TV Times
 

‘Warna’: A colourful story
By Susitha R. Fernando
"In today's world it's a challenge to live for the principles one believes in. The political, economic and social systems are such that there is no place for honesty and truthfulness," said Gaya Ramya de Alwis, the director of Warna the newest teledrama begun on Rupavahini channel.

The young director further added "the protagonist, Wageesha in 'Warna' is a playwright who tries to stand on his own against a system with which did not agree and but ultimately makes him a victim of that very same system."
Asked what made him select this subject Alwis said, "This was a phenomenon that I observed for the last so many years in our society. When it comes to arts there is hardly any place and recognition for genuine artistes."
"For example we had veteran artistes like Sugathapala de Silva who stood whenever he could stand with what he believed was right but there was hardly any recognition for him," said Alwis speaking in honour of late playwright on the Sri Lankan stage.

Warna is played by Roshan Ravindra, Pavithra Dayananada, Jayalath Manoratne, Tony Ranasinghe, Anjula Rajapakse, Athula Pathirana, Sarath Kothalawela, Edward Gunawardena, Grace Ariyawimal, Mohan Raj and Inoka Nishshanka.

The story revolves around the young playwright Wageesha (Roshan Ravindra) who has hopes for a better tomorrow. He is busy preparing for his latest play a political murder based on a true event. Nirmala, a medical student coming from an affluent family once sees Wageesha's play and becomes an admirer of his plays and the person. Subsequently they become lovers.

Jayasekara played by Jayalath Manoratne is a powerful politician in the area and he wants to stop Wageesh's play being staged. This is because he is the culprit in the murder depicted in the play. The play would be a direct attack on Jayasekara who is going to contest the oncoming election. Jayasekara who approaches the young playwright, tries to win him but all his attempts fail. Teckla (Anjula Rajapakse) is a close friend and Wageesha's neighbour. They are good friends. Jayasekara's son, Kalpa closely associates with Teckla but there are regular fights between the two.

Meanwhile Nirmala's father who hears about his daughter's affair warns Wageesha to stop it and in the face of objections Nirmala insists Wageesha register their marriage. As the Election Day draws nigh, Jayasekara is searching for a way to get rid of Wageesha and his play.

Warna takes a dramatic turn when one day the dead body of Teckla is found in Wageesha's room and he is arrested on a charge of murder. Found guilty for the murder of Teckla, Wageesha is sentenced to life imprisonment and to make matters worse by this time Nirmala found herself pregnant with Wageesha's child.

Nirmala's father keeps her in Colombo until she gives birth to the child. After a painful delivery, Nirmala is informed that she had had a miscarriage. At her father's insistence father Nirmala goes abroad.

The story in Warna begins with her return to Sri Lankan after several years. By this time her father had died and her uncle undertakes the responsibility of looking after her. But soon she realises that she had been misled by her father. What happened to Nirmala's child? Who killed Teckla? What happened to Wageesha? All these will be answered as Warna screens its final episode.
The technical crew include Pubudu Kariyawasam as editor, Kapila Kumara as cameraman, art director Lionel Saparamadu and make up by Premalal Gunathilake. Tharupathie Munasinghe handled the music. Vijitha Manjula is the producer in the miniplay. Screenplay was written and directed by Gaya Marya Alwis. Warna replaced popular 'Isuru Yogaya' which had its telecast at the primetime teledrama belt on Rupavahini on Sunday 8.35 pm starting from June 26. The play is another production of the teledram Unit of Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation.

Manoratne on Warna
Playing the power hungry politician Jayasekara in Warna, experienced actor, Jayalath Manoratne shared his views on the teledrama and the present teledrama industry.

The veteran actor said that it was praiseworthy that Rupavahini Corporation giving opportunities to young directors who are coming up with new ideas. "When television was introduced to Sri Lanka it was a set of young drama enthusiasts who flocked around talented dramatist Dhamma Jagoda that initiated the teledrama culture in this country. And they did experiments with this new medium of art and produced artistically rich teledramas," Manoratne said.

Unfortunately this rich drama culture has deteriorated with teledramas with monotonous stories, poor acting and weak scripts. "Rupavahi made some attempt to maintain standards with its teledramas while giving opportunities to do some experiments the novel themes for many directors which turned out to be important for the development of the teledrama medium," Manoratne said

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