Interview with artiste Parakrama Perera
Not many will recognize Parakrama Perera by his name. Not
many will recognize him from his picture on this page. Yet, for someone who has
watched early Rupavahini cartoons dubbed in Sinhala, his voice will not be
unfamiliar. ‘Puru puru, Maalu katta dan api wada pataaan gannayi yanne’ , ‘Bibili
nagina belikatu...’ – these phrases, with their unique voices, are forever
etched in our minds. It was Parakrama Perera who voiced these characters. He
was the Poos Lokka in Pissu Poosa, Doctor as well as Chaw-Chaw in Dosthara
Honda Hitha and Captain Hadock in Tintinge Weera Kriya. This would suffice as
introduction, but these are just a few characters he voiced, loved by
thousands.
Born and raised in Suduwella, Colombo 10, Parakrama started
his journey as a child artiste in Children’s programs of Lama Ranga Pitaya at
Radio Ceylon, since one of his relatives took him there, to make his childhood
dream come true. As a child Parakrama loved listening to radio and wished one day
he could visit Radio Ceylon to observe how the voice he listens to through
radio comes to his house. Later he received the opportunity to work as a
dubbing artiste under veteran Titus Totawatte. As a young artiste he was able
to gain recognition for his talents through Madol Doova Radio Drama, playing
the role of Jinna. Kuhubuwo, Nandi Wishala, Handiye Gedara and Landesi Dupatha were
among the popular radio dramas he contributed to, early in his career.
“I enjoyed playing the roles of Handiye Gedara Nawarathnam
and Vandabona in Jiljona and Vandabona very much. Both stories were loved by their
listeners and those characters were highly appreciated,” he recalled. “Taking
part in radio programs during this period was like attending a university.
Veterans like Karunarathna Abeysekara, Chithrananda Abeysekara, Prabha
Ranathunga, Nanda Jayamanne, Siril Rajapaksha, Madawala S Ratnayake,
Sugathapala de Silva and Dayananda Gunawardana were our gurus. They guided us
so well that we were able to build our careers.”
He first met Martin Wickramasinghe following an invitation
to visit him at his home as an appreciation for a job well done in voicing
Upali and Jinna in Madol Doova radio drama. Rohana Siriwardana, whom Parakrama
mentions as his ‘mango’ friend in the field, played the role of Upali.
His late colleague Premakeerthi de Alwis was a sensitive
topic for Parakrama. “He called me Para,” he recalled. “Although I was not as
competent as he was in presenting programs, he chose me as his partner in the
second studio for some of his programs. It brings me to tears when I recall how
good this man was to me.”
Taking about Prem actually brought Parakrama to tears.
“His mother and mine were good friends and I remember an incident where we all
went on a trip to Kataragama,” he recalled an incident when he accidently
erased a news making picture Premakeerthi took.
During this period Premakeerthi was a journalist for the Visithura
Newspaper. He captured a picture of a janitor who was on his ways to clean a
toilet with a bucket of water. He does an incomplete job. Knowing this, another
follows him with another bucket of water. Prem noticed this and was able to
capture this after waiting for a long time. “He asked me to hold on to the
camera and went away. I didn’t know how to operate the camera but I wanted to
try to take a picture of our mothers cooking for us. Unfortunately, I have
pressed the button while the same film was on, and Prem’s news picture was
destroyed. I thought this would ruin our trip. But he was a sensitive man, he
understood my immature need,” he said.
It was on Premakeerthi’s suggestion that Totawatte invited
Parakrama for Rupahavini dubbing. Apart from Pissu Poosa and Dosthara Honda
Hitha, he voiced Captain Hadock in Tintin, and other notable characters in Gulliverge
Suvisariya, Situwara Montha Kristho, Nothradamaye Kuda, Malgudi Dawasa, Oshin and
Senehase Ayithiya. He also mentioned his colleagues Saman Athawudahetti,
Karunathilaka Handuwala and Rohana Siriwardena, Geetha Kanthi Jayakodi and
Neranjala Sarojini with much affection.
He also spoke highly about Athula Ransirilal, who follows in
the footsteps of Titus Totawatte. “His commitment to the field is
extraordinary. It’s a blessing to have such people or else the quality of
dubbing as well as the field itself would collapse,” he said. He went on about how
the hard work of Ransirilal had enriched the locally produced cartoons. He
specifically mentioned the recent cartoon programs Kumara Gee, Sunil Gee as well
as Tomiya saha Kitiya, Andarege Katha and Pancha Thantraya. “These cartoons are
created and produced locally. Therefore, I believe that these are better for
our children as it brings out Sri Lankan essence,” he iterated. “It’s nice to
see Sri Lankan productions on television. We have been watching foreign
cartoons for a long time,” he added.
He also spoke about the new dubbed Asian television dramas
telecasted in Rupavahini. “All these are carefully selected dramas with great
story value. It is no surprise that people love these,” he said adding that
they are now working on another new drama named Siri meti Siththarawi which is
woven around a Korean legend who lived in the 16th Century.
Although he was a voice artiste, his fulltime career was at
Colombo Municipal Council. He retired from his job as a supervisor recently
after a service of 42 years. A felicitation ceremony was held two years ago, to
appreciate his service to the CMC as well as a dubbing artiste. He currently
works as a consultant to the voice training institute, ‘Voice of Sri Lanka’.
“Voice training is essential for an artiste. But for a person who doesn’t have
an inborn talent this will be a difficult task,” he said. He also said that the
demand for skilled voice artistes are now less compared to the era in which the
field was established. “New technology allows unskilled people to come off as skilled,”
he said, expressing his grief over the lack of demand.
He pointed out that the recognition a voice artiste receives
is less compared to the recognition received by actors. “People don’t recognize
us when they see us, they barely remember our names. Satisfaction comes with
the love they express for the characters we voice,” he said. If the voice
artiste has not done an exceptional job, the audience would not fall in love
with the characters they voice.
Pics by Ravindra Dharmathilake
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