Archives

Melody of Golden Era

Rukmani Devi
Author: A. D. Ranjith Kumara
Publishers: Sarasavi Publishers, Nugegoda.

Reviewed by E. M. G. Edirisinghe

Rukmani Devi to all of us in Sri Lanka, and Daisy Rasamma Deniels to her immediate family, is still undoubtedly the queen of Sinhala silver screen. Her life, works and presence on stage and screen is indelibly inscribed on tapes, discs and films, journals and above all, in the loving lasting memory of Sri Lankan filmgoers and lovers of music.

A. D. Ranjith Kumara a veteran film-journalist, in his praiseworthy and timely endeavour to compile and enshrine all that was Rukmani Devi, into a volume that will last long and embrace all enthusiastic readers of local cinema, has done painstakingly an excellent job. It not only brings an era alive into lime-light, but also fills a void in Sinhala cinema literature which is sadly lacking in both quality and quantity.

The enlightening material relating to both public and private life of Rukmani Devi is carried in this voluminous compilation.

It is not presented in the form of a conventional biography of a film personality, but, one reflecting her ascendancy to the pinnacle of stardom in Sinhala cinema. Ranjith Kumara makes it passionately absorbed reading by neatly dividing his work into several chapters demonstrating the impact of her contribution in the various phases of her progressive achievement in the arena of song and cinema.

From her birth at Nuwara Eliya to her death on the Colombo Negombo road, Ranjith traces her life span which is almost the history of Sinhala cinema in its formative stages in the mid-twentieth century.

Graduating from stage where she performed for the Minerva Theatre group she was the only actor-songster in the Sinhala cinema who could be identified and talked of with admiration and gratitude.

Divided into 25 chapters this, attractive volume with a neat finish presents itself with each chapter focussing on her singular contribution which while added a new leaf to Sinhala cinema, stood in evidence of elevating herself too, in stature.

With a string of successes to her credit, she gradually matured from teen-lover on stage to youthful lover and loving mother in cinema.

The last few chapters of the book are devoted for reproduction of all the songs sung by her for the gramphone, commercial discs and films which itself is a treasure trove for the collector as well as the connoisseur and the historian.

That apart, Ranjith Kumara harnessed the role played by her husband Eddie Jayamanne in her career both as an actress and a vocalist. Even the films in which Eddie acted and song were brought into this volume to make it a more comprehensive work on Rukmani Devi's era aptly called the Golden Melody of an Era.

Ranjith Kumara in an exhaustive study of her monumental role in the field of performing arts, appears to have read hundreds of books, journals and magazines to make it a complete narrative with material relevant to her both known and unknown, personal and professional. Thus any reader need not look elsewhere for anything on or about Rukmani Devi for general or studious reading.

A 12-year old girl she was when she was consecrated in the thespian art in 1935. Making her debut on stage, she played the role of Sita in Walter Rupasinhe's Ramayanaya.

From that point she never looked back until accidental death overtook her, in 1977, leaving the Sinhala cinema richer. In the thirties Daisy Daniels was reborn as Rukmani devi on the path of Chainthamanie the rave of Tamil cinema at the time. By 1938 she had already established as a popular singer among the lovers of Sinhala music.

Rukmani Devi a born Christian although, at the launching of her important events in life, she obtained the blessings of the Sangha. In the seventies, she was always mindful of the death and talked on death at length. Normally a non-Sinhala reader she had the novel Maraka Pimma in her possession at the time she met with her death.

These are not coincidences but repeated consciousness in the Sansaric experience A Buddhist monk a few days before her death, had predicted that she would meet with a fatal accident and warned to be extremely careful. Lambert Moramudali who accompanied her was therefore advised to prevent her from leaving home before the auspicious time he had given to her.

It is so interesting one could read it in one breath. Its every page is adorn with several pictures of film, theatre and literary personalities, and scenes from the films she had acted on to illustrate the descriptions on the page.

This enhances the appetite to read the book as 500 odd pictorial representations contribute to reinforce the legend. Some of these pictures are rare and were taken several decades back. a must for the library of a filmlogist, Rukmani Devi is an ideal gift to a friend in cinema.

====================

Unholy Idols

The Fretful Porpentine and Other Essays by V. P. Vittachi

Reviewed by Lynn Ockersz

Most Lankan public figures who are venerated as idols are said to have clay feet. There is nothing particularly new about this. What is refreshing about V. P. Vittachi's treatment of some of these Holy Cows of ours, in this collection of memories, however, is that he manages to expose their insubstantial feet, without resorting to the vulgarity of a lampoonist.

'The Fretful Porpentine and Other Essays' could be considered another high point in the writing career of V. P. Vittachi, who, some years ago, carved a permanent niche for himself among this country's political commentators by penning what could be considered one of the most lucidly detailed and analytical works on Lanka's frequently stormy, post-independence politics: 'Sri Lanka-What went wrong'.

Rather than focus on the larger, socio-political picture, Vittachi gives virtual close-ups of some of Lanka's hallowed public figures who "strutted and fretted their hour upon the stage", in the particularly entertaining first part of 'The Fretful Porpentine...."

From the point of view of the observer of local affairs, this first section could be said to be the most startling revelatory. It contains the reasons why, V. P. Vittachi, a one-time Civil Servant, who on many an occasion refused to bend the rules at the behest of puffed-up politicians and their "yes" men and women had to resign from a service usually held in awe, at the relatively young age of 49.

"My commuted pension for 35 years service was Rs. 30,000 of which the Income Tax Commissioner helped himself to Rs. 5,000. And, with 25,000 smackeroos in my saddle-bag, head bloody but unbowed, I rode away into the sunset," Vittachi says in mock-heroic vein.

Vittachi's head-on collision with Lanka's paranoid politico, retold in the first half of this collection, through a series of simply yet engagingly recollected flashbacks into the past, is the sad story of the undermining of the local senior public servant's autonomy over the decades, by the increasingly overbearing political establishment.

Wit and humour combine with literary restraint and simplicity of diction to give us the unholy side of some of Lanka's sacred pubic figures - warts and all.

Some of these larger than life figures dominated the political stage in the Seventies and Eighties.

Particularly scandalising are Vittachi's recollections of his tenure as Principal Collector of Customs in the Seventies.

A second section in 'The Fretful Porpentine', titled 'Essays Written During the Kosova War', is equally thought-provoking and readable.

This focuses primarily on the deviousness of the world's only superpower and its blatant foreign policy, excesses and blunders.

There is scathing comment here on how the US political establishment and its central figures help in advancing the hegemonic designs of the world's mightiest democracy.

'The Fretful Porpentine' is a "must read" for those desirous of gaining an insight into the distortion which Sri Lanka and the world have undergone at the hands of paranoid politicians whose ambitions have, unfortunately, gone unchecked.

Handy, slim and glossy this collection of memories needs to be savoured for a deeper appreciation of the importance of depoliticizing local society.

====================

Interested in birds?

The Pictorial Pocket Guide to the Common Birds of Sri Lanka by Prof. Sarath Kotagama provides practical advice to bird watchers. "Wear comfortable clothes which are not brightly colored. Earth colors are more advisable such as greens or browns". Find an isolated place where you can sit and hide among the scrubs. Wait for a while, soon, lots of birds will start showing themselves in front of you. But be patient.

The book can be used as a field guide to identify common birds in the country. All the entries carry a suitable color picture, some of which have been painted by the professor himself. The other illustrations are by K. D. Lakshman. Dr. Pruthuviraj Fernando too, has contributed some of his paintings.

Another book, also on the same subject, published by Mihikatha Institute is, Let's Identify Sri Lanka Birds. The book is an introduction to bird watching in the island. Not forgetting the young birdwatchers, The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) and the Wild Bird Federation Taiwan, have published two short stories by Dayaratne Silva about the purple sanbird and the Asian Koel.

(Pani kurulu vilapaya saha kovula koodu thanu hati) The thirst for information of the more academic among the young would be satisfied by Prof. Kotagama's Entrance into the World of Birds, a book in Sinhala which gives simple information about birds like the Malkoha, said to live only in Sri Lanka.

Frank Chapman had once said, "There is a bird inside every living being". The series of books published with the collaboration of the Field Ornithology Group of Sri Lanka (FOGSL), gives one the opportunity to find out if this is true.

- Aditha Dissanayake

====================

Creative work

Stripping Diana

Stripping Diana is a fascinating title for a book in English by primarily a writer in Sinhala - Jagath Kumarasinhghe. He has worked as a film journalist and feature writer of the now defunct Davasa. Copywriting in Sinhala is another field he is engaged in. He can speak and understand Thamil as he had studied at St. Michael's College, Mattakkalappu (Batticaloa) in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Jagath is interested in spiritualism and mysticism. He has translated such books into Sinhala.

His first novel in Sinhala was published some time ago. He has also written the first book on Share Market in Sinhala.

Such a talented writer in various fields attempted writing directly in English and this resulted in the production of a book of poems. His new book, a novel, which is under review can be obtained from the author at 234, Chilaw Road, Kattuwa, Negombo. The book is dedicated to Tissa Abeysekera, the film maker, author and critic and one who is equally fluent in both English and Sinhala. Remember ? Tissa won the Graetian Award for best book in English, a few years ago. Until recently he was the Chairman of the National Film Corporation.

Only recently ( March 21 ), while chairing the launching ceremony of a book of translations of Sri Lankan Thamil writing, did he make a fine speech on the richness of local Thamil literature and along with Regi Siriwardena regretted in not knowing the Thamil language to appreciate the talents of Thamil writers and poets.

Coming back to Jagath, we find that the first few pages of his novel include two verses by Lakshmana (Prayer to Shri Lakshmi) and Jimmy Jimmy Lincoln (Blow, Blow Thy Plenty). This short fiction has 26 chapters with a prologue and an epilogue. The story centres around a caretaker in the hill-country and interestingly woven depicting the lives of people in the plantation areas, mainly Thamilians of Indian origin.

The blurb on the back of the cover sums up what the writer is trying to say in his attempt to write fiction in English. And this should be encouraged because more than the English-English Sri Lankan writers, it is the Sinhala and Thamil writers who have a social-consciousness that is attuned to realistic life.

This is what the blurb says: " V.Raman, coolie, washerman and philosopher, toils in Java Lane to raise the required ' bride price' for his daughter's marriage, but to no avail. On my part, I congratulate the writer for his creativity in English. Since there is a variety of English these days, this book too should be analyzed by researchers on literatures in English.

- K. S. Sivakumaran

News | Business | Features | Editorial | Security
Politics | World | Letters | Sports | Obituaries |

Produced by Lake House
Copyright 2001 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.
Comments and suggestions to :Web Manager