He won the Best Actor award at the Singapore International Film Festival in 1999 for "the simplicity and maturity of his performance as the role of a blind man whose nobility and honour transcends the depth of his personal sorrow." That was Joe Abeywickrema in 'Purahanda Kaluwara' – Prasanna Vithanage’s powerful award-winning cinematic creation.

The medical verdict was a life sentence, without hope, only despair. "You have only about six months to live as you have cancer," a well-known personality in the country is told, while only three months, and a very painful three months at that, are given to a baby who has just passed his first birthday.