Kala Korner

Attending the felicitation ceremony to Father Ernest Porutota celebrating his 75th birthday and 50 years of priesthood, I remembered the days when as a young priest, he was a frequent visitor to the 'Dinamina'. It was the early 1960's when M.A. de Silva was the editor. The 'Dinamina' had started a 'Monday Supplement' to discuss a current topic every week. New writers were being encouraged.

Fr. Porutota was a regular contributor and when he dropped in with the articles, he always had a word with us who were then young journalists cutting their teeth in an exciting career.

Fr. Porutota always had a love for the country's culture and heritage. He was a fine conversationalist and had a friendly and pleasing personality. He never lost that touch.

His easy style was evident at the felicitation ceremony when he received everyone at the entrance to the BMICH committee rooms and once the ceremony began, moved about freely picking up a book (four books were launched that day), walking up to a guest and having a word with him, and chatting to the Buddhist monks seated next to him.

The speakers traced his illustrious career, particularly his yeoman service to the Sinhala cinema through the OCIC. I remember his pioneering efforts in the early 1970s in planning the OCIC Salutations to recognise local talent. His film annuals were very useful publications providing the details of films screened during the year.

As the keynote speaker Tissa Abeysekera noted, the deep knowledge Fr. Porutota had on the subject of cinema was amazing.

Fr. Porutota was a pioneer in the effort to bring the Church closer to the community and to give it a national flavour.

He was influenced by Fr. Marcelline Jayakody who, as Tissa mentioned, having returned from Shatiniketan, started giving the Christian song a national feel. The songs Fr. Jayakody wrote for Sunil Shantha demonstrated this trend. He enlivened his lyrics with what he observed as beautiful objects and places, very often those with a Buddhist background. It was significant that the bevy of girls from the leading Buddhist girls' school, Musaeus College who sang 'Namo Namo Matha' at the Independence Day celebrations in 1948, weretrained by Fr Jayakody. A close relationship was being developed between Buddhism and Christianity. Whether it was Sunil Shantha's songs or what P.L.A. Somapala and Chitra sang, we enjoyed the lyrics, the melodies and the voices.

Tissa quoted Calistus Jayasinghe, a contemporary of Fr. Porutota in his student days, describing how one Wednesday evening towards the end of January 1948, when they were walking in Torrington Square, Fr. Porutota was captivated by the sight of villagers busy making 'reli palam' in preparation for the Independence Day celebrations.

Two years later, he introduced these to a church ceremony demonstrating his interest in local culture. He has continued to further his interest in national culture over the years.

Dr. Benil Priyanka, one time altar server, now a post-doctoral student at Los Angeles University described how indebted he is to Fr. Porutota for insisting that he should respect the country's heritage and indigenous culture. "At his insistence, I visited Sigiriya and was enchanted with what I saw. I developed an interest in Sigiri verses and I have succeeded in deciphering a few hundred of them," he said referring to him as "a rare priest".

The ceremony was well organised by the ever enthusiastic Ashley and Ranjani Ratnavibhushana. Professor Sunil Ariyaratne's felicitation song set to the music of Rohana Weerasinghe was sung by Ivor Dennis and Lata Walpola to start proceedings. Sudath Mahadiulwewa's half-hour documentary was a fitting tribute to Fr. Porutota. Then there was the formal presentation of four books followed by the presentation of a special plaque by the Asian Film Centre in recognition of his service to cinema.

At Fr. Porutota's request, Ivor Dennis sang Arisen Ahubudu's 'Uturu Negenahira' - the song calling for unity and harmony - to wind up the proceedings. A final word. Cryshantha is fast becoming a very competent presenter who knows exactly what - and more important, how much - to say.