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Due recognition will be paid to LJP’s effort by stating in the plaque set up to mark the occasion that the event celebrates “the 95th birthday of the legend of Sri Lankan cinema”.
Calm and composed as always, LJP will spend time quietly at his residence at Dr. Lester James Peries Mawtha – earlier Dickman’s Road – feeling happy that at last his wish is being fulfilled. For the past so many years we have been hearing on every occasion that LJP is being felicitated that the Film Archive will be “a reality soon”. Of course, it had taken half a century for it to happen.
Revolutionising Sinhala cinema
To recap LJP’s service to the local cinema, he is best remembered as the one who revolutionised the Sinhala cinema. When he quit the Government Film Unit to make his first feature film, the general talk was ‘documentary kaarayo koheda ova hadanne’. He was essentially a documentary filmmaker till then – that was what the Film Unit produced. He had done several documentaries which were well received and being talked about to this day.
In that era when the Sinhala cinema was just about a decade old, he tried something totally different. His first film, ‘Rekawa’ was shot outdoor using available light. He has admitted that it was a big challenge.
I remember chatting to him a few years back on how ‘Rekawa’ was done. I asked him how he picked the cast. “It was a mix of new and old. There were several seasoned players like D.R. Nanayakkara, N.R. Dias and Romulus de Silva who was the finest and most celebrated Tower Hall actor. Winston Serasinghe was from the English theatre. I was impressed by Ananda Weerakoon’s acting in ‘Podi Putha’. He was handsome.”
Weerakoon and Mallika Pilapitiya formed the romantic duo. Iranganie Serasinghe, seasoned actress in English theatre, made her maiden appearance in a Sinhala film.
“Romulus (he played the role of village headman) always liked to be seated on his little cart (it was what was popularly known as the ‘race karatte’) as though he was king because all his life he had played every single Sinhala king at the Tower Hall,” LJP reminisced.
“N.R. Dias with his physique was also a dominant character. Then there was the thin and tall D.R. Nanayakkara.” (Lester had once compared the two who were villains in the film, to Laurel and Hardy and had said the contrast helped visually.) Nanayakkara had a marvellous ear for colloquial dialogue.
“While we were all roughing out in a remote village off Alawwa, Sesha Palihakkara (Miguel, the soothsayer) wanted all the comforts including a shot of brandy in the evening. The well-known dancer had acted in ‘Mathalan’ and found it quite difficult to move away from that role.”
The two key characters of Sena and Anula were played by Somapala Dharmapriya, a student at Prince of Wales, Moratuwa, and Myrtle Fernando, who had done a role in ‘Ahankara Stree’. She acted as if “she knew all about acting”. LJP found the boy to be an extremely talented actor even though it took him a while to settle down.
LJP remembered how his school mates treated young Dharmapriya after the film was made. “He virtually became a star overnight. Girls from nearby Princess of Wales came over to his school to get autographs. The teachers found him to be a big nuisance.”
It was rather tragic that both of them died of cancer – the girl at the age of 12 and the boy when he was in his forties, having become a cameraman shooting films.
Professionally fulfilling career
LJP looks back on his career as “professionally fulfilling”. He spent the late 1940s and early ’50s in London as a journalist (he was Times of Ceylon London correspondent) which was “very fulfilling and extremely interesting”. To this day he writes beautifully, expressing himself so perfectly. His handwriting is also beautiful. I treasure the comments he has made whenever I went to get a book on him autographed.
After he moved over to films, in addition to the documentary films, he has directed 19 feature films over exactly half a century. Among them is ‘Nidhanaya’ based on renowned fiction writer G.B. Senanayaka’s short story, adjudged the best film produced in the first 50 years of local cinema.
LJP has really been fortunate in maintaining sound health for his age. He is careful about his meals. He says he has been pretty lucky in being able to lead a very happy family life. Sumitra has kept him company since 1964. He admits his has been what he would like to call “an ideal life”.
