Capturing the hearts of youth with reel

Veteran teledrama director Ananda Abeynayake believes children are reluctant to listen to Dharma while being seated in one position for an hour, but they can be influenced to watch a teledrama on religion

Sansare Piyasatahan, popular Poya Day single episode Buddhist teledrama series directed by veteran teledrama director Ananda Abeynayaka celebrates 21 years

In an era where teledrama directors constantly get blamed for their commercialized tele-productions that do not fulfill the demands of the viewers and do not have expected aesthetic value and entertainment, only a few directors and producers get praised for their commitment in trying to maintain standards. They are the ones who try to protect the industry from downfall. One such personality is veteran teledrama director Ananda Abeynayake who believes that true satisfaction of teledrama or film directing comes from seeing the production contribute to the betterment of society.

Ananda is an old boy of Ananda College, Colombo 10. He reminisced that his interests in arts and creative writing began during childhood, when he started compiling his own children’s magazine as a hobby. “The only person who read my magazine was my mother. I sold my only magazine copy to her for 50 cents,” he said adding how he used his mother’s sewing machine to bind the magazine when the number of pages increased. Still, she was the only buyer of his small magazine.

However, his mother identified that he was a talented child. He was also interested in arts. Although there were no artistes in his family, his mother took him to the temple close to his house where veteran artist Jayasiri Semage and Thalangama Jayasinghe conducted an art class. “That’s how the foundation was laid. And I built my career on this,” he reminisced.

Later he got the opportunity to work with veteran dramatist Dharmasiri Bandaranayaka on ‘Eka Adipathi’ drama team. The First film he joined was Pembara Madu directed by Sugathapala Senarath Yapa released in 1977. “Not many know this fact about me, but I joined this film as a fight choreographer. I stunt doubled for Tony Ranasinghe in the movie,” he recalled. “As a child, I was keen on learning martial arts although I’m all out of practice now,” the veteran teledrama director recollected his introduction to the cinema. Abeynayake had been a talented martial artist who represented the first ever World Open Karate Tournament in Japan in 1975.

Abeynayake’s debut film production was Sagarayak Meda. Released in 1981, the film was directed by late Gamini Fonseka. Gamini also played the main role in the movie. “Experiences I gained working with Gamini was immense. I believe these experiences guided me to become the person I am today,” he said. Sagarayak Meda was the fourth Sinhala color film. “I was just 27 years old and I had to face many hurdles. But this also encouraged me to direct films,” he said explaining how he became a film director and then a tele drama director. His teledramas won many awards at prestigious awards ceremonies including State Drama Festival, Sumathi Tele Awards and Raigam Tele Awards.

In 1999 his Poya tele-drama; Kohomba Yakku won the Jury’s special award at the Japan Prize International Contest for Educational Media in Tokyo. The ceremony was organized by NHK. In 2008, his tele-drama There is a way won the best tele-drama award at the same ceremony. His most popular tele drama series Sansarae Piyasatahan has won over 20 national and international awards during the past two decades.

He spoke about Sansarae Piyasatahan, the pioneering Poya day single episode TV series in Sri Lanka which celebrates its 21^st anniversary this year. “I was interested in teledramas since my school days. The influence of the Buddhism, books I read as well as the Buddhist environment of my school, Ananda College nurtured a yearning to start a Buddhist teledrama series,” he said. “Meeting Somaweera Senanayaka and Raja Abeynayaka was another reason to initiate such a series. Senanayaka’s proficiency in language and religion made the single episode tele drama series a success,” he iterated. The first drama of Sansarae Piyasatahan series was telecast on a full moon Poya day in 1993. The debut drama was scripted by Somaweera Senanayaka and Jayalath Manoratne and Chandani Senveritane played the main roles. Since then, a new episode of Sansarae Piyasatahan is telecast on each Poya night at 7.30 pm.

Commenting on single episode dramas Abeynayake said that it is a fascinating thing to know the beginning and the end of a story within a day. “I knew that a single episode drama is capable of making a huge difference. I was inspired to do this because of fulfilling memories I had of reading Siththara strip cartoon newspaper and I used to enjoy Anura Shrinath’s single episode cartoon strip published in it,” he said.  

He also said that it was a challenge to continue the drama series since he was eager on maintaining the quality, creativity as well as the power of the message conveyed. “End result is always satisfying. I always receive positive feedback once an episode is telecasted,” he reiterated. He mentioned few incidents where people personally contacted him to reserve DVD copies to show their employee, friends or students who missed watching it. “I remember a depot manager called me once to get a copy of a drama episode which spoke about a child who lost his father due to a road accident by a drunken diver. The depot manager wanted to show in the bus drivers’ workshop, that he believed they would never drink and drive if they saw the episode,” he recalled.

He also mentioned about the scripts he chooses for the drama series. “We have never created a drama out of a Jathaka Story although it’s all Buddhist themes. Main criteria of choosing a script is that it include a striking moral message,” he explained. “Many veteran script writers as well as amateurs provide stories. In fact anyone can send a script or a story to me.  I’ll be more than happy to receive a fine script,” he added.

Abeynayake noted that his main goal of this tele series is to attract the young audience to watch the drama. “They are quite reluctant to listen to Dharma seated in one position for an hour. But it is easier for them to watch a teledrama,” he opined. “Young generation is quite distracted from the television today. But, I know, when they see a good production they stick with it,” he said.

Using three decades of experience in the field he said that he too had noticed the decline in the teledrama field over the years. “Many try to cater to the commercialized demands, but not to the nourishment of the human mind. However, it is the responsibility of any film or teledrama producer to help the society understand what is right and wrong while providing entertainment,” he emphasized. He identified limited budgets, lack of fine actors and actresses as well as lack of commitment to produce fine dramas as the main reasons for the fall of the teledrama industry. He also mentioned that he is thankful to Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation for allowing the Poya Night 7.30 time belt maintaining the standards.

 
Abeynayaka has introduced lot of new faces to the audience through his teledramas. He said that he always tries to select the best person for a teledrama character since he believes that not using the most suitable person would lessen the aesthetic quality of the drama. He further explained that today selecting fine actors for teledramas has also become a challenge. “Earlier the actors and actresses entered the teledrama field with academic experiences and a plenty of experiences on the stage. It was easy to work with them. Today, such people are rare and it is not helping the industry,” he expressed his grief. “However, we do not have any recognized education institution to study about teledrama deeply. Few places including state universities have a few short courses and on and off subjects. But they don’t seem to help much,” he pointed out.

Abeynayake reiterated that low quality teledramas distract the audience from the television. “There is an increase in the crowds who come to see films and stage plays. A reason behind this could be the frustration the audience has towards the teledramas,” he stressed. He also said that it is not impossible to restore the reputation of the Sinhala teledramas. “There was a time when the stage plays also fell from its grace. They identified the mistakes and they are in the process of regaining their power. Teledrama too can do this,” he further said. 

 

Pic by Ravindra Dharmathilake