Your Sunday Times highlights for this week

Read this week's Sunday Times for your interesting articles including the "5th Column".

Among tomorrow's articles are:

- UNHRC chief Türk to visit Lanka this month

- No reason given yet for KDU closing its doors to paying civillian MBBS students 

- Surge in drug-related arrests in 2024 

- Period poverty study finds multiple factors hinder women and girls 

- In beachfront chaos, bribes and legal evasion keep businesses running 

- Leopard breeding programme starts with a captive pair 

The 5th Column's full text is as follows;

My dear Malani,

I am writing to you so soon after you left us for the Land of Never Return, plunging a nation into grief and reflection. Just as much as your performances on the silver screen entertained us for six decades, your departure has also made us realise a little bit more about ourselves.  

We knew you were not in the best of health for a while. Even so, your departure was a shock. That was because we saw you only a few weeks ago on your birthday singing age old classics with fellow actors. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house after seeing your duet with Ravi.

You portrayed every possible type of role and was hailed as the ‘Nili Regina’ or the ‘Queen of Actresses’. Your namesake Gamini was also called ‘Cinema Sakvithi’. The two Fonsekas created box office hits as well as treats for the connoisseur of art, as we saw in ‘Nidhanaya’.  

You acted alongside Gamini, Joe, Vijaya, Tony, Ravi and others in what is called the golden era of Sinhala cinema. Much of this was in the early and mid ‘70s, when we had a ‘closed’  economy. You sustained the Sinhala cinema then although it failed to sustain you later.  

What set you apart was your ability to effortlessly portray any role, be it in an ‘art’ film or a slapstick comedy, a commercial flick or a drama. So, you acted in ‘Nidhanaya’ as well as ‘Neva Gilunath Band Choon’, ‘Pilot Premanath’ and ‘Pembara Madhu’ with equal grace.

Your co-stars of that era came and went. You lingered for six decades. It is your exceptional talent and skill that enabled such longevity in a field where many last only until the next star emerges. That you still have five films awaiting release is amazing testimony to your ability.

What endeared you to millions though was not only your acting but also your down to earth manner. You moved with the high and mighty in the glamorous world of cinema but you were always the simple girl from Kelaniya who happened to make it big on the silver screen.

You did so in an era where movies were a mainstay of entertainment, where television was  emerging and social media was non-existent. In fact, that may have helped you. Hearing what is being said since your passing, one wonders whether you would survive in today’s world.   

Your last rites were conducted under the glare of wide publicity and you would be the first to be ashamed about how some of your younger colleagues behaved. For some of them, this was not about you, it was all about them, getting that smiling selfie next to you lying-in-state!  

So it happened that, just as much as you attracted attention and was larger than life to millions, you invited discussion and debate after your passing which was not always dignified and conducted with decorum. As with everything in our country, it became political.

Even before your passing, the rathu sahodarayas got it wrong, releasing a list of politicians who benefited from the President’s Fund. Most had dubious records and millions in the bank. You were a MP but you didn’t make money in politics. Including you in the list was an insult.

When this was raised, the rathu sahodarayas didn’t have the courage to admit they made a mistake. The opposition was equally keen to gain political advantage by embarrassing the rathu sahodarayas, releasing medical records to the public with no regard for your  dignity.

They both seem to have missed the real issue here. Had you been the greatest actress in another country, you would have been a millionaire whose finances were secure. Why are our artistes unable to achieve this and what have governments done about it all these years?

In his condolence message on your passing, Anura sahodaraya said that in a country where there is not even a school for cinema, you were a university of cinema. He can change that now and also ensure artistes have a safe future, not having to rely on the President’s Fund.  

Still, Anura sahodaraya’s comrades don’t know how to get their message across. First, they didn’t know whether Anura sahodaraya was attending the war heroes’ commemoration or not. Now they can’t differentiate between a funeral with state honours and state patronage!

Malani, when you were awarded a doctorate you said “the day I stop acting will be the day I forget to breathe”. That day has come. So, you can rest in peace now but Gamini, Vijaya, Joe and Tony may be waiting to re-enact those halcyon days of Lankan cinema in heaven.

Yours truly,

Punchi Putha

PS- Three Fonsekas have excelled in their chosen fields for our country achieving what other’s couldn’t achieve. One was an actor, the other an actress and another a military chief. Isn’t it sad that all three of them gained very little and lost a lot more by dabbling in politics?