30 years of Sinhala pop

By Sanath Weerasuriya

'Annesley and Indrani in Concert' will come alive at the B.M.I.C.H. on September 5.

"This will be a musical extravaganza with a difference to mark our 30 years in the Sinhala Pop Scene in Sri Lanka. We intend singing all our unforgettable evergreens on this day and these songs will be arranged in a way (like a story) to bring back fond memories of an era when Sinhala Pop and Group Songs were the most sought after. Since there is a big following for these songs even now, we thought of giving all music lovers an opportunity to re-live the era's of 60's and 70's. This however will be done in a contemporary setting maintaining the necessary momentum for the present generation.'' Annesley explained about the show and the past of the duo.

Three decades ago there was a new impetus to the music scenario when there emerged a new brand of music making on the Sri Lankan entertainment scene. Occupying the top spots at that time was the group '' Moonstones'' who were widely acclaimed that, though the music fell into the category of ''Sinhala Pop'' their music ultimately found its way on to the ''Hit Parade'' on the English commercial service of what was then the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation. The Moonstones were later joined by the female singer Indrani Perera who in the next to no time was referred to by eminent comperes/ broadcasters as the nightingale of song.

The original and pr-eminent vocalist of the Moonstones was Annesley Malewana who too found great acceptance with the masses as a man with a voice and style that was unique.

Music was in the family and together with her sisters Mallika and Irangani took radio and stage by storm as ''Three Sisters''.

Annesley Malewana's next move was to be the featured vocalist with Supper Golden Chines.

Thus, before long both these vocalists were on their own and not just part of a group. They were identified by their own names for the songs that they made popular. In next to no time, each of them were found severally on many stage and dances and were in high demand. This made Indrani and Annesley household names.

It is indeed an event to look forward to as we break the news that on September 5 at B.M.I.C.H. ''Annesley and Indrani'' team up together to allow music lovers a glorious opportunity to re-live the era's of the 60's and 70's in a contemporary setting to maintain the necessary momentum for today's generation. They will be backed by Stanley Peiris and Fortunes.

It will be a musical extravaganza where they will sing all their unforgettable evergreens arranged in a story book form. The show will be compared by Vijaya Corea.

Annesley and Indrani in concert is expected to draw a full house as plans are afoot by the Lions Club of Galkissa to make this the most colourful event of the year.

The proceeds of this show will be utilized to assist the underprivileged people under the banner of ''Eradication of preventable blindness by year 2000'', with the view of saving and restoring the gift of sight to many thousands of people.

This programme will fund treatment on vision problems with emphasis on detection of cataracts, the leading cause of avoidable blindness. The show will be organised by the Lions Club of Galkissa.

Groundbreaking adventure

On August 16, 1998 (Sri Lanka Time -17th August 6.00 a.m.) On Discovery Channel on Rupavahini the world will share in an unprecedented adventure - a live two-hour broadcast from the wreck site of RMS Titanic.

The live broadcast will lead off five hours of groundbreaking programming providing the audience a virtual adventure experience and set the stage for dramatic scientific analysis. The last time the Discovery Channel explored the Titanic site our scientific teams shocked the world with startling new evidence detailing how the great ship sank. We rewrote the history of how the doomed ship came to rest at the bottom of the sea two and a half miles from the surface. The film reveals the long hidden secrets held deep inside the hull.

The film will be telecast at approximately the same time of night that the ship sank, allowing viewers to be transported to the middle of the North Atlantic where they can experience firsthand the drama and excitement of the disaster that fateful night. Our team will include internationally renowned scientists, engineers, archaeologists and filmmakers who will create the world's most ambitious expedition to the Titantic yet attempted.

A team of state of the art robotic cameras will probe deep into the interior of the ship unlocking almost 100 years of her secrets - writing the next chapter in the ship's history. Were the third class doors left locked during the sinking? What really happened to cause the breakup of the ship? Can we confirm the theories of brittle steel and iceberg damage proposed by the 96 expedition? How did the great ship sink and what clues will we glean from deep in the interior?

Inganmaruwa: sees changes

'Inganmaruwa' which didn't come on air as scheduled, started its run last Saturday with the introductory programme.The new tele serial comprise 22 episodes,Rupawahani sources said.

Several changes in characters, places,and artistes have been made.Even the trades and professions in the former 'Inganmaruwa' presentation has been changed by producer director Wimalaratna Adikari.

For instance Padme is now a security officer, Marvo is a municipal councillor. Muller has changed his trade from selling rice to textiles and Pattie is now engaged in other activity. The present teleserial is titled 'Inganmaru Katha ' Changes are inevitable in modern times. Therefore 'Inganmaruwa' has also changed.Sriyantha Mendis, H.A.Perera,Sriyani Amarasena,Chandra Kaluarachchi,Jaya Sri Chandrajith,Priya Ranasinghe,Nilanthi Munasinghewith a number of artistesstar in the teledrama.

'Inganmaruwa 'is scripted by K.B.Herath and music direction is by Rohana Weerasinghe.

Production is handled by Ranga Bandaranayake.Ehaliyagoda Somatileka is art director.Photography is by Ajith Balangoda.Hairstyles by Sam Perera.'Inganmaruwa' is a Rupavahani drama unit presentation.

Weather control system under threat

On Monday's episode of Tekwar, on ETV at 8.00 p.m. the terrorist Alec Seeger takes over the global weather control system. Jake Cardigan (Greg Evigan) heads the manhunt for Seeger, teamed up with a former terrorist whose loyalties are in doubt.

Tekwar is a futuristic action drama set 50 years into the future where virtual reality has been perfected. But this hi-tec society is under threat from a highly addictive brain stimulant called Tex.

Jake Cardigan is a former cop who was framed for a crime he did not commit and now tries to even the score and save the world from a host of technological advanced foes.

Jailbirds on the run

'Bandits 'is the first feature film by the German KatjaVon Garnier.It uafolds a saga of four female jailbirds who form a rock group while on the run.The film is so popular that Warner Bros.have acquired the English language remake rights of'Bandits',it was reported.

In an attempt to escape social rigors the,four of them head north to catch a ship to Hamburg.Along the way they begin to express their joy,anger and frustration in songs.The group become folk heroines when a pirate record organisation begins airing their songs.

'Bandits is scheduled to be released in the US next year.It will be on a limited engagement basis.

Aladin brings on screen a wonderful lamp

By Kumaradasa Wagista

Celebrated tale 'Aladin and the Wonderful Lamp' has been filmed in many languages during the last two decades.This story is to be made into a Sinhala feature film for E.A.P.banner by Roy de Silva shortly.

The film will be of the same name and the entire shooting is to be done sans artificially constructed sets."There are many places in the country where one could see caves that will be useful for film shootings.In 'Aladin' the cave plays an important part.

"I have already chosen a cave that suits this story in Anamaduwa area where the shooting will be done,"Roy de Silva said.

He has already decided the cast for a few characters.The magicians character will be played by Lal Kumara.He is a popular stuntman and character actor. Tennyson Cooray,Bandu Samarasinghe, Mangala Premadasa, and Ronnie Leitch will play four other important characters.

" I have selected an artiste to play 'Aladin',but I need a beautiful female face to play the woman's character ,which will be another leading role'' Roy de Silva.said. With his three and a half decades of experience in films, Roy says that although there are beautiful female faces among us very few know their hidden talents. So we have to look for new talents without getting the experienced hands to the unsuitable characters.

The technical crew will be the same as in his previous works but with minor adjustments." So far all my films and teledramas have catered to family audiences and 'Aladin' will do the same," he said.

Nargis rose to dizzy heights on screen

Many young film enthusiasts are interested in the life and time of Bollywood film actress politician and social worker Nargis, who had a larger than life presence on the sreen.

Nargis was born in Calcutta on June 1,1929.Her parents christened her as Fatima Rashid.Her father Jaddan Bai was a well known singerof the time.

She enjoyed the privilege of acting in a film as a child artiste at the age of 4 years.The film was 'Talash -e-Haq which was produced by her mother.Her first adult role was in'Taqdeer' produced by Mehboob Khan when she was only 14 years .It was Mehboob Khan who changed her name to Nargis.

Later Nargis co- starred with leading actors of the time like Dilip Kumar,

Ashok Kumar and Pradeep Kumar.But her appearance with that intimitable showman Raj Kapoor made them the most sought after screen lover of the 50's.She became the heartthrob of millions of Indian film goers. Here in Sri Lanka and other neighbouring countries, she was the darling of film fans. 'Barsaat Awara' 'Sri 420' 'Deedar'were some of these films she paired with Raj Kapoor. Nargis is yet remembered by filmgoers, who saw 'Mother India' which was produced and directed by Mehboob Khan. Her role in this film was a classic .A behind the camera love affair that sparked while working in this film with Sunil Dutt resulted in their marriage on March 11,1958.Sunil Dutt played the role of her son in 'Mother India'

After her marriage to Sunil Dutt she gave up acting and devoted her time to work for the poor and the sick.She gave birth to three children Sanjay,Namrata and Priya.

She won several National awards in India and in 1956 she was awarded the prestigious 'Karlovy Award'.

It's a pity she couldn't live to see Sanjay's screen career after he made his debut in 'Rocky'.Nargis was specially attached to Sanjay as he was the only son in the family.A road has been named as Nargis in Mumbai in her memory.

She was a Member of the Indian Parliament.She was taken to a hospital in the United States to be treated for cancer but she died at the age of 52 in 1981.

He death was a blow to millions of her screen fans and a disappointment to her supporters .It was at a time she was blossoming as a politician that the cruel hand of death grabbed her life for good.

AL PACINO man and legend

Al Pacino, The dark and volatile Oscar award-winning actor made an impact the first time he played a drug addict in The Panic In Needle Park (1971), but gained screen prominence for his finely caliberated performance as war-hero-turned-mob-heir Michael Corleone in the landmark revisionist gangster saga, The Godfather (1972).

With his sad, sunken eyes and flair for volcanic tirades, Pacino went on to become a major star of the 1970s, playing a series of brooding, anti-authoritarian, street-wise figures who seemed to reflect the cynical mood of the times.

His recreation of Michael Corleone for the strikingly bifurcated sequel, The Godfather-Part II (1974), occupied one of the drama's centre stages, and Pacino was also acclaimed for his role as the tightly-coiled cop in Serpico (1973). A change of pace came with Scarecrow (1973), as Pacino was removed from his most typical environs, the inner city, to play an insecure drifter who unexpectedly makes a close friend (Gene Hackman) while on the road.

A more typical Pacino part, but nonetheless one of his most fascinating and courageous performances, came with his fiery bisexual bank robber in Dog Day Afternoon (1975), a character by turns tragic and unwittingly comical, as he gains media attention while trying to finance his male lover's sex change operation.

Pacino eventually had to take a wrong step after such an impressive string of well-written and forcefully rendered characterizations. His first role to trade in merely on his name as a star was Bobby Deerfield (1977), which cast him as a sports car-racer involved in a maundering romance with Mathe Keller. And Justice For All (1979) seemed like a move back to terra firma, but its mix of sadness and satire didn't come off, and Pacino displayed lots of angry flash but little complexity or soul.

Cruising (1980), meanwhile, was greeted with either scorn or outrage by audiences and critics, for its ridiculous, simplistic and hateful story of a cop who goes undercover into New York's gay scene to find a killer and ends up being "corrupted".

Author! Author! (1982), Pacino's first real comedy, was a mildly enjoyable attempt to channel his intensity and energy in a new direction, and his performance in the remake of Scarface (1983) was, like the film, over the top, but undeniably potent. The slight gains he made with these two films were scuttled, however, by the incredible miscasting that placed him in the dull, superficial saga of 1776, Revolution (1985).

Pacino's film work had been slowing down for some time as he continued to return to the stage in properties that caught his fancy. He won a Tony for The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel (1977), took an interesting shot at Richard III (1979), and played a memorable Teach, both, off-Broadway (1981-1982) and on (1983-84) in an unsurprisingly snug collaboration with playwright David Mamet, in American Buffalo. After keeping away from films for four years, Pacino made a successful comeback with the enjoyable hit Sea Of Love (1989), and the less popular but worthy Frankie And Johnny (1981).

He amusingly parodied his previous gangster roles with an appropriately outlandish turn as Big Boy Caprice in Dick Tracy (1990), dusted off his Michael Corleone for The Godfather - Part III (1990), and showed actorly grace in another fine supporting role in the adaptation of Mamet's blistering Glengarry Glen Ross (1992).

After many nominations, Pacino finally copped an Oscar with the uneven, unabashed star showcase of Scent Of A Woman (1992), as a blind veteran cutting loose on the town. Similarly, his prison-sprung druglord in Cartito's Way (1993) showed that this way with gutter-tough poetry and his talent for various ethnic characterizations could be as riveting as ever.

After yet another short break, Pacino returned to the big screen in 1995 with two vastly different holiday releases - Michael Mann's epic crime story Heat (1995) and the Depression-era family drama Two Bits (1995). In the former, he starred opposite fellow-master thespian Robert De Niro as a driven high-strung police detective on the trail of a cool professional thief.

Heat marked the first time that these two legendary actors were paired in a feature. (Both earlier featured in the 1974 sequel. The Godfather - Part II (1974), but had no scenes together). They both received high marks from reviewers, but the lion's share of the praise went to writer-director Mann.

Pacino aged himself for a key supporting role in Two Bits (1995), playing a grandfather with a memorable legacy for his grandson. He followed it with a turn as the mayor of New York City embroiled in a corruption scandal in Harold Becker's City Hall (1996).

Every actor harbours an aim to be a director one day, and Pacino was no different. He make his directorial debut with Looking For Richard (1996), in which he also starred as an actor portraying Shakespeare's Richard III.

Ajantha brings the best from past

By Kumaradasa Wagista.

'Sithgath Gee' ,a song collection of 14 hits,representing a mixture of both grand golden hits and new compositions is to be in the market shortly.

The song cassette is produced by Ajantha Wijesena for home distribution and for the export.markets" 'Sithgath Gee' will also come out as a CD,film producer and art lover Ajantha Wijesena said.

A highlight in the collection is the singing of Priyantha Fernando,son of C.T.Fernando . Priyantha Fernando does three original duets with Lata Walpola,Ananda Perera renders the 'Gajaga Wannama' accompanied to the blend of western and Kandyan drum rythms,Aruna Shanthi's 'Papemae Jeevithie',and,'Tikawenda Nala' rendered by Raju Bandara and Dhammika Walpola are two other impressive items.

Ivor Dennis ,Nirosha Virajini, Gratian Ananda, Madumadawa Arvinda,Samitha Mudunkotuwa and Athula Adikari too have joined to make the CD a success.

Stanley Peries has directed the musical score and the lyrics for the new melodies have been penned by Vernon Perera.

A few titles from C.T.Fernando's songs starting with 'Vana Bamburu' have been used to compose a song Priyantha singsThis ssong is dedicated to C.T's memory."C.T's name will be ever lasting in this field Mr Wijesena said.

It has taken a little over a month to complete recordings of the songs under the baton of music director Stanley Peiris who has done an excellent job" was what Mr Wijesena had to say about the effort.

'Sithgath Gee' is scheduled to be exported to UK,Melbourne and LosAngeles.As a globe trotter Mr Wijesena has seen for himself some of the barriers the song cassette producer faces in the export market."Pirating is the biggest barrier.If the cassettes or CD's are not pirated and duplicated we can pay our singers even up to Rs50,000/- per song.A Sinhala song to a expatriate is like seeing our country with his own eyes while being thousands of kilometrers away from home" he said.

He has heard many Sri Lankan expatriates say listening to an original melody is one way of getting rid of home sickness.Mr Wijesena doesn't approve lifting melodies composed by foreign musicians."We needn't plagiarise.Our cultural heritage provides us the background to do original compositions"he said.

It was his maternal uncle and scholar in oriental languages Dr Nandadeva Wijesekera who guided him from the time he was attending Royal College Colombo to appreciate and uphold values of our own indigenous habits."He is now almost ninety years feeble and bedridden."he said.

He produced 'Sita Devi' with Gamini Fonseka, Usman Peerzada and Mamata Shanker,from Calcutta,which was screened in many Asian countries.

The Delhi Lens

All about drama and culture

By Bandula Jayasekara

Sri Lanka knows Rahul Bose as Pavan Sarkar in the Television Soap 'Mouthful of Sky'. He plays the character of a man confused about his sexuality.

Mouthful of Sky, which started as an interesting soap has got lost in the skies of today's Television. However the man Bose remains reaching greater heights. He creates waves.

Rahul Bose was Agstya Sen in Dev Benegal film 'English August'. A bright spark in 'Bombay Boys'. A scheming Don in Govind Nihalani's 'Takshak' staring Ajay Devagan and Tabu.

He was selected to play the lead role as Salim Sinai in BBC production of Salman Rushdie's 'Midnight's Children' and will play the lead Role in Dev Benegals next film 'Split Wide Open'. Bose presents BBC's Travel show 'Living on the edge' and 'style' with Laila Rouass.

Rahul is currently writing a script about 'Life as I know it in India.' He was in New Delhi playing the main character in Meherbanoo Mody-Kotwals 'Art' and making his Directional Debut with an English play 'Seascapes with sharks and Dancers'.

'Seascapes with sharks and Dancers', is a wonderful play about love in the 90's. A love that is not simple and has conflict of emotions, passion, humour and pain. The leading lady Tracy (Anahitha Uberoi) is aggressive, neurotic, 90's woman who harbours a lot of vulnerability. She is young, beautiful and sexy. She is been through hard times, used and abused. The man Dave (Rahul Bose) a writer is a loner to the extreme. This complete loner and this crazy women both psychotic in their own way drawn to each other because both are diametric opposites to each other.

Delhi also staged the world premiere of Manjula Padmanabhan's 'Harvest', the winner of the Alexander S. Onassis Award 1997. The play is set in the year 2010 and is based on organ donor scams. The play revolves around a man who agrees to sell the organs of his body to a rich foreigner. The deal makes his small family who live in Bombay suddenly rich. But gradually this contract begins to affect all the human relationships within his family and distorts the lifes of his wife, mother and younger brother. The play is directed by Joy Michael.

Delhi had rain of plays in one week. 'Harvest', Art and Seascapes but not the real rain.

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