Fitting tribute to Richard

Even though there wasn't much time to create awareness for this excellent creative piece, we hope most viewers saw it and took in the message.

Talking to Satyajit, he confessed he was so moved by his friend Richard's death and the events that followed that he thought the best way to pay tribute to him would be through cinematic expression. 

Satyajit has always been interested in cinema, particularly in spiritual and religious themes and is also a great admirer of Polish film director Krizysztof Kheslowski.

Planning 'Smarana Samapti' was not easy. Being a newcomer he had to start from scratch. "But there were youngsters keen on helping me, including Kaushalya (Fernando) who helped me a lot with the casting," he said appreciatively. 

He also had a word of gratitude for Prasanna Vitanage who "encouraged me at every step whenever I went to him with a problem."

"What next?" I asked. "I have a few ideas for a script and am in the process of developing them," was his answer.

Top performers on TV

You can meet award-winning director Prasanna Vitanage, the first Sri Lankan actor to win an international award, Joe Abeywickrema (for his powerful role in 'Purahanda Kaluwara'), Best Actress Nita Fernando (in Prasanna's other film 'Pavuru Walalu') along with Dr Lester James Peries,who will make a guest appearance.

'Bonsoir' director Kumar de Silva promises us more - features on the Amiens, Cannes and Singapore International Film Festivals (it was in Amiens that 'Purahanda Kaluwara' bagged the top prize) and the two award winning films. 

The road to success

The novel has been described as a fine psychological study of a romance which takes a dreadful twist due to mutual mistrust. It exposes how a thousand-and-one hopes, aspirations and ambitions that are built up in life can vanish into thin air. When first published, the novel was tremendously popular among teenagers. 

Publisher Dayawansa Jayakody (who has moved away from the usual Tuesday launch to a Friday launch to make it a birthday celebration for the author) is hopeful that it will be equally popular with the present generation.

His writing skills

Many of us have enjoyed his popular works like 'Vilambita' (his first novel written in 1953), 'Amba Yahaluwo' - turned into a successful teledrama not so long ago- 'Tilaka', and 'Tilaka Ha Tilakaa'. 

The second edition of his fiftieth work, 'Yugayaka Gamana', his autobiography was released as a Dayawansa Jayakody publication recently giving readers an opportunity to peruse the life story of a hardworking politician. Ilangaratne has been in politics for 37 years, 16 as a Cabinet minister.

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