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| Sunday, 11 September 2005 |
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| News Business Features Editorial
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Lalitha Sarachchandra :
Reviving memories of a legend by Chamitha Kuruppu
Along with hundreds of students of Prof. Sarachchandra both veteran and amateur, Lalitha will be holding a festival of stage plays produced by her late husband. The year long festival that will commence in November 2006 is scheduled to conclude in November 2007. Over 35 stage plays including ten new productions such as Hasthi, Kantha Manthraya, Bava Kadathurava, Ae Nuwan Labuwa and Pabawathi will be staged during the festival. The event includes children's dramas,short dramas, translations and adaptations as well as Buddhist dramas by Prof. Sarachchandra. On a serene night fascinated by rays of the moonlight he would stop writing. The next couple of hours he would spend in his balcony enthraled by the beauty of the night sky. He calls her to join him. They would not utter a word but enjoy the wonder of mother nature. Every morning, every night.. spent with late Prof. Ediriweera Sarachchandra, was a joy to her. Every minute with him made her learn something new. An ordinary girl from a middle class family, she once played the role of a privileged wife of an Ambassador, once a caring wife of a University Vice Chancellor but more than everything, Lalitha Sarachchandra was the strength and love of a legend, a man who nourished and nurtured drama, literature and art in Sri Lanka. It has been nearly nine years after Prof. Sarachchandra left this world but Lalitha still feels his warmth and tenderness. The beautiful house is still arranged according to his desire, his study room has not been changed, the old posters of his plays and paintings from India he treasured the most, are still hanging on the walls. The only new feature of the house is the life-size photograph of Prof. Sarachchandra. Lalitha spoke to the Sunday Observer Review a couple of weeks after the nine-year death anniversary of her late husband. Just like the past nine years Lalitha was preparing for the usual alms giving which is followed by an evening of musical performance from Prof. Sarachchandra's plays. But this year, Lalitha will not have time to release after the usual anniversary rituals. Along with her three children Yashodara, Kisa Gothami and Ransi, she is now drawing up plans for the 50th anniversary of Maname which will be celebrated on a grand scale next year. "Maname is one of the few stage plays in the world that has been performed continuously for 50 years. This is an important event not only for the Professor but for the entire country," stresses Lalitha. Along with hundreds of students of Prof. Sarachchandra both veteran and amateur, Lalitha will be holding a festival of stage plays produced by her late husband. The year long festival that will commence in November 2006 is scheduled to conclude in November 2007. Over 35 stage plays including ten new productions such as Hasthi, Kantha Manthraya, Bava Kadathurava, Ae Nuwan Labuwa and Pabawathi will be staged during the festival. The event includes Children's dramas, Short dramas, Translations and Adaptations as well as Buddhist dramas by Prof. Sarachchandra. According to Lalitha, a special performance of Maname will be held in Los Angeles on June 03 next year. However, the ceremonial opening of the grand event will commence at the Lionel Wendt on November 03, 2006. "The very first show of Maname was at the Lionel Wendt on November 03 in 1956. If the Professor was alive, he too will have the anniversary show at the same venue," speculates Lalitha. Parallel to the event, a special committee has been appointed to publish a book on Maname, including the contributions of Prof. Sarachchandra to the Arts in Sri Lanka. The book is to be launched at the ceremonial show of Maname on November 03, 2006. A book on the costumes of Prof. Sarachchandra's plays researched and authored by Lalitha will also be launched on the same day. "Unfortunately, my time to devote for meaningful events like this is limited due to inhumane acts of some selfish people", points out Lalitha. She explains that the valuable books of her husband authored after many years of work is printed without her authority and audio cassettes and CDs containing sound tracks of the Professor's plays are also released to the market without her consent. "It is my responsibility to protect his work, so I have taken legal action against such people. Most of my time is spent on such unnecessary issues," asserts Lalitha. Walking down memory lane, she talks about her husband and her life in his absence. "When I met the Professor I started believing in reincarnation. I cannot imagine how a person could have all the good qualities he had. He had a unique talent for art and an immense knowledge about music, He was brilliant in choreography. He was fluent in more than seven languages. He knew about many cultures in the world. But, more than everything he was a great human being," recalls Lalitha. Although he was a practitioner of Buddhism and valued the local culture very much, he borrowed some traditions from Western life as well."He was particular about cleanliness. He never used his hands to eat. He ate with fork and spoon just like the westerners. And he was never afraid to reveal this," says Lalitha. "Although he was fluent in many languages, he always spoke to his children in Sinhala. And even in his absence my children still adhere to the great values he has taught them," notes Lalitha. Other than her involvement in the Arts in carrying out her husband's unfinished work, Lalitha closely associates with Eileen Siriwardena and Rev. Pitiduwe Siridarma Thera, who has helped her to become strong and stable in life following her husband's death. She also speaks highly about her friends who have been with her from kindergarten until today helping her in numerous ways. Lalitha who is currently reading for her PhD in Mass Communication says, she is ever thankful to her late husband for enlightening her life and the lives of many Sri Lankans by way of his unique stage plays, books and music. "Recently while watching television, I was taken aback when I saw some rural youth dancing in the middle of the night at a musical show. I felt that the music was intolerable and had an indecent meaning. Then I felt glad that the Professor was not alive to witness this type of indecency. Then I realised that if he was alive he would never have let the art and culture of the country to be where it is today,"emphasises Lalitha. |
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