A.D. Ranjith Kumara:

The passionate film journalist

Ruwini Jayawardana

More than four decades ago in 1969, at the age of 22, a young Ranjith Kumara made his way up the staircase of Lake House, little dreaming that this decision would mark him down as one of the leading figures in journalistic history.

With 25 years of service to the ‘Sarasaviya’ weekly, the longest surviving Sinhala cinema weekly up to date, taking up more than two thirds of his entire career, it is no wonder that he was able to bag two prestigious literary awards as a mark of appreciation for the role he performed in enriching the Sinhala cinema industry.

The veteran journalist was awarded the Ranapala Bodhinagoda Memorial Award at the Sarasaviya Film Awards ceremony and later he also won the Cyril B. Perera Memorial Award at the SIGNIS Award ceremony.

Born Aluthge Don Ranjith Kumara, the eldest in a family of four at Kosgas Handiya, Grandpass, Ranjith was the only member of his family to venture into the field of journalism. His father, A.D. Edmund was a reputed printer, publisher and film producer of the era.

“We printed film magazines at our printing press. Film stars were a frequent sight for me as they would come in to check on their articles before they went into print. That was my approach towards writing. I developed an interest in their life and started composing articles from an early age,” Ranjith reflected.

According to the veteran journalist, it was his mother, who passed away when he was 14, who was the driving force behind his writing. She had developed the habit of collecting paper cuttings related to leading figures and incidents of the period and had maintained scrap books. These books containing useful bits of information proved to be a valuable outline in writing articles.

It was his dedication towards the profession that brought Ranjith Kumara through the journey from his first piece to “Hela Bima” to serving the industry as a feature writer, editor of two prestigious cinema magazines like Sarasaviya and Sarasi, book cover artist and as a reputed figure in the cinema field in areas like art direction and choreography.

It is to his credit that Sri Lankan cinema was able to boast of some of its leading actors and directors.

Ranjith designed his first book cover for his school magazine, “Anandaya”. Since then he had designed more than 300 book covers for reputed figures such as Martin Wickramasinghe, Prof. Ediriweera Sarachchandra, Dr. Gunadasa Amarasekera, Madawala S. Ratnayake and Leel Gunasekera and had drawn titles for more then 250 films.

“The first title that I did was for “Nimwallalla”. I was 18 years old then and it is the first and only Sinhala film to be made by a set of school boys, the senior students of Ananda College,” Ranjith explained.

“I designed my first book cover at the age of 14 for Karunaratne Saputantri. I designed all the book covers for K. Jayatilleke. They consisted of abstract art forms, mostly symbols. This was the trend at that time. I was influenced by Mahagamasekara’s style,” Ranjith expressed adding that he won the OCIC Award for the cartoon drawing in “Newa Gilunath Ban Choon” in 1989.

“Now it is easy to design the book covers through computers but it is less creative,” he pointed out.

He wrote his first novel “Sanda Langa Tharu” two years ago. “Kosgas Handiya”, a book made up of recollections of celebrities close to the author and was released to mark his 55th birthday.

“For example one incident in this book relates Swarna Mallawarachchi’s first step to stardom. She was our neighbour and sharing our passion for literature she once joined us when we went to see Prof. Siri Gunasinghe,” Ranjith said adding that the late President Ranasinghe Premadasa acted the main role in a stage drama produced by his father called “Carnival” and “Game Veda”.

“My favourite actors are Gamini Fonseka and Rukmani Devi. I composed a book titled “Hela Cinemawe Sakvithi” about Gamini Fonseka in commemoration of his 50th birthday. It was released in 1987 and my next step was to compose a book on Rukmani Devi, “Yugayake Swarna Geethaya” in 2000.

At present I am writing a book on the history of the film industry from 1947 to 1956. This does not concern the history alone but interesting facts related to the scope during those periods,” the veteran journalist said. He also added that organizing 15 Sarasavi Film Festivals and 13 Sumathi Tele Award ceremonies had not been an easy task.

“Personally I believe that it is very difficult to proceed as a film journalist. You need to possess a tough personality because praises and blows come in turn. The reality is that most people are behind you as along as you are in the field but later after you have left the scene, you are forgotten.

There are only a handful of people who own truly great qualities that one should treasure,” he expressed. “I have many unforgettable memories in store. I remember I once made peace between Gamini Fonseka and Joe Abeywickrama in a period when they were rumoured to be bitter enemies. I spoke with them and put a picture of them together on the cover of the Sarasaviya.

That created quite a stir. Similarly I brought Sanath Nandasiri and Victor Ratnayake together again,” he said with a smile.

Ranjith is married to award winning vocalist Damayanthi Jayasuriya. Their only son, Nuwan Nayanajith Kumara is a reputed figure in connection with Sinhala cinema and is the author of “Sri Lanka Cinema Wanshaya”, the most up to date film chronicle ever compiled.

Content and at peace Ranjith who is currently working as the marketing manager and feature writer of “Lakbima” expressed his wish to dedicate himself as a full time writer.

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