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| Sunday, 21 April 2002 |
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Ranjith , scholarly writer on cinema reaches his peak By E.Weerapperuma ALUTHGE DON Ranjith Kumara, the versatile writer on films and film industry celebrated his 55th birthday early this month. He has been a journalist for 35 years and has contributed much to the well-being of the Sinhala cinema, his forte. Future historians would have a separate chapter written on Sinhala cinema would not fail to mention Ranjith's contribution for the development of cinema as an industry, in this country. Ranjith, an essentially a scholarly writer on cinema, was born at Kosgas Handiya - Grandpass, the entry point to Colombo city and hence a man of the city. But he prefers to call himself a man born under the flagstaff and his love was so great for his birth place, the 294 page book titled "Kosgas Handiya", he wrote honouring his birth place. The book deals with the time and life of the people with whom he had come into contact during a period of five decades. His latest was about Rukmani Devi. Ranjith, the second son of A.D.Edmund, printer and publisher at "Kosgas Handiya" was referred to as "Podi Ralahami" and with the passage of time he came to be known among his kith and kin as "Ralahami" with the untimely death of his elder brother. From his school days he showed knack for art and cinema was greatly influenced by his maternal uncle Gunarathne Ratnayake, who was a film director and an artiste of recognition at the time. He also had the privilege of coming to know some of the leading politicians of representing different political ideologies, poets, actors/actresses and film directors and producers as most of them used to pay a visit to the printing press run by his father. A product of Ananda College, Ranjith had his early education at Carey College. He manifested his talent playing the role of Art Director of a short film "WERA" produced and directed by some students of the Ananda College. Ranjith Lal who was the director of that short film and later directed " Nim Wallala". Dilman Jayaratne was the cameraman. Premakirthi de Alwis wrote the script. He also brought his latent talent to the limelight when he designed the first Book Cover for the College Magazine "Anandaya" and since then he had designed more than 300 book covers and had drawn titles for more than 250 films. By developing a new dimension in designing book covers which is his own he emerged as the fore-most book cover designer. This art form which he adopted was not too common and was not easy to perfect. Books written by an impressive array of literati spanning several decades were adorned with his aesthetically and mosaically designed book covers.The authors who had the service of Ranjith include erudite scholars, eminent and prominent personalities as Martin Wickramasinghe, Prof. Ediriweera Sarathchandra, Dr. Gunadasa Amarasekera, Madawala S.Ratnayake and Leel Gunasekera etc. Books attract the reader first from the design they are adorned. If the design is very attractive, appealing and meaningful, such books with covers rouse the inquisitive readers.They show the mastery of the artist who had well handled the brush thick and thin, to present a striking piece of art work symbolising and intellectually reflecting the essence of the content of the book. This undoubtedly requires talent an skill of an intelligent artist with an effective and communicative expression. He has shown his mastery being able to capture the verbal image in the visual form. Both the young and old authors of the day are convinced that Ranjith as an artist, has the ability in this respect and he is one of the few much sought after cover artists of the day. Ranjith involving himself during the four decades long sojourn in cinema journalism as a feature writer, book cover artist and creative participant in cinematic work include art direction, choreography, cinema, has proved that he has the competence. Commenting on his work once film director Lester James Peiris once said:" Ranjith Kumara has the ability to convey the essence of a book in a style that captivates the eye and satisfies a deeper aesthetic sensibility". Ranjith wrote his first piece to "Hela Bima" edited by Dayawansa Jayakody, today one of the leading book publishers in the country with an office in USA. Ranjith tried his hands in editing "Sevana", a newspaper, while studying at Ananda and in 1969 at the age of 22, he climbed the steps of Lake House to join "Sarasaviya" cinema weekly, and ended up his career at Lake House after serving as its editor from 1989. He has been contributing to "Wisithura", one other cinema journal. Winner of 1989 OCIC Award for his credit cartoon titles for "Newa gilunath ban choon" and in the same year he won the Shivantha Arthasad Award for best Book Cover. The OCIC felicitated him for his 30 year service to journalism. He has held several exhibitions on book cover art creations. "He has spent a good part of his life for the film journalism and he weiled his pen and brush to brig about innovative changes in film features and in graphics associated with film journalism. The OCIC reward him for his remarkable display of outstanding talents in all their fields", the OCIC citation said. Ranjith married Damayanthi Jayasuriya, one of the best known vocalists of our times and his only son Nuwan Nayanajith Kumara is an upcoming musician, a vocalist and a author. Ranjith, a journalist, and author of several books, an artist, art director, book designer and title writer served Sarasaviya for 25 years, that more than two third of his entire career. It is to his credit that some of the film actors and actresses and directors of fame came to the cinema industry. He was very helpful to the new comers into this field and supported them lavishly. This is why he is very popular among all with whom he moves. We wish him well and may have the ability to serve the cinema industry for many years through his writings. |
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