TV Times

TV Times

Gamini honoured for his achievements
By Susitha R. Fernando
Gamini Shelton Fonseka was born on March 21, 1936. He had his early education at S. Thomas’ College, Mount Lavinia. He excelled in sports including boxing in his school days. He also took an interest in bodybuilding.

Working with David Lean as the assistant director (technical) filming ‘Bridge on the River Kwai he gained a lot of first hand experience which helped him later in his career both as an actor and director.

With Lester James Peries as one of the assistant directors he got an opportunity for his first brief role being one of a crowd standing for a few seconds.

His first major role was as commander- ‘Manamula’ in ‘Daiwayogaya’ which was filmed in North India at the ‘Prabath’ film studio. Later when he acted as a rebel leader in ‘Sandeshaya’ and received wide acclaim than the film idol of that time Ananda Jayaratne.

From then onwards Gamini never looked back for four decades in his acting career, both in commercial and art films. Many of his films were box office hits bringing hefty returns for his producers.

The TV Times got an opportunity to interview Gamini Fonseka at his residence in at Araliya uyana Road, Kanuwana, Ja-ela.
Here are some extracts excerpts.

TV Times: Looking back do you think you have achieved much during your film career?
I was popular in the 70s hence I am glad to say I was able to contribute to Sri Lankan cinema positively in some areas.
A few others and I formed a society. We spoke for the rights and privileges of the downtrodden actors and actresses who were sometimes not given even basic comforts of travel. We were able to achieve a sense of dignity for the artistes.

TV Times: What do you think helped you to become a popular film star?
I didn’t have a formal schooling in the techniques of drama and acting. And neither was there any place to study professionally. Initially I learnt acting from actors on the stage. I respected actors like Laddie Ranasinghe and Romles De Silva. There are a lot to learn from our people before going to the West. Then moving about with a top class cast I was working with in the Bridge on the River Kwaiî for one year, I got an opportunity to go deep into it.

TV Times: Does an actor have a particular period to blossom?
An actor is ageless. There is no set time to retire and allow others to step into your shoes. This is another area that the director should take into consideration while selecting the cast.

TV Times: What are the areas that present actors should concentrate more?
There is nothing new to teach our actors. Majority of them are born actors. Our whole nation is full of actors-sometime real life actors (in a humorous way). But unfortunately there is no stage for them since there are no good films for them. They take to TV. Among the actors I have noticed ones like Mahendra Perera and Vimal Kumara de Costa can go a long way. My advice for young actor is to go out of this country and learn it.

TV Times: As an experienced director what can you say of the art of directing?
To be a good director one must be a versatile actor. Then only he can get the best out of any actor like a potter moulding a beautiful image from a handful of clay.

TV Times: What do you think about imposing ban n films?
As a director my films caused controversy and there were many critiques and there were times I was even subjected to harassments when Sagar ayak Meda in 1981 and Koti Waligaya in 1986 were banned from screening.

This is nothing new to this medium. When Sandeshaya was released certain people objected to it saying that Lester James Peries could not handle a theme like that because he was not a Buddhist.

TV Times: What do you think about the present directors?
We have got some directors with extraordinary talent. We have got Lester James Peries who is recognised as one of the ten best in the world. We have some hopeful directors like Prasanna Vithanage and Somaratne Dissanayake who have proved their capabilities from the few films they have made.

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