• A Hiru musical journey
• Bonsoir at Old Dutch Hospital
• Cry of a widow
• 'Bedde Senehasa' a story of love
• Lanka goes off beaten track
• New Indian Chef at AGH 
• Call for peace at PATA
• 16 years of Bonsoir

A Hiru musical journey

After completing nine years, the boys have managed to form their own Western band, Oriental Orchestra and Calypso band to suit the individual taste. They are skilled all play in all musical categories in different platforms.

The troupe consist of Dinesh Subasinghe (guitar), Pubudu Chandana (keyboards), Ganga Nissanka (vocals), Wasantha Gunawardena (drums), Manjula Martis (guitar and vocals), Daminda Kadigamuwa (percussion, tabla, congo and bonjo), Chamila Nalinda (bass).

Bonsoir at Old Dutch Hospital

On this programme will also be Prof. Zemaryalai Tarzi of the University of Strassbourg in France who speaks about the importance of appreciating and preserving one's national heritage. 

On Monday at 8.00pm and Wednesday at 6.00pm 0n ITN 

Cry of a widow

The story revolves around two brothers the elder of whom meets with an untimely death. The surviving brother is called upon to help the young widow. But things get complicated when the woman seeks to get the brother-in-law to substitute for his dead brother.

The younger brother is lost in a demanding world - his duties towards his brother's wife, his whole future and that of the girl who was waiting to be his bride.

The story , dialogues, screen play have all been done by Dharma Sri Wickremasinghe. Incidentally he had directed three other films earlier.

The cast include Senaka Wijesinghe, Lal Weerasinghe. and the film introduces two new faces Janaki Wijeratne and Thanuja Weerasuriya to the screen.

'Bedde Senehasa' a story of love

The miniplay unravels the fight of a young couple against social evils and their flight from it.

Surrounded by the forest people in Bingoda survived by farming and hunting. Banda was the youngest in the family with two sons and their father was a famous hunter in the area. Following in his father's footsteps, young Banda who goes into the forest for hunting and gets lost. Going deep into the forest he meets a beautiful girl who takes him to her hut in which she lives with her father. Later he comes to know that the father and daughter lead a secluded life after the mothers untimely death.

However Banda is helped to find his way to return to his village. After returning he keeps his heart with 'Bandari' the girl he met accidentally. Banda's mother opposes the son's love as there was a promise to get him married to his 'Nena'-cousin sister-but the boy some how manages to convince the mother and makes arrangements to bring the girl to his house.

Banda faces much opposition from his cousin brother who had got furious over the the promise broken. He even tries to harm the girl Bandari and her father.

Problems worsen for Banda when 'Rate Mahaththaya' intervenes to have a girl sent to him every night. His first choice being Bandari. He makes arrangements for a successful secret flight from the village.

Lanka goes off beaten track

By Susitha R. Fernando

Entering the industry at the tender age of seven years, Lanka played a part in the film "Jeewanthi" made by his mother. However he gradually developed an interest in handling the camera. While yet a ordinary level examination student at Mahanama College, Colombo he assisted Hemasiri Sellapperuma in doing a film.

Lanka who took an active part in school plays made it a point to sit the Advanced Level examination in the arts stream. He realized his dream of becoming a successful film maker when he was made assistant director in 'Newa Gilunath Bandchun' which ran for over 100 days.

Some of the other films he assisted in which have become box office hits were Nombera 17 (No 17), 'Uthura Dakuna' and 'Salambak Handai'.

Recalling he past Lanka said the opportunity he got to work with veterans like Vijaya Kumaratunga and Gamini Fonseka were moments he would never forget.

"Dwelling on the opportunity he had to work with some Indian film men he said he was amazed by the application and sacrifices of the technical crew in that country. "We have very few who are so dedicated to their work" Lanka said.

"Most of the producers here want to do films without spending money. This results in making cheap products which neither provides entertainment nor have any artistic value", he added.

Asked for the fall in numbers of moviegoers in our country, Lanka said "the main reason I think is that we don't have variety in the story line for our scripts,".

"It is not necessary to have serious story lines always but a good film could be made with a simple story from a day to day happening", he said.

"He also advocated the need to unearth new actors and actresses to replace the old faces" he said.

Lanka's talents are not limited to directorial work alone. He has also mastered other areas like screen play writing, editing and even production aspects.

After having studied the art through trial and error Lanka spoke ruefully about the lack of an institution to teach cinema in all its forms.

According to this budding enthusiastic film personality the difficulty of finding producers is another big blow to the Sinhala cinema. "Producers here do not want to take the risk their money on uncertain ventures" he claimed. According to Lanka this was not the fault of producers, "What I think is that it is not hard to find producers if the film makers are armed with good scripts, technical facilities, cast and most importantly good preparation". 

Having worked in thirty four films so far, Lanka did not forget to remember his teacher Hemasiri Sellapperuma with gratitude. 'His advice and guidance have been of great value to me', he said.

New Indian Chef at AGH 

Gangaram Belga, a resident of Hyderabad is a versatile Chef in the preparation of all kinds of declicious Indian Food. More so is his speciality in South Indian Cuisine. According to the hotel he has 15 years experience to his credit, working a Symphony Restaurant, Hyderabad Parklane Hotel, Secunderabad and a ten-year stint with the Taj Banjara Hotel in Hyderabad.

Call for peace at PATA

Mr Renton de Alwis has been invited to serve PATA 2020 Task Force to charter future direction of the organization taking a comprehensive view of future travel and tourism industry.

PATA 2020 is a Think Tank which is limited to 15-20 selected members. Mr.de Alwis with his vast knowledge and expertise on travel and tourism has been specially nominated to serve on this Task Force. He will also serve on the PATA Marketing Committee and Education Committee. At the PATA Board of Directors Meeting this year Sri Lanka made a strong call for peace through a global initiative.

Founded in 1951, the Pacific Asia Travel Association is the recognized authority on Pacific Asia travel and tourism. PATA provides leadership to the collective efforts of 41 national government members, 48 state and local tourism bodies, 66 airlines and cruise lines - all in all, nearly 2,000 travel industry companies. 

PATA members also include companies that provide a wide range of services to the travel industry. PATA's Chapter membership includes 17,000 travel professionals in 80 PATA Chapters located throughout the world.

An intrinsic value of PATA is the broad base of its membership and its mission is to enhance the growth, value and quality of Pacific Asia travel and tourism for the benefit of its membership. PATA has long been an advocate of balancing growth with responsible conservation measures, and its successes to date has been extra-ordinary.

16 years of Bonsoir 

Bonsoir was the brainchild of Mrs. Josiane Thureau of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1985.

The programme was, until December 1999, produced by the Cultural Service of the Embassy of France in Sri Lanka. Since January 2000, it comes under the purview of the Delegation of the Alliance Francaise.

On a visit to Sri Lanka in early 1985, she discussed the possibility of such a programme with the French Embassy's then Cultural Counsellor Bernard Prunieres and ITN's then Chairman, the late Mr. Thevis Guruge.

The programme was to take the form of a "showcase of France and the French". The ideas seemed an interesting one and that's how "Bonsoir" first hit Sri Lankan television screens in July 1985. 

"Bonsoir's" first producer/presenter was Aruni Devaraja.

Since its inception, "Bonsoir" was presented in English. Following requests by several hundreds of the programme's viewers, the producers decided to telecast one programme a month entirely in Sinhala.

The first "Sinhala Bonsoir", produced by Chintananda Abeysekera was telecast in June 1994. With the vast majority of Sri Lankans speaking Sinhala, this programme is a great attraction and draws a very favourable feedback each month.

Following several more continued and consistent requests from an eager and enthusiastic viewing public, the "Sinhala Bonsoir" has been with effect from January 1, 1997, telecast every other week and alternate with the English programmes.While proving to be a showcase of France and the French, another contributory factor to the popularity "Bonsoir" on Sri Lankan television, is its successful twinning of events and happenings French and Sri Lankan.

"Bonsoir" was once presented on board the French ship 'Jules Verne' which docked in at the Port of Colombo. The programme was a special one on the writer Jules Verne, his novel "Around the World in 80 Days" and the breaking of the record by the modern day navigator Bruno Peron.

"Bonsoir" joined the French crew of the film 'Le Prix d'une Femme' in Colombo and did an entire programme on the production of a film, presenting to viewers much of the action 'behind the scenes' which they normally do not get to see.

Bonsoir team comprises of Kumar De Silva, Yasmin Rajapakse, Manjula Dharmakeerthi, Dilini Jayamanne, Himali Guneratne, Pasanna Gunasekera, Sumaya Samarasinghe, Yohan Liyanage and Aminta Paiva.

In November/December 1996, the members of the "Bonsoir" team underwent an intensive two-week training course conducted by Christian Dupre of the French National Audio-visual Institute (INA).

What was significant about this training session, was that producers from other television stations in Sri Lanka, namely the Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation (SLRC), the Independent Television Network (ITN), and Maharaja Television Network (MTV), were also invited to participate.

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