The creator of ‘Handa Mama’ reminisces

Creator of Handa Mama, a popular children's program, first broadcast on December 14, 1963 by the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation, Ms. Sumana Jayathilaka speaks of her journey with the program over five decades and her experiences in the field of communications and media.

“I was involved with Handa Mama from the inception. The commercial service (Welanda Sevaya) of the SLBC was very popular at the beginning of the sixties, but the absence of a special program for children was quite apparent. Director of the Commercial Services, Livy R Wijemanne realized this need and I was invited to come up with a script for a new children's program,” Ms. Sumana Jayathilaka said, explaining her involvement with Handa Mama. 

Pic by Chandana Wijesinghe

“The producer for the program was Mr. KAW Perera and he proposed the name Handa Mama. Handa (Moon) is an object children love and which, in song and story, would bring them curd and honey. The the address ‘Mama’ (uncle) scripted in a sense of familiarity and comfort.”

This was also the program which introduced the terms Mama and Nanda (uncle and aunty) in addressing children through radio, a practice later picked up television as well.  The theme song for the program ‘Lowa gananduru durukaranna’ (to dispel the darkness of the world), was also written by Ms.Jayathilaka.  Milton Perera voiced the song to the music of PLA Somapala.

Since the program’s first broadcast, many presenters including Ariyasena Millawithanachchi, Gunatunga K Liyanage, KS Wickremaratne, Lambert Pemawadu, Mangala Premadasa and Jude Ivon supported her in the studio. The program focused on developing the creative skills of the child. Prashna Pituva (Question Page) for example was a questionnaire designed to improve their general knowledge.  Vakya Pituva (Language Page) offered a part of either a story or a poem with the children required to complete it, thereby helping them improve their language skills. Chithra Pituva (Drawing Page) asked them to draw a picture based on a story she would relate.

“I wanted feedback from the children to know whether they like the program and understand what was said. That is why for the first time in Sri Lankan radio children were encouraged to draw a picture based on a story narrated in the program,” she explained.  

Last year, a series of activities and seminars were held for children celebrating the fifty year anniversary of Handa Mama.As the proud owner of the program Ms. Jayathilaka mentioned that today the program has grown into a service which secures foreign scholarships to local children.

Children

She observed that the children’s programs aired by private radio channels were satisfactory, overall but expressed concerns about commercialization and even the abuse of children.

“There are some programs which mislead the child. I think the child must not be used to earn money. I have noticed that some channels give more priority to money than to the child. The child is been used in this money oriented media world.”

She confessed that she had not had any special interest in children’s programs at the beginning.  “That started only with Handa Mama. Before that I worked as an artiste in various spheres including radio dramas, stage dramas and announcing. I wasn’t a full time employee of SLBC until my children were able to work on their own,” she said.

She was educated at the now defunct Musaeus Training College and it was her voice and personality that got the doors of the SLBC opened for her. "I had won many 'Jana Kavi Gaayana' (Folk Song) competitions at school and at the all-island level. Mr. KG Perera, one of the many qualified lecturers of the Musaeus Training College who had great knowledge of language and literature wanted a talented girl for a program. Mr. Perera was also conducting radio educational programs and he got me to take part.’

She voiced the character of Tess in a Sinhala adaptation of Tess of the d'urbervilles. She also took part in stage dramas including Elowa gihin mellow aawa, Pabawathi, Hasthikaantha Manthare, Maname, Kundala Keshi,Sanda Kinduru and Muudu Puththu.

“I should not forget my Sunday Dharma School,” she added. “That is where I lost my stage fear and shyness. Mr. Wilson Hegoda, who was a teacher at my Sunday Dharma School, sent me to the classes of Mr. Edwin Kottegoda. There I got the opportunity to master Jana Gayana (folk singing) and pronunciation that I believe this helped me win Gold and Silver medals in the YMBA competitions. Later it made me a first grade poetry reciter at the SLBC,” she recollected.

She also writes for children. Apart from the scripts she writes for the radio programs, she has written story books based on these scripts. According to her there is a shortage of good story books for children. “Today’s children don’t know how to tell stories; in fact their parents don’t know how to tell them stories. So there is a need good story books as goods stories are essential to build up a child’s personality,” she said.

K Jayathilaka

This extraordinary voice personality SumanaJayathilaka’s professional work got a boost due to her husband, the literary legend K Jayathilaka.

“He was my husband, friend, brother who gave me fatherly love and he was my only instructor. His influence tempered my life. He tried to develop an exemplary life even among our family members,” she said. According to her K Jayathilaka began writing only after they got married.

‘I tried not to disturb his work. If I did that would be a great sin. So I tried to support him to the best of my ability. He was busy but he never abandoned his duties to the family, especially when it came to our children’s education,” she said with gratitude. 

She is also an eyewitness to the companionship of K Jayathilaka and Mahagama Sekara which resulted in enriching Sinhala literature with books like Viyanga.

‘Mahagamasekara and Jayathilaka were children of relatives from neighboring villages. Sekara used to visit him often to discuss about their writing. Jayathilaka always encouraged Sekara either to publish his work or send them to newspapers,” she said.  “Amaradeva was also a part of this. When all of them got together, great ideas and creations ensued.’

Jayathilaka and Sekara are no more.  Sumana Jayathilaka said that it would not be easy to fill that loss in the Sinhala Literary field. “That is no easy task but it is not impossible either. But today who will appreciate such commitment. There are people like AV Suraweera and Tissa Kariyawasam who has committed their lives but there is no one to appreciate them,” she lamented. “An award once a year wouldn’t help them or their creations,” she added.

She criticized the Sinhala literature syllabus in the country. According to her children were able to get a vast knowledge of the writer or the book when they were asked to study the complete books.  Now the syllabus promotes chunks of literature and children are taught only parts of great literature.  The child does not have the time or money to buy the originals.

‘Earlier teachers were also committed to teaching and there was no such thing as tuition. Attending tuition was prohibited. Today it’s all about running for tuition,’ she said.

She believes the government also has a responsibility towards curbing the tuition mania and reenergizing the school curriculum.

‘Parents should also be vigilant. They should know what their children are capable of. Children can’t perform magic and the parents should understand this.’ She was speaking from knowledge obtained over half a century of work with children.

Community Village

She also spoke about the senior artistes who once rendered a great service to the country and are now neglected by society as well as the government. She believes that a community village system might be a good idea to explore in supporting them. ‘I have seen the success of this system. This would be a better alternative for elderly homes and for people who are left alone at houses after their children grow up and leave them,’ she opined.

In summary the community village operates from the pension salaries. People who receive government pensions can use this money, people who were employed in private companies  on a payment system of their own and people who don’t have any income with the support of the government should be located in community villages which would of course include facilities like libraries, small hospitals and shops. The houses would be built close to one another so that elderly persons will not be alone and will be able to engage in activities with people of the same age. I am writing a proposal on this subject which I want to submit to the Government.

Program Presenting

One of the most significant criticisms of present day presenters, especially in privately-owned stations is that they fail to maintain the quality of the language or the facts they speak. Ms. Jayathilaka points out that this new generation of presenters is weak because people just don’t update themselves as the earlier generation used to do

‘They must read. I still read whenever I can as a habit. They should also listen to the literates. I remember listening to Rev. Kalukondayawe Pagnasekarathera. Each time we listen to his lectures we learn two or three new words,” she iterated. “Talking like parrots won’t do,” she said.

She also stressed that media is not only a medium of entertainment as some people mistakenly believe. Presenters should be careful of what they say, she believes.

‘They cannot talk in front of the microphone as though there are two people talking to each other inside a private room. Look at all the soppy meaningless things some presenters talk about.  It’s all drama with cheap private jokes. This cannot take society forward, it can only cause more harm.’

Further elaborating on the issue of contemporary presenting, she lamented the language use.  ‘Our society was far more civilized than this. Our society had better cultural, social and religious values than this. Sometimes I worry whether all these are some kind of a conspiracy to destroy our culture,” she reiterated.

She also spoke how they were monitored and penalized for mistakes. The SLBC authorities were strict on this as there were penalties introduced to eliminate the mistakes in the next turn. ‘There is no such thing as discipline today. The Ministry of Mass Media and the government cannot neglect their responsibility on this. They can’t let these people do whatever just for the sake of earning money. There is something called discipline and there should be laws and regulations to stop this action destroying our language and culture,” she pointed out.

A woman’s role

She also mentioned how hard it is for a woman to succeed in the field of media. ‘That is no easy task. The woman should always think about her culture, religion and the family before anything else. There are many chances that they could be misled and their morals challenged. A girl should be self-confident to reject temporary satisfaction and she should be able to control her feelings wisely,’ she advised. “Where are all those actresses and singers mushroomed with all these reality shows? Some were very talented but there is no moving forward without. We try to speak about cultural values everyday, but I am not sure whether it’s working. Women are not even bothered about keeping their status at all,” she added.

Ms. Jayathilaka held the media responsible for this attitudinal change in the woman. “The teledramas taught them all this evil. Television taught them not to be ashamed. What can we do if the authorizes are allowing them?,” she asked.

Prose’s fall from grace (An Interview with Jayathilaka Kammallaweera)

Jayathilaka Kammallaweera, one of the leading short story writers in Sri Lanka who began his journey writing short stories to Rasa Katha and poems to Geethanjalee; weekly papers of Dawasa newspapers, published his first short story collection Kalu Sapaththu, which won the State Literary Award in 1985, at the age of 40. After taking off as a full time political activist, Kammallaweera continued his work as a writer mainly focusing his work on problems of the working class. So far he has published 24 books including seven novels and ten short story collections. Five books are among the State Literary Award winners

Pic by Chanadana Wijesinghe

 

“The prize for a person who comes first in a reality show, singing someone else’s songs on stage exceeds 17,000,000 rupees. But the person who wins the State Literary Awards, receives only 55,000 rupees. That is the status of literature in Sri Lanka. How would you expect a progress in the field?” Jayathilaka Kammallaweera raised a question. Kammallaweera pointed out that the department of Cultural Affairs can find more than enough willing sponsors for the prizes. “That is not a difficult task. Over two million is spent on the ceremony of Swarna Pustaka Awards and the prize also exceeds Rs 500,000. Sri Lanka Book Publishers Association knows that they can earn a great deal from the nominated books and that they won’t lose by spending on the award ceremony. Similarly, Cultural Affairs Department could also treat the artistes better if they make an attempt,” he explained.

According to him this unwillingness of the ruling classes plays a big role in the fall of the interest in literature which would severely damage society in the long run. “Literature disciplines people. Look at a child reading a book. He cannot engage with anything else when he is occupied with reading. Reading a book for an hour equals an hour of meditation. Apart from that the child learns to identify human emotions and start empathizing. This gives him the ability to become a good human being,” Kammallaweera pointed out.

Decrease in book sales indicates less number of readers and decreased reading point to lack of discipline and good qualities in society. Kammallaweera believes that neglecting humanities also aggravates the issue. “Humanities studies in the university syllabuses are on the ledge and will be discarded very soon. It is true that science subjects are important. We need good hearted citizens as badly as we need doctors and engineers,” he said. “Look at the doctors today. They treat hundreds of patients a day apart from the service at the government hospitals. They charge their private patients over 1,000 rupees per session. Look how money centers around one level of the society. There is no need for them to charge so much if they get such a large number of patients. They won’t do that since they are incapable of harboring such sentiments. Their brains are nurtured with science but their hearts are not nurtured with humanity. That is why an aesthetic subject is essential in higher education,” he elaborated.

Kammallaweera supposes that a transformation in the current education system would resolve this issue. “Regardless the government in power, they should accept that the development of the country cannot be measured only by its physical advancement. Spiritual growth should also be a measurement,” he said. “For this, literature should become a mandatory subject which is not limited to a few questions on an exam paper. As the first step, all the teachers should be educated on teaching student how to grasp art,” he suggested.

‘They are not interested in books or reading as we were’, is a common complaint against youth today. Kammallaweera identified the fact that children are not taught to grasp the ideas in literary work, as the major reason for this. “This also reasons out the decrease in book sales and in printing,” he reiterated. “When you look at the crowds at the annual book fair, you might think that the sales are relatively high. But it is the other way around.” He explained that a couple of decades ago an amateur writer would also print over 2,000 copies in first print. Now it has come down to 500 copies, he complained.

Another writers’ woe is that book publishers are reluctant to accept short story collections. Kammallaweera believes that this reluctance is a negative trend. “Not only the short story, poems are also given step motherly treatment by publishers. This happens because it is hard to make profit from short stories and poetry collections. These collections don’t contain many pages therefore can’t be prized more than 200 rupees. The publisher could profit only if they manage to sell all 1,000 copies and have to go for a reprint. Earlier they accepted short stories, but now it has also fallen from grace,” he lamented.

He continued to speak about the Swarna Pusthaka Award ceremony organized by the Sri Lanka Book Publishers Association. “They have the ability to reestablish the interest in literature through this although they are more concerned about sales.” However Kammallaweera reiterated that the organizers should also consider the appreciation of the short story and poem. “They have overlooked this. I know they have had this discussion within the association, but many are against it.” 

Kammallaweera compared the novel and the short story. “There are novels written for different levels or readership depending on the degree of understanding. There are some novels which are not rich in language or story value, but records high sales. So anyone can choose the novel which suits his or her level. But not everyone can read and grasp the message of a short story,” he pointed out. “A short story is tender than a novel. A high level of maturity is required to understand it. An in-depth understanding of life, society as well as language and literature is required. The short story could be re-promoted if the reader could be made to reach that level of maturity from school going age,” he restated.

Most of Kammallaweera’s work revolve around the labor party of society; in other words people who work. According to him most of his work is inspired by his experiences with the laborers during his political career. “Over 90 percent of my work is based on true experiences I gained over 12 years of labor politics. That is why it’s all about the working class.” According to him, his efforts are to retell the stories that occurred during a bygone era with different political settings. “Time goes by and people tend to forget,” he reasoned.

Comparing his earlier literature he said that now he is focusing more on the literary skills rather than the content. “I’m aware of this change. Take my first short story collection, Kalu Sapaththu, for example; the literature in that is not aesthetic, but very promotional.” He explained that he now focuses more on the artistic quality of a story, which is essential improvement if the Sri Lankan Short Story is to be taken to the universal level. “But you have to see that you build a readership around this or else all the effort will be in vain,” he iterated. “Writers romanticize these working class characters. This is a marked negative feature in populist story writing which was fashionable at the time I wrote Kalu Sapaththu,” he added.

Thaththalage Kawathawa which was selected as one of the Excellent Novels in 1991 by the State Literary Panel is a story of three children of a leftist political leader who cared only about making a better society and a country and neglected his own children. “I wanted to express my great distress over some incidents that took place during 1988 and 1989. There was a group of people in the socialists’ movement who worked towards building a better society with fullest commitment. It is true that they couldn’t come in to power, but they succeeded in instilling a sense of caste, class and gender issues and the need for equality in society. At the time, the Samasamajakaaraya (leftist) was considered a hero in the village as he was bold, fearless and always ready to criticize bad and support good. Twenty-three people like this, whom I worked with very closely, were murdered branded as traitors. I am still shocked that this happened.”

He explained that this situation occurred due to a theoretical mistake socialists made. “They joined the Samagi Peramuna to establish a coalition government. For example after Dr. NM Perera became the Minister of Finance he placed many financial sanctions. He had a great plan for developing the country; in fact he succeeded in making Sri Lanka a debt-free country. But on the other hand there were all sorts of barriers like Haal Polu and Miris Polu, restrictions on individual quota. A government like that, established with no effort could not take decisions as a government established by a revolution. That is what went wrong. It gave JVP an opportunity to brand them ‘traitors’ and kill them,” he said. “They weren’t just people; they were extraordinary human beings even though they could not fulfill their dream.”

Characters like the father in Thaththalage Kathawa are real characters according to him. “Their aim was to build a nation with equal rights and they believed that the success of their family would follow the success of the country,” he added.

Kammallaweera’s latest contribution; Prince is a story of a young man of a wealthy family. He is a mixture of both reckless qualities of his wealthy family and the influence of leftists. This influence of leftists’ politics makes him different from his brothers and also brings him closer to the reader. Prince never engages in an occupation but spends all the money he inherited. He respects equality and wishes women to have their freedom. He is even ready to grant sexual freedom to his wife. “I wanted to create a character like this along with a slight criticism of politics in the country,” he explained how he developed the story of Prince. “The Buddhist monk who preaches to us to renounce all mundane things wants to expand the temple grounds. Raja; a Tamil who has converted to a Sinhala man, gets killed by racists and Moorthi, a Tamil who has never set foot in Jaffna, born and raised in England cannot forsake his inherent Tamil culture when it comes to his dowry. That is how people truly are,” Kammallaweera scoffed at society.

He has also tried to discuss the cultural aspects that were neglected by the leftists. Similar to the father in Thaththalage Kathawa, many revolutionary characters in his stories, are failures in their personal lives. As Kammallaweera explained, it happened because they had only one goal; making the society better with equality. “Look at Trotsky’s life. His wife and children were abandoned. That should not be made the ideal,” he said. At one point in the novel, Prince says that a new left should be created if the country needs uplifting.

“This is my personal opinion coming out in Prince’s words. Indeed we need a new left but that doesn’t mean it should come in all red. What we need are people with morals. I have demonstrated how this should be done with the character of Prince,” he said. “We have only taken the mechanical aspect of Marxism. It taught us that everyone in the ruling class is heartless and it showed us the difference between the laborers and the rulers; not the similarities. Not all rulers are evil, there are people with compassion and empathy among them too,” Kammallaweera pointed out.

“An ideal human being should respect others’ point of view, recognize his faults and welcome change. Socialism and communism only focused on the class diversity. They protested to change the society but not the minds of the people living in it. The society cannot be changed without changing their thought patterns,” he opined.

“The artiste has a great deal of responsibility towards change. They could use their work to discuss socially sensitive topics like caste, abortions or gender issues. The artistes could become activists,” he said.

“When we were young we talked about the country and its future whenever we got together. Look at the topics of today’s youth. Reality shows and soppy meaningless topics. Not only the manner in which TV and radio program presenters present the shows but the way people respond to these shows are pathetic. It’s no surprise when leaders of this country take front row seats in these shows,” he lamented.

http://www.nation.lk/edition/fine/item/23822-prose%E2%80%99s-fall-from-grace.html 

Hawk-eyed doctor wins wildlife photo accolades - Dr. Lalith Ekanayake

 

Pic by Chandana Wijesinghe

 “It was drizzling, but I kept waiting as I sensed that something was going on. I could see nothing but subtle movements of a crocodile. Water rippled and I watched as the crocodile head rose up. The crocodile had already killed the deer by then although I did not see it initially. While I waited a lot of vehicles which stopped by, the passengers peeped out and left because nothing was happening. But I held my horses, as I sensed something. By the time I shot this picture everyone was gone. All it took was a fraction of second for the crocodile to rip the skin off the deer,” Surgeon Rear Admiral Lalith Ekanayake explained the moment he captured the extraordinary wildlife picture which bagged the prize at the Sanctuary Wildlife Awards 2013.

The Sanctuary Asia Wildlife photography competition is a highly competitive international wildlife photography event held in India. Dr. Lalith Ekanayaka was the first Sri Lankan to achieve this feat. The 14th annual Sanctuary Wildlife Awards was held on December 6 at the National Centre for Performing Arts (NCPA) in Mumbai.

Apart from this recent award Dr. Ekanayake has also won many accolades and medals in wildlife and nature photography in both national and international arena including the UPI Gold Medal, PSSL Bronze Medal and winner in monochrome (57^th International Photographic Society of Sri Lanka Contest 2012 Sri Lanka), first place Wildlife category and third places in mammals and birds - Chaaya Wild and Etisalat Photo contest 2012, Bronze Medal - Trierenberg Super Circuit Contest Austria 2013, Editor’s choice, photo of the day and photo of the month – National Geographic Photo Contests 2011 and 2012, third and fourth places Sanctuary Asia Photo Contest India 2011 and Runner-up - Wexas Travel International photography contest 2012 United Kingdom.

Unofficial photographer

Dr. Ekanayake began his career as a photographer while he was at medical school. “I managed to get my first camera while I was at the Medical College. It was a film camera and with time I became the unofficial photographer of the University events,” he said.

After receiving his early education at Maliyadeva College, Kurunegala, he graduated with an MBBS in 1985. “In 1982, I became the first medical student to have enlisted in the armed services. After being appointed for the armed services I purchased my first camera. Working in the navel bases around the country at a time when the war was at its peak, I used the opportunity to pursue on my interest in wildlife photography,” he explained. In 1995, Dr. Ekanayake left to Australia for postgraduate training in gastroenterology, where he also obtained a postgraduate diploma in diving and hypebaric medicine, a field in which he remains among the foremost practitioners in Sri Lanka. He works as a Rear Admiral serving as the Director of Medical Services at the Sri Lanka Navy.

“We traveled widely in Australia whenever we got a day off. There was ample opportunity to take photographs; not much of wildlife but landscapes and people,” Dr. Ekanayake said. After returning to Sri Lanka in the later part of 2000, he traveled across the country along with whilst upgrading his camera.

Enthusiasm

“At that time Yala became my second home. Even during the war I didn’t stop visiting Yala, in fact, I bought a place closer to the park to avoid the difficulties,” he explained his enthusiasm he had as an amateur. “Bundala, Vilpaththu and Singharaja were my favorite places. There are so many other places which hold a plenty of opportunities for wildlife photographers such as Kala Wewa, Mannar and Talaimannar,” he added. Outside Sri Lanka Dr. Ekanayaka admires the wildlife opportunities in India and Africa. Each year he makes time to visit at least two of these countries.” he iterated.

Until 2010 he was taking photographs just to share among his friends. It changed when one of his pictures was selected for a calendar of a leading company. After that he complied a coffee table book; The Untamed Road with a collection of his Sri Lankan wildlife photographs. “That was a turning point,” he said. In May 2013, he published his second book; Animal Verses along with an exhibition where all the copies sold out within four months. Parallel to this he also participated in various exhibitions and competitions. “I am still learning and I make mistakes. But I realized I have something in my photographs, that’s why I participate in these exhibitions.”

Dr. Ekanayake is also a wildlife conservationist. He dedicates his achievements towards the protection of fauna and flora in Sri Lanka.” Natural wildlife emanates from the evolution. Humans cannot make that, it’s a natural process. Many developed countries don’t have this gift. They can have animal sanctuaries but lack the natural beauty. If it is gone, it’s gone forever,” he pointed out. “With development in the country, there is a certain amount of destruction going on. You cannot stop that. But there is a way that you can minimize the destruction. My effort is to make that connection and to get people in the process protection.”

Wildlife protection

He stated that programs to advocate for protection of wildlife currently in Sri Lanka is not sufficient and it occurred due to the lack of mutual agreement among the parties involved in wildlife protection. “Absolutely not enough. There are people who are keen since they know the gravity of environment protection. These are individual efforts. Sporadic discussions and publishing a paper isn’t enough. We all need to work together. We don’t need foreign experts. Many people who have the knowledge are staying silent, because they think it’s of no use,” he stressed. “I think it’s high time to do something. Mainly because Sri Lanka is a small country,” he said.

Sri Lanka is focused on ecotourism in this era of development. Dr Ekanayake said that conservation and protection should come first when wildlife is used as a way of income. “Though Sri Lanka is a very small country, once in the wild you can spot elephants, leopards, and dolphins and whales at sea. Tell me one country in the world, where you can see all these animals without traveling long and far? He posed a question. “Yala block 1 has the highest density of leopards. The whole world knows this and that makes it even more marketable,” he said. “The problem is that we can market it, but there should be a plan for protection. Now since the war is over I suppose we more time to focus on conservation,” he reiterated.

 He also spoke of the unique skills required by a wildlife photographer. “Wildlife photography uses only 30 percent of the basics of photography. The other 70 percent is something you don’t have a control over. Once in the jungle, you can control your camera but you cannot control environment, light or the animal’s behavior. Hence you need to be prepared and expect the unexpected,” he explained. “You shouldn’t also disturb the wildlife. Your entrance itself is a disturbance. Minimize it, as we are merely visitors and we cannot dominate their territory,” he added.

According to him when a wildlife photographer upgrades his skills, he gains the ability to plan his photographs despite the difficulties he has to face out in the wild. “Some shots are rare but if you’re improving, you can be creative about it. That’s how photographers win competitions. Anybody with a camera can take picture of a flying bird. But with the advanced skills the photographer would learn how to get the bird’s motion in the picture,” he said.

In conclusion, he said that there are abundant opportunities for budding wildlife photographers in Sri Lanka. “There are classes and programs. There are lectures of talented senior wildlife photographers. I always encourage learners to participate in these. But that alone is insufficient. The most important thing is to make your presence known. Utilize your knowledge since learning the theory isn’t enough. Explore places, near and far. Improve your own techniques. This is the bottom line of wildlife photography.” Ekanayake said.

Bhathiya Madanayake laments on the plight of artistes :Recognition slow in coming

Spoken word recordings first became possible with the invention of the Phonograph by Thomas Edison in 1877. ‘Phonographic books’ were one of the great attempts he made to speak to blind people without effort on their part. In 1931, the American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) and Library of Congress Books for the Adult Blind Project established the ‘Talking Books Program’, which was intended to provide reading material for veterans injured during WWI and other visually impaired adults. In 2010, our neighbor India also started launching books in the audio format. In 2013, Bhathiya Madanayake, a Sri Lankan artiste made the attempt to introduced this style to Sri Lankan literature in 2013. “It was mainly aimed for the blind community of the country. They don’t have many books to read even in Braille,” Bhathiya Madanayake said speaking to The Nation. 

Madanayake is not only a writer. It may be the Wirindu song sung by Jackson Anthony and Anula Bulathsinhala which makes Daya Weiman’s Neinage Suduwa nothing new to us. The main character of the play, John Kothalawala described as a hero was enacted by Bhathiya Madanayake. He continues to play this role since the drama was first staged in 1984. Contributing to a popular stage drama, for nearly 30 years, it seems that this artiste hasn’t received appropriate appreciation. “I came to the stage in 1978. I contributed to every sphere from acting to making the sets, when I first started. That’s where I practiced the necessary skills which are helping me until now,” he said. 

He wrote and directed his debut stage play Swayanwaraya in 1983. Apart from being a stage dramatist Madanayake has also worked in the cinema and television media simultaneously. “I worked under Ms Shrimathi Liyanage at the Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation - children’s programs. In 1981, I joined the Times of Ceylon, as the Kirulapone correspondent for Lankadeepa and Sri Lankadeepa. Later I joined several other newspapers including Heladiva, Kalarasa and Sathdina and I am still working as a journalist. My latest interest is in making song visuals,” he described the path he traveled.

Without limiting his work to one field Madanayake is also an assistant teledrama director and a writer. “My first short story collection was published in 2000 with Sandun Wijesiri, a Godage publication, and  debut novel in 2006. Since then I have written and published at least one novel a year. While I was working as a journalist in Heladiva newspaper, I got the opportunity to report on the war from Pudumathalan. We were able to report from one and half kilometers away from the war front. Those experiences later became a book, Unu Le Wagirena Yuda Bima which include more than 100 photographs,” he said. According to Madanayake, he received the most number of responses for his book Para, which is about how human mind changes in following the Buddhist philosophy. National Library and Documentation Services Board sponsored the publication and accepted it as a library book .

Speaking about difficulties faced in finding publishers, Madanayake said, book publishers do not like to accept collections of short stories. “Book publishers have this attitude that they cannot sell or market short stories. Even Godage, who published my debut short story collection refused to accept short stories and requested not to bring short stories. That is how I got it to the idea of doing the short story CD,” he said.

His audio short story collection Kathawak Ahamu was launched during the first quarter of 2013. Following in the audio book style Madanayake launched the CD at the ‘Color of Blind Music Festival’ in   2013 March. “My intention was to provide these short stories for the blind community. Since I was a dubbing artists and I had my own short stories this was not hard work,” he reiterated. “As I got to know from the visually handicapped, most of the Braille books available in Sri Lanka are educational. There are very few short stories or novels. Even if there are books, they are limited to places like Ratmalana Blind School. Since the stories in the CD are narrated but not acted out, the listener is able to get a feeling similar to reading a book. The listener has his freedom of imagination,” he added.

This is the first Sinhala short story collection in audio format aimed for the blind. If well developed, this method could be expanded in to something very valuable for the blind community. “Imagine someday when a visually handicapped person wants to read Gamperaliya, Madol Doova or Maxim Gorky’s Amma. If they have these books in the audio format, that will be very easy for them. Also this will be a very good solution for the people who complain that they have no time to read since they can even play this on the go,” Madanayake pointed out.

Apart from refusing Short Story collections, Madanayake also faulted book publishers for using the female form as book covers. This is mostly true for novels which target the average reader. According to him, some book publishers think a girl’s picture is essential to market the book. When a writer begins his voyage finding a publisher for his or her novel, the writer becomes helpless in view of the financial aspect. “I also felt victim to this. Publishers are not doing a social service. It’s their way for earning their living. I know some publishers don’t even bother reading the book before accepting. A marketable cover is all what they want. You cannot and you should not judge any novel by its cover,” he alleged. 

“My book Para, which I got the best response for, does not have a girl on the cover. But over 3000 copies were sold. One Buddhist monk even asked me to make a movie out of the story promising to look for financial aid. After all this the publisher told me that if we can redo the cover using a girl, he could sell another 1000 copies. That is the situation in most places, I don’t know why,” he expressed his regret.

Madanayake has years of experience as a dubbing artiste and a voice actor. His latest involvements the famous Korean dramas; Sujatha Diyani, Abeetha Diyani to Isiwara Wedaduru telecasted in Jathika Rupavahini and the latest radio drama of Sinha fm. “Lip dubbing is the hardest of all. You’ve to be familiar with the lip movement of the original actor. The dubbing artist has to be mindful about the scene, the voice of the original actor and know how to adapt his voice according to the situation. A successful dubbing artiste would know how to do this,” he explained.

He also explained the difficulties a dubbing artiste or a voice actor in the field has to face. “There are some groups which treat the artistes as troublemakers. Some do not make payment soon after the recording. They make promises to pay later or to send a check by post. This does not happen on time and the artistes have to call the producers, and more promises. There are times we receive the payments a long time after the drama was broadcast. They fill their air time, they get the advertisements but the artiste gets nothing. This delay in payment is frustrating as many of these artistes are dependent on the payments,” Madanayake bluntly aired. “Worse part of inquiring about the payments is that the artiste gets labeled as a person who fusses about money and finally the other people in the field stop inviting the artiste for new recordings. Vice versa there are people and places we ignore when asked to come for a recording,” he lamented. He also mentioned that this is not the situation at Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation. “SLRC is well organized regarding dubbing artistes and voicing. We are thankful to Athula Ransirilal for that,” he added. 

Madanayake also contributes to the television as a script writer. The weekend television comedy Yes Madam is his latest. “Writing comedy scripts is not an easy task. If we try to create artificial incidents as comedies we become the joke. There are enough hilarious incidents in day to day incidents. It’s mostly the timing which brings out humor. If properly brought out, the scriptwriter doesn’t have to repeat the funny dialogue for the audience,” he clarified. Madanayake’s newest contribution as a script writer is for the remake of teledrama Hiruta Muwawen. Popularly known as the Indiappa Kathawa during the 80s, Hiruta Muwawen is the original script of late director Herbert Ranjith Peiris. 

In Bhathiya Madanayake’s point of view, artistes in Sri Lanka are not well appreciated and not given the rightful place in society. “If one artiste is well recognized, that is mostly the artiste’s hard work. He or she may have to work towards receiving their rightful place. It does not come automatically. Speaking of me, when I launched my audio short story collection, I myself had to promote it with no other help. Since I received the responses of the blind community, I know I did the right thing,” he said. “If an artiste needs to get attention he or she should know how to market themselves properly. If not you’ll get no where. I don’t do that as a principle. I just do my job,” Madanayake added. 

He also pointed out the responsibility the Department of Cultural Affair on the well being of artistes. “Cultural Affairs Department considers only a part of the people in the field as artistes. There are many who have contributed, but not recognized. One example is the Identity card which was issued to the artistes of Sri Lanka by the department. After issuing it for a few selected people they stopped issuing it. It’s been more than a year now. I’m not sure about the criteria they use to select artistes. They had a margin saying the artistes should have been in the field for more than 13 years to receive the ID. But there are many who had worked in the field for more than 13 years but didn’t receive the ID. Some who has worked for only five or six years also received this,” he said. “I have worked in the field for over 35 years now. I also did not receive it,” he claimed.

My drama school was the SLBC

Ratna Lalani, a legend on the Sri Lankan stage, has mastered acting, singing as well as depicted emotions, over a period of three decades, has made the audience fall in love with her. Beginning at the Guwanwiduli Lama Pitiya, Ratna Lalani Jayakody has conquered the stage, television as well as the cinema. Partner in life, as well as on stage, Sampath Tennakoon, is the key person behind the Abhinayana Sampath- Ratna Rangabhumika; the stage drama festival organized by the 80’s group – Sathjana Sahurda Sansadaya. Still as pretty as Ranjini from Yashorawaya, Ratna Lalani Jayakody spoke of the drama festival to The Nation.

“It’s been more than 30 years since Sampath and I first got on stage. In 1991, we held a similar drama festival named Ratna Lalani Drama Festival. We have acted in over 50 dramas now, and in about 20 of them played parts together. We have selected seven of the finest dramas for the festival, from among those 20 dramas,” she explained. Abhinayana Sampath-Ratna Ranga Bhoomika will be staged at the New Town Hall, Colombo 7 from December 17- 23 commencing at 6.45 pm.

Ratna continued to speak about the drama festival. “Though it’s Sampath’s idea, this festival is a joint effort. We want each and every participant from set maker, prompter to the actors to get the same benefits. That’s why Sampath decided to publish a souvenir of academic value - a collection of articles by scholars in our field. This souvenir could be used as a handbook. In fact, the aim of the drama festival is to give the audience a chance to see what they missed,” she explained. “When it is organized as a festival, it’s easy for people to schedule their time and university students were interested in this idea, since many of these dramas were staged even before they were born. I feel this will be a great opportunity for them,” she added.

Ratna Lalani’s voice is unique and unforgettable in Noorthi and stage drama songs. She believes that her success was the result of the strong foundation from Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC). “If someone praises me for my talent, I think all that credit should go to the SLBC. I got the chance to get in to the SLBC because my sister, Geetha Kanthi Jayakody was there and that is where I learnt how to control my voice or address the audience. Seniors like Ananda Sirisena, Agnes Sirisena, Mahinda Algama, Ashoka Tillekeratne or Piyadasa Ratnasinghe shared their knowledge with us. We didn’t have any drama schools. My drama school was the SLBC.”

Among the dramas selected for the festival are a few foreign scripts adapted to Sinhala: Subha Sandawak adapted from The Respectable Prostitute by Jean Paul Satre; Puthra Samagama adapted from The Elder Son by Alexender Vampilov and Romaya Gini Ganiy 2 adapted from Caught in the Net by the British dramatist Ray Cooney. According to Ratna Lalani translated or adapted stories are stronger than the local scripts and when adapted most of the scripts are common to every community. “Puthra Samagama, a Russian adaptation speaks about the conflicts within the family. It’s common to us also. Except for people like KD Herath or Jayalath Manoratna and Rajitha Dissanayaka, there aren’t many who take independent scripts. The new generation lacks the ability to make independent work with a fine finish,” she said.

“We adapt foreign scripts to Sinhala, but the local scripts are not getting adapted in to foreign languages.  I feel that we lack scripts unique to our culture. No one from the younger generation picked that uniqueness from Dayananda Gunawardana, Buddhadasa Galappaththi or Henry Jayasena,” she raised a point. “This situation is not limited to our country. Even the new foreign scripts are not very successful. It is the same old stories which are being re-scripted and staged, again and again. Maybe there is nothing new to talk about,” she added.

According to her, despite the number of newly directed stage dramas, the theater has failed to attract a new audience. “It’s not that everyone lacks interest. There is a group who is always faithful to stage dramas. In fact, it’s really hard to book a theater to stage a play as there are new stage dramas being directed each day. One could take it as an awakening in the field. But the theaters are not getting full,” she said. “Each year there are new dramas directed and staged for the State Drama Festivals. Most of these dramas don’t go further than the festivals. Some among them use the television as a messenger and advertise themselves. Some travel a bit further with the help of welfare societies. Another group who uses tele-drama actors in their dramas, believing it is easy to advertise the dramas when those actors are used.  Also there are a number of lame dramas categorized as comedies which are particularly dry. They also use a name which arouses curiosity. It is becoming a trend,” she added.

According to Ratna Lalani, there is an absence of decent new scripts. “Sampath and I had this idea of producing a good stage drama for years. We tried to produce a fresh drama for our drama festival, but could not find a decent enough script. Some scriptwriters direct and produce their dramas by themselves. They don’t give it out. There were few good scripts like that. Some were ready to give but our standards did not match. We’ve to consider our age too, right?” she smiled.

As mentioned earlier, the title of the drama also plays a part in attracting an audience. Ratna pointed out that there are good dramas neglected by the ordinary audience because of the name.  “Jagan Maatha, directed by K B Herath is an example. People question the plot and they judge that it will be hard to understand. A director even suggested to Herath to change the name since it’s hard to understand. But when you take the story, that name Jagan Maatha explains everything- a mother called universe. But some believe it is hard to promote it with a name like that. What to do, some only like what is easy to understand,” she iterated.

Ratna Lalini pic by Chandana Wijesinghe

Another challenge is collecting funds for production. “When we were seeking sponsors for the drama festival, almost everyone lamented that their yearly budget is over. Some challenged us to show the rewards they would receive by sponsoring a drama festival. Some were concerned about the number of people who will get to see the drama as that is the only crowd they’ll be advertising to. This drama festival is the willingness of me and Sampath to jump in to trouble,” she explained the troubles they had to undergo seeking sponsors for the festival.

We occasionally get an opportunity to see some stage dramas on television. Although the complete aesthetic feeling could not be guaranteed Ratna Lalani is of the view that it was a good method for preserving stage dramas. “I do not say that by telecasting a stage drama 100 percent justice is done to the play. But other than in this way, there is no other way of preserving stage dramas for the future, for the new generations to study or even for us to see when we get old.”  She went on to say, “Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation, ITN and TNL used to record and telecast stage plays. Those dramas are the only ones which are being preserved. Though it’s not happening now, the SLRC has promised to start again. It is good if that happens, the new stage plays will also be preserved.”

She also said that selecting actors and actresses for the stage is not an easy task. “Stage is not an easy place. Tele-drama is nothing compared to the difficulties faced by staged drama.  You have to travel a lot, sometimes with minimum facilities. Sometimes there aren’t places to change clothes, no clean washrooms. Above all there are times you don’t get the payments after the shows. A person who can tolerate all this, only, can survive in the field,” she explained. “This is the main reason why a dramatist has to stick with another career as well.”  

By profession Ratna Lalani is a teacher at Royal College, Colombo 7.  In her years of experience she had observed that children showed a decreased interest in drama and theater. “With the influence of television, children have got obsessed about singing or dancing, but not the theater. They don’t seem to consider stage as a popular medium.  Children who have selected drama as a subject has a forced interest since their syllabus demands study,” she pointed out. “Teachers also take them to see dramas like Nari Bena, Thalamala Pipila, Antigone or Ratnawali, which are in the syllabus, but there is no attempt to make them interested beyond that. There are only a few who really are passionate about scheduling time to go and see a stage play,” she added.

She also said that the current Advanced Level and Ordinary Level syllabus is satisfactory, but has doubts about it being too heavy for beginners. “I have noticed that some dramas in the syllabus are too serious for children; these are ones which can be handled at university level. For A/L, the student is supposed to study seven text books. Since the syllabus is too wide, they do not get enough time to study in depth. Also, two years is not enough to read and understand all the dramas. There are good Greek dramas, Sanskrit dramas, European dramas, Japanese dramas, Folk dramas and the usage of drama skills in the syllabus. But they do not get a chance to study any of them in depth. They just study to get an A. That’s all,” she stressed. “However, teachers had a discussion recently about this matter and made some changes for the next year,” she added.

When the subject Drama and Theater studies was introduced to the school curriculum few years back, the students who wanted to study the subject had been reluctant. The word was that this subject wouldn’t allow a child to have higher education and then he or she will not be able to find a job. Ratna Lalani has faith in the new graduates of Drama and Theater studies and that they will be able to change this situation. “Now a student can learn up to the degree. There are several courses carried out in the universities. We couldn’t show a particular road for the students who passed out from university a few years back. But now there are many opportunities in the media field and teaching,” she declared. “I hope the interest in the field will be restored with the help of young blood.”