10. A Lankan lawyer, who has studied law and international relations at the Universities of Ceylon and London, McGill University, the Academy of International and Comparative Law in Dallas,United States of America (USA) and at The Hague Academy of International Law, served for many years as Director of the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs in Vienna, where he was also Deputy Director-General of the UN Office at Vienna. He is President-Emeritus of the International Institute of Space Law and author of seven books on International Space Law on which subject he is acknowledged as a world expert. Who is he? 11. In 1990, the Moving Picture Association of America (MPAA) stopped rating movies with “X” due to its negative connotation. Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III, released in January 1990, was the last film to receive an “X” rating. In September 1990, MPAA introduced a new rating for the “adult” category with MPAA’s seal of approval. The MPAA also never copyrighted the “X” rating. The movie Henry and June, released on October 5, 1990, was the first to receive the new rating. Which letters now denote this rating category? 12. South African journalist Donald Woods wrote a book about the death of Bantu Steven (Steve) Biko and his own escape from then Apartheid-ridden country. The book was adapted into a movie by Richard Attenborough starring Denzel Washington and Kevin Kline. What was the title of the book, and also of the movie? 13. The Adventures of Pinocchio was a children’s novel written by Italian writer Carlo Collodi and first published in 1883. It is about an animated puppet and his poor woodcarver creator and father. It is considered a classic of children’s literature and has inspired many derivative works of art. In 1936, a Russian writer specializing in historical and science fiction published his own story about a boy puppet named Buratino, which became highly popular among Russian children. Apparently the writer had read Pinocchio as a child, but then lost the book and re-imagined it many years later in an attempt to come up with good bedside stories for his own children. Who created the Russian stories of Buratino? 14. In the late 1970s, an Australian media tycoon shook the staid world of cricket by introducing day/night matches, the white ball, helmets and coloured clothing for players. He did this because his Nine Network was not granted the television (TV) broadcast rights for Australian cricket matches. Infuriated, he launched his own tournament. With the help of English skipper Tony Greig, he set up World Series Cricket (WSC) as a rebel cricket league, which became very popular. In the end, the Australian Cricket Board awarded him the exclusive rights for cricket matches in Australia. Who was this tycoon? 15. In a one day international cricket match between Australia and New Zealand in 1981 in the finals of the Benson and Hedges World Series Cup, New Zealand needed six runs off the last ball to tie the match. Australian skipper Greg Chappell asked his bowler to bowl an underarm delivery (along the ground) for the last ball. New Zealand batsman Brian McKechnie was prevented from hitting a six, which drew widespread condemnation. This action was not illegal because the laws of cricket at the time allowed underarm bowling, but it was still considered grossly unfair. Underarm bowling was banned shortly afterwards. Who was the Australian bowler who bowled that infamous underarm delivery? Last week’s answers1. Orson Welles |
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