Traveller's tales from a veteran and b'day greetings to cinema's doyen
We call him an en-vironment friendly traveller.
He has written so much on beautiful spots in Sri Lanka - places we must
visit and enjoy. He gives a new dimension to places we have already seen
and makes us rediscover them. Now he moves on to wider horizons following
a recent trip to Europe, offering the Sinhala reader a rare opportunity
of learning about wonderful places there.
 Veteran
journalist Dharmasiri Gamage (he counts over 40 years of experience having
joined the Lankadipa as a lad of 18 though he does not show his age) is
bringing out ten booklets on interesting places he visited. He calls the
series 'Charika Satahan' - notes of a traveller.
He is making them available as a single pack which will be an ideal
gift. The books are to be launched on April 22 at a ceremony to be held
at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute (SLFI).
The books cover key cities and attractions in Italy and France. We have
heard so much about the leaning tower of Pisa and the Eiffel Tower, and
cities which are a traveller's delight - Rome, Venice, Milan, Pompeii and
the Vatican. Dharmasiri takes us to these places and having made a name
for himself as a lucid writer, readers are bound to enjoy his new effort.
He has already published three books on the theme 'Parisara Charika'
- environment travels - Hitha Nivena Than, Jatika Namal Uyana and Sansara
Darshana. He has also written a novel (Sittara Sithak) and three
collections of short stories (Alu Yata Gini, Davall Heena &
Adara Suwanda). Lyric writer for over 300 films, he has directed
two films - Yasa Isuru and Pooja. Nanda Malini's rendering
of 'Ammavarune' - a song written by him in the latter film brought
her the Presidential and Sarasaviya awards for the best song of the year.
He showed the way
You laid the correct foundation for our
cinema. For the Sinhala cinema to get on to the correct path. You gave
us a lot. Neither we nor the country have given you enough. You had a goal
towards which you worked. Your mission is not yet complete. Continue to
keep the torch burning."
This was Tissa Abeysekera's plea to the doyen of Sinhala cinema, Lester
James Peries concluding his keynote address at the Sri Lanka Cinema Guild's
felicitation ceremony held on his 80th birthday. Tissa, in his inimitable
style traced how the Sinhala cinema began (he recalled the period from
'Kadawunu Poronduwa' to 'Rekawa' - 1947-56 as the cinema's
pre-historic era when three men - B.A.W Jayamanne, Sirisena Wimala-weera
and Shantikumar Seneviratne carried the burden of a nascent industry) and
went on to describe Lester's great service from 'Rekawa' to 'Avaragira'.
In proposing a toast for Lester, Tissa used an apt quotation from a
letter written by one master to another - Japan's Akira Kurosawa to Sweden's
Ingmar Bergman when the latter turned 70 in 1988. Kurosawa wrote: "In
Japan there was a great artist called Tesai Tomioko who lived in the Meiji
era in the late 19th century. This artist painted many excellent pictures
while he was still young and when he reached the age of 80 he suddenly
started painting pictures which were much superior to the previous ones
as if he was in magnificent bloom. Every time I see his paintings I fully
realise that a human is not really capable of creating really good works
until he reaches 80. A human is born a baby, becomes a boy, goes through
youth, the prime of life and finally returns to being a baby before he
closes his life.
"This is, in my opinion, the most ideal way of life. I believe
you will agree that a human becomes capable of creating pure works without
restriction in the days of his second babyhood. I am now 77 years old and
I am convinced that my real work is just beginning. Let us hold out together
for the sake of movies."
Honouring the doyen
Master film-maker Lester James Peries is
to be honoured with the issue of a stamp, the re-naming of Dickman's Road,
where he lives, 'Lester James Peries Mawatha' and the grant of four scholarships
in the fields of cinematography and television. Funds will also be provided
by the State to make a film of his choice.
These were announced at the Cinema Guild's felicitation ceremony.
Meanwhile, "Unite and fight" was Lester's call to his fellow
artistes in the film industry.
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