Paramitha celebrates anniversary

Award winning teledrama director Thusitha de Silva's ‘Paramitha’ a series of minifilms based on’Jathaka Katha’ has reached a milestone completing its first anniversary.

Introducing a new form of expression to the stories that had been in the books and chronicles for hundreds of years, Thusitha's attempt to enlighten with the visual medium is definitely a commendable endeavour both aesthetically and religiously.

‘We are happy as we were able to create a new form in the teledrama scene in Sri Lanka in which main themes revolve around hackneyed topics of day today family issues or love affairs’ Thusitha said speaking about the success of Paramitha, which narrated every Saturday as single episode stories of Lord Buddha in his different births at 7. 30 pm. The stories were written by monks 700 years ago during the Dambadeniya era and they are relevant to any society at any time, the director added. Thusitha also stated that having visited a number of schools, he had come to know that the series is specially popular among school children.

‘In some schools the miniplay was recommended by the principals and teachers as a must to be seen by their pupils’ he said. Thusitha said that most of the stories are phyco-dramas, which are similar to films of world renowned filmmakers.

‘Though there are 550 stories there are only around 100 stories that could be made into the visual medium,’ the director said. He also thanked the People's Bank which undertook to sponsor the series spurred by the sincere wish of promoting cultural and artistic work.

‘Having considered the importance of the continuity, the Bank itself imposed a rule not to run mid-break commercials which is unthinkable when we think of today's sponsors,’ Thusitha said with gratitude.

However, having taking part in this meaningful endeavour, Thusitha says with the present development in the teledrama scene it is a shame to call themselves as teledrama directors.

‘Today the art of teledrama has come down to a level where we feel ashamed to introduce ourselves as directors’ award winning director Thusitha de Silva speaking to the TV Times said. ‘Teledramas are dished out as factory products not as works of creative art. Sometimes they are made at a rate of one episode a day. Unfortunately this is done despite the fact that the local audience have walked away from the TV,’ he added. According to ratings 80% of the total viewers do not watch teledramas at present and this had been proved with the various ratings. And unfortunately there is hardly any organised body to lobby against this callous destruction of art.

‘This is a dangerous situation where specially the future generation is concerned. And it is high time that the government intervenes and to test the knowledge of the teledrama makers before they take up the subject. Testing should include various activities like making a short film and even an examination to test their knowledge the medium. Actually, earlier this was done by Dr. D. B. Nihalsinghe’ stressed Thusitha.

What you see today are teledrama directors who rise one night and making dramas even without maintaining the basic technical requirements. Thusitha who spoke extensively on the long term moves for the betterment of the teledrama industry emphasised that grading of teledrama should be introduced immediately as the liberalised policies have caused extensive damage to the art. "We have a responsibility to prepare our future generation to enjoy good teledramas or cinema and it is also important to develop the taste of the school children," he added. Veteran script writer Somaweera Senanayake wrote the script for the teledrama series which is sponsored by the People's Bank.