Kanchanamala joins Sinhabahu legacy
Kanchanamala with her mother Malini
Following the Guinness World Record legacy by her parents who played most number of theatre performances for 31 years continuously, Dr. Kanchanamala Ranasinghe is to play Suppadevi in Prof. Ediriweera Sarachchandra’s epoch making stylised play ‘Sinhabahu’.
Kanchanamala as Suppadevi
Kanchanamala is the only daughter of Terence and Malini Ranasinghe who played the roles of Potheguru and Suppadevi in Sinhabahu for more than 5000 performances over 31 years from 1961 to 1992. In 2001 Terence and Malini were awarded with the Guinness World Record for the Most Durable Theatre Performers in the world.
Kanchanamala will make her debut as Suppadevi at 6.30 pm on July 6 at the Elphinston theatre Maradana and at 2.30 pm and 6.30 pm on July 13 at the Lionel Wendt theatre Colombo.
“Our house was filled with music and drama and there were lot of aesthetic happenings around our home in Kandy,” says Dr. Kanchanamala, medical officer and a Senior Lecturer, School of Medicine, Griffith University.
Kanchanamala as Samudra Devi
‘Both my parents were teachers. My mother was zoology and botany teacher while my father was an English and History teacher and they both were graduates from Peradeniya University, where they joined Sinhabahu’ says Kanchanamala reminiscing about her childhood in Kandy.
“We loved Kandy very much. Even though many artistes went to Colombo, Amma and Thaththa didn’t want to leave Kandy. Because of this they had to travel to Colombo early morning whenever there is a ‘Sinhabahu’ show around the country as the drama crew left from Colombo. But they made it sure that they return home on the same night using public transport,” Kanchanamala tells stressing on the sacrifice her parents made for the theatre.
With theatre background from home, Kanchanamala won the Best Actress award for her role as Samudra Devi at the National Tower Hall Drama competition.
“It was when I was playing this role Samudradevi I was thinking about an opportunity to play the role of Suppadevi, the character played by my mother. To be frank it was one of the dreams in my life. So to play Suppadevi and getting in to my mother’s shoes is a really dream come true.
I am ever so thankful to Lalitha Sarachchandra for giving me this opportunity,” says Kanchanamala.
A proud product of Girls High School Kandy, Kanchanamala, excelled in many fields including drama, sports, music and theatre. She was the school captain, western Band leader and finally had the honour of winning the Gold Medal for the Best All-Rounder at Girls High School Kandy.
Dr. Kanchanamala Ranasinghe
Excelled in studies Kanchanamala entered Medical Faculty of Peradeniya University to become a doctor. While at the Peradeniya Medical faculty as an undergraduate Kanchanamala represented Sri Lanka as the Miss University Sri Lanka for the Mr. and Miss University International Talent Contest in Japan in 1996.
Having graduated with medical degree, she joined Faculty of Medicine, University of Peradeniya as a lecturer in Microbiology. In 2005 Kanchanamala went to Australia and joined the Queensland University in Brisbane to read for her post graduate degrees. There she obtained three Phds in General practice, Emergency Medicine, and rural and remote medicine. At present she serves as a Specialist in Rural and Remote Medicine and as a senior lecturer in Medicine.
Having dedicated most of her time for medicine and family commitments, Kanchanamala is now ready to dedicate more time for music and theatre, two other fields very much closer to her heart. “With the blessing of Ms Lalitha Sarachchandra I am planning to play the role of Suppadevi whenever I come to Sri Lanka,” says Kanchanamala.
Kanchanamala also has recently released a few original Sinhala songs and planning to release more songs.