Susil : Guardian of Sinhala cinema songs

For Susil Dharmapala collecting old songs of early Sri Lankan cinema brings immense pleasure. He first started collecting songs not with the aim of selling or reproducing them on cassettes and CDs but to make himself proud of the collection of 'old golden treasures of cinema'. The idea to reproduce them came with repeated requests made by those approached him in search of old songs sometimes even their original singers.

"There were large number of university students and even others who are doing research who came to me in search of original songs. It was they who insisted that I copy them and make available for anyone who wants it," says Susil Dharmapala who developed a deep liking to see films even as a child.

Professionally a Gramasevaka from Pitumpe, Padukka, Susil Dharmapala has a large collection of HMV and Columbia records containing the songs of the first film 'Kadawunu Poronduwa' (Broken Promise) to songs that came on Sri Lankan cinema over several decades. Asked as to how many songs he has in his collection, Susil said "Even I don't know. Of H. R. Jothipala alone there are nearly 2000 songs I have,"

Among others in the collection are W. D. Amaradeva, Dharmadasa Walpola, Latha Walpola, Milton Perera, G. S. B Rani, Sisira Senaratne, Indrani Wijebandara and many others. Susil now has taken up the important task of preserving these songs and holding exhibitions at the Public Library so they could be made available for anybody who seeks those old evergreen film hits.

"At first I did not have any idea with regard to the laws relating to intellectual property rights. In fact I was deceived by some people who falsely claimed their rights," says Susil. But it was during his visits at Cargills and Millers, Fort that he came to know of the real owners of those songs.

"Even though the rights of films have been bought over by some people the rights of the original songs are with the original companies which produced the discs namely HMV and Columbia and the local representatives of these two are Cargills and Millers.

"It was a Tamil gentleman at Cargills who explained to me about the original rights of the songs. He understood my genuine interest and wrote to India where there were branch offices of HMV and Columbia and obtained for me permission to reproduce these songs and sell them," says Susil Dharmapala expressing his gratitude to Cargills and Millers and also to the Tamil gentleman he described as 'Demala Mahaththaya'.

Later some film producers who had come to know of his worthy endeavour volunteered to give their collections to be made into CDs and cassettes to be made available for those who like to listen to them. Initially in his endeavour Susil Dharmapala also had to undergo severe hardship including going to courts twice and even be in remand once.

"This was following false complaints made against me over rights of these songs. But now everything is clear," says Susil with a sigh of relief. Now Susil occasionally holds exhibitions of his collection at the Public Library and he is even is generous to inform in advance of the exhibition for those who write in to M. S. Dharmapala, 132/C, Pitumpem, Padukka or phone him on 2859409. Sinhala Cinemawe Wansa Kathawa.

In his latest attempt to bring back memories of the development of early cinema, Susil has started to compile a series of detailed books in Sinahla on the history of Sri Lankan cinema titling 'Sinhala Cinema Wansa Kathawa'. The series contains the background details of each film, the synopsis, details of the cast and the crew, complete lyrics of all the songs, reviews published in the newspapers, theatres where they were screened and many interesting and little known details.

The fruit of this laborious work, Susil recently released the maiden issue with the details of the films produced from 'Kadawunu Poronduwa' in 1947 to 'Segawunu Pilithura' (The Hidden Answer) in 1951.

In addition to the first-hand experiences shared by some of the artistes involved in the films Susil has spent hours in the National Archives going through magazines and newspapers to collect articles written on these films.

Susil who has dedicated the book to the "Demala Mahaththaya" he had met at Millers said he is grateful to him because it was because of him that he was able to do all these.