• Matale holds talent contest
• Millennium Park Bak Maha Ulela
• Shawn going to States
• HD: talented film maker 
• Sunil breaks long silence
• Benette wins Platinum Award 
• 'Me Mage Sandai' wins S'pore Award
• Reader's Corner

Matale holds talent contest

The main objective of this show was to give an opportunity to display inborn talents and creative skills of the interact fraternity. 

It was a delightful evening of music, song and dance which saw inborn talents and skills of interactors from Matale city schools - Vijaya College, St. Thomas', Christ Church College, Government Science College, Sangamitta B.M.V., Pakkiam Hindu Girls College and St. Thomas' Girls School. 

This evening's program consisted of four categories, solo singing, group singing, instrumental and dancing. 

The panel of Judges included Bhatiya Jayakody, Santush Weeraman, Harshani Madugalle and Nivanthi Gunasekara. 

Matale Sangamitta Girls - Lasangi Wijeratne, Asha Adhikari, Dimuthu Ranasinghe and Nayani Pussella - who gave a fine performance in the group singing category winning the first place.

Shathiska Weeraratne and Janaka Angammana from Science College who sang 'Girl You Are My Angel' came second in the same category. 

None of the competitors could match the performances of St. Thomas' boys, who gave a wonderful display in traditional Kandyan music in the instrumental category. 

Bharatha Dance performed by Sampathi of Pakkiam Hindu College won the first place in the dancing category. 

- L.D. Chandrasiri of Matale

Millennium Park Bak Maha Ulela

The event was spread to five fun filled days from April 6-10 for the entire family. Enthusiastic parents cheered their kids along, as they participated in the various events, such as the bun eating competition, tug-of-war, fancy dress parade, placing the eye on the elephant, singing competition and traditional avurudhu games such as breaking the muttiya blind folded. A stilt walker entertained the crowds and all these sponsored by Coca Cola. 

The action station produced the aroma of traditional Sri Lankan sweetmeats and the kavum ammes, prepared the kavum, kokis on site much to the delight of our expats who visited the park. 

The traditional rabana and the rabana ladies displayed their expertise and talent to our urban folks who enjoyed the rhythm and sounds familiar to our village kith and kin.

Three Singthi Kumari of the Millennium Park were selected from the formidable singithi line up and prizes were given courtesy Stone N' String, Coca Cola and Millennium Park. 

Parents and children were offered instant prizes for traditional kavi recitals.

Shawn going to States

He was attracted to DJing when he spent six months in Britain visiting the many clubs. When he came back he was determined to be a DJ. "After having experienced all the excitement of DJing in Britain, I couldn't get it out of my mind and so when I came back to Sri Lanka I set up my own studio "Ministry of Sound" and also my own recording studio and did DJing for any occasion and also digital audio recordings" says the young talented DJ Shawn.

"I like trance, techno, club music and underground but UK garage is my favourite. I used to DJ for house parties in the weekends, down South too and for Dreams." Recently DJ Shawn joined Sun FM as a part time DJ. "I sat in on weekend Eve and Klub Hopping together with RJ. I called myself DJ Shawn (JAYZ-E) and I enjoyed myself very much. The Sun Crew are friend especially Jason Bond 009 he is cool", continued Shawn.

So what's up going to the States? "I'm hoping to carry on my DJing there as a part time experience, I have a friend who is a DJ there and I'm hoping to join him" reveals DJ Shawn.

Besides working his favourite DJing, Shawn Corera was studying sound engineering and was working at Hecny Travels covering reservations and ticketing. So here's wishing DJ Shawn good luck in his new home.

HD: talented film maker 

H. D. is well known for some outstanding and artistic films like "Palama Yata","Kulageya" and " Seilama". 

The film is set in the true back-drop of a Free Trade Zone in Sri Lanka, where most young girls work for very low wages and the film shows how they try to live their hard life with other greeded society. Sangeetha plays 'Sanduni', where she has become the victim of this greed nurtured by shallow but glitzy city life.

The leading roles of the film are played by Kamal Addararachchi, Sangeetha Weeraratne, Irangani Serasinghe, Roger Seneviratne, Vasanthi Chathurani, Veena Jayakody, Nilanthi Wijesinghe.

His film making journey began with "Sikurulia" in 1966. His works have been numerous include "Palama Yata", "Parithyagaay" (Sacrifice) in 1980, "Deweni Gamana" (Honeymoon) in 1982, "Palama Yata" (Under the Bridge) in 1990, "Kulageya" (Prestigious House) in 1991 and "Seylama" (The City) in 1994. These films earned for him a name both here and abroad. Lyrics for the film were written by Deleepa Karunaratne while Nirosha Virajini sings to the music direction of Rohana Weerasinghe.

Outdoor location shooting for Kinihiriya Mal was done both in Colombo and in far off places like Galewela and some garment factory premises in the interior. Sapphire and Galadari Hotels too have been prominent in the filming of indoor scenes. 

Sunil breaks long silence

By Susitha R. Fernando

He is an award winning lyricist, writer, lecturer and film director. His latest directorial venture "Sudu Sevaneli" (White Shadows) is being given its final touches at the moment. 

After nearly 12 years of inactivity after having directed many films like 'Anupama', 'Sarungale', 'Siribo Aiyya', 'Podi Malli', 'Vajira', 'Jeevithayen Jeevith-ayak' and 'Kristhu Charithaya' this gifted film maker has with "Sudu Sewaneli" begun once more to dabble with this art form.

Responding to a question about his long silence Mr. Ariyaratne said: There definitely was a lack of room for artistic films in the immediate past. The demand was mostly for comedies or films with a stress on sex. But things have begun to inprove. Hence the present effort. Here too I found it a little hard to find a producer.

A heavy schedule of filming took place in the beautiful locations around Matale, Melsiripura and some filming sites included historical Galle Fort and Wadduwa Church and included some scenes of old Colombo. 

The film is based on a story written by Piyadasa Welikannage. The cast has a mixture of both veterans and new comers. The principal roles are done by Irangani Serasinghe, Wasanthi Chathurani, Linton Semage and Roshan Pilapitiya. 

"Sudu Sevaneli" unravels a tale around an incident that took place during the revolt lead by Weera Puran Appu in 1848. 

Sudu Banda was in the custody of English rulers after the failure of the uprising and had been granted a royal pardon. In the absence of Sudu Banda his brother looked after the wife, who now was pregnant. The unexpected return of the husband gives a new twist to the film.Dharmasena Hemapala had returned to Sri Lanka from America specially to handle the art direction in Sudu Sewaneli. 

Though an award winning lyricist, Prof. Ariyaratne had on purpose left out songs from the film. 

Benette wins Platinum Award 

By Susitha R. Fernando

Benette Ratnayake has won international fame with his maiden directorial effort 'Aswesuma" (The Compensation) at the 34th Houston International Film Festival. 

The film maker who made a name as a talented teledrama director won the Platinum award for the Best Director at the recently held Houston film festival. Benette is the first Sri Lankan film maker to be honoured with such an award.

The award winning film spans the period 1948 to 2000 and narrates poignantly the immense hardships and misfortune the youth had to experience.

The film, depicts an old man's struggle to overcome his own guilt and his deep desire to correct some of the events for which he had been responsible during his youth. 

The story of the film revolves around elderly Guneris played by Joe and portrays his youthful years in the 1940s. Jackson Anthony plays the role of young Guneris. 

The locations selected for filming included places of scenic beauty like the 'Sinharaja Forest Reserve' and places in Kithulgala, Beli Lena, Ruwanwella, Karaliyadda and Mawanella. The film cast includes accomplished and internationally acclaimed Joe Abeywickrema, and experienced actors Ravindra Randeniya and Jackson Anthony. 

The rest of the cast includes German actor, Dr. Hans Nowak and British actress Helen Kelly. The local stars are Sangeetha Weeraratne, Mahendra Perera, Hemasiri Liyanage, Indrajith Navinna, Saumaya Liyanage and Gamini Hettiarachchi playing the principle roles. Stanley Alwis was the editor. Sena Madulage was art director and Harsh Makalanda was music director. 

Ratnayake himself wrote the script with final touches been given to it by Somaweera Senanayake and Tony Ranasinghe. 'Aswes-uma' is produced by Samanmali Hewamanne. The film is likely to be released around next June. 

The other local film that participated in the film festival is Asoka Handagama's "Me Mage Sandai" (This is my Moon). 

'Me Mage Sandai' wins S'pore Award

Me Mage Sandai (This is My Moon) was earlier screened in London, Kerala, Mineapolis and Rome International Film Festivals and gained high critical acclaim. It has been invited for Seattle (USA), Montreal (Canada) and Venice (Italy) film festivals. The international promotion of the film is handled by the Asian Film Centre. 

The film was produced by Be-Positive Media Group for Social Development.

Reader's Corner

Excellent Concert

I am not a great fan of Deva but what a mega concert the "Deva-Thenisai Sangaman" turned out to be on the 20th of April. 

Deva, one of the best music directors in the Indian film industry and a good singer himself was brought down by Shakthi F.M. and T.V. along with his original music troupe containing his brothers Sabesh and Murali. 

Other famous artistes like Mano, Sujatha, Krishnaraj, S.P.B. Charan, Tippu, Shushmita also joined in to give a performance par excellence. 

The host who was a member of the Deva troupe was a dynamic fellow who made the show more exciting. What a night it turned out to be, the musical breeze touched all hearts in the crowd. The song selection of the artistes was very good as the young and the old were grooving to their songs. 

The mega entry of the concert was the arrival of Madhavan, the popular, young actor from India. 

He was truly overwhelmed by the crowd and was very happy to be in Colombo. 

We felt it when the first words he said was "don't bring tears to my eyes." It was a brief appearance but he made a great impact. A great cricket fan himself did not forget to give us the match scores and shouted out jubilantly congratulating Sri Lanka. It was a proud moment for him and us too. 

The big screens in all four corners was a good thought by the organisers. There was some minor problems with the crowd but as the show was a Mega treat it did not matter. 

Our sincere thanks to the artistes and the organisers for a wonderful concert. 

I enjoyed every minute of this musical treat and for those who missed it better luck next time ! 

It was double jubilation for us the satisfaction of a musical treat and the glory of winning the Sharjah Cup.

Sad time for Sri Lankan Western music fans

What has happened to our music scene ? Most of the top bands and singers have gone abroad seeking greener pastures. 

Most of the night clubs are closed and the remaining few rely on DJs only.

The evergreen 'Little Hut' at Mount Lavinia is closed for the past three months and the popular 'Blue Leopard' is the latest victim. Both the venues were popular as they featured live bands. 'Legends', 'Blue Elephant' and 'Cascade' always depend on DJs.

I am sure most of music fans like us always prefer live music to DJs. Young generation goes for DJs as they like this house, acid, rap and garage type music.

I'm not too sure about recently opened 'Underground at 'Rock Cafe'. Live music is the problem for our western music fans. Where are they supposed to turn on ? 

What has happened to Sohan, Noeline, Dalreen, Mirage, Aquarius and other talented musicians? Are they in Sri Lanka or has they gone overseas? Why can't they visit Sri Lanka quite often? They must have forgotten their base and their devoted fans. 

The new bands like 'Dejavu' 'Independent Square' 'Creb's Cycle' are not delivering the goods for their fans. They are singing for themselves only. What will be our music scene in the future? I am trying hard to visualise it.

Bring back 'Mr. Bean'

'Sura Pappa', who replaced 'Mr. Bean' on Sirasa TV, on Saturday, is not the most suitable program to fit into that time slot. 

True 'Sura Pappa' is enjoyed by both young and old but it should be bit more early than that as it comes under children's programmes. 

There are more new and episodes not telecast of 'Mr. Bean' and we are wondering why Sirasa had suddenly stopped this popular programme.

Please bring back 'Mr. Bean' to the small screen as everybody enjoys his hilarious antics.

Stop this Hindi madness on TV 

This is with regard to the TV programmes on most of the channels during the New Year week.

As the Buddhists and Tamils celebrated the New Year festival, Good Friday too was on April 13 .But there wasn't any Christian programmes on any of the channels. 

Boring movies and mainly Hindi films were the day's attractions on Rupavahini, ITN, Swarnavahini, Sirasa TV and Channel EYE

At least on a day like this it could have been better to telecast a good movie . 

Can't we have some English or Sinhala movies, that most people would enjoy watching. 

In the past years, on Good Fridays and Easter Sundays, there were movies like Jesus of Nazareth, Ten Commandments and similar type films. 

Is it because lack of sponsordes or just bad ignorance.

Has everyone got these Hindi madness ? What about weekends , the whole morning was packed with Hindi songs and Hindi movies. I hope that the TV authorities would consider this request and make arrangements to have movies in English and Sinhala most of the time at least during weekends.

Has anyone seen Sinhala movies on any Indian channels?

Welldone Swarnawahini

"Swarnavahini" please accept our sincere appreciation on your Sinhala and Tamil new year presentation 'Tikiri Padura' telecast on April 15. 

There were lot of talent among the kids. 

They were able to sing, act talk and do everything they can to keep the programme interesting to everybody - big or small. I together with my grand children enjoyed the programme to the very last moment. 

Hope all the other views will share my view. 

Suggestions: Please record this program on VCD/Video and make available to the viewers. This will be an ideal gift to our loved ones or friends living abroad. 

Please keep us informed; keep the same spirit up Swarnawahini.

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