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by Ruwini Jayawardana
The catchy and soothing tunes and the memorable scenes of Kingsley Rajapakse’s 1965 movie ‘Handapana’ (Moonlight) are very much alive in
the hearts and minds of the audience today as it was more than four
decades ago.
The film which was originally based on W.A. Silva’s romance novel
with the same title was revived in celluloid and portrayed by yesteryear
artistes by Herbert M. Seneviratne, Vijitha Mallika, Piyadasa Gunasekara,
Ruby de Mel and Cyril Wickremage.
The plot traces the ventures of a youth who tries to overcome
obstacles in making many sacrifices in winning the hand of his ladylove.
Singing duo Sisira Senaratne and Indrani Wijebandara’s melodious voices
adorned the tunes of popular tracks like `Atha Ahase Nagee Dinindu Paya’,
`Piduru Sevilikala Palpathe Athi’ and `Aloke Pathura Mulu Loke Opala’ in
the movie.
Upcoming teledrama and movie director Sirithunga Perera who
recognised the pulse of the public had come up with the timely need of
bringing the touching tale of the Charlie - Kusuma romance to the
present generation.
He had decided to set the tale into a 70 - episode teledrama starring
Manjula Kumari, Buddhadasa Vithanachchi, Upali Keerthisena, Deepani
Silva, Vinni Vetthasinghe, Sarath Kothalawala, Avanthi Aponsu, G.R.
Perera, Sarath Chandrasiri, Pumi Botheju, Somaweera Gamage and others.
Popular actor Kanchana Kodithuwakku who was supposed to take the male
lead opposite Manjula could not make it to the sets on the scheduled
time as he had been held back on one of his film projects abroad.
 So the team had to look elsewhere to find a youth suitable to take
over Charlie’s role. It did not take them long to stumble upon Wasantha
Jayasinghearachchi. “Wasantha had spoken to me on several occasions for
interviews for Silumina’s Rasanduna magazine. I remembered him
immediately when we were faced with the dilemma of finding a suitable
actor to take over Charlie’s role.
Wasantha’s physique fitted the character. He even had experience
facing the camera as he had compered programs for Rupavahini,”
Sirithunga beamed, obliviously pleased with his choice. He also related
that the story embodies a contemporary theme, youth spirit and
determination.
A specialty in connection with this project is that all the songs
which were in the movie will be included in `Handapana’, the teledrama.
Sisira Senaratne who directed the music for the movie is the music
director for `Handapana’, the teledrama. In addition he and Indrani
rendered their voices to recompose the memorable songs of the film so
that they can be included in Sirithunga’s creation.
“Though the original songs from the movie had been included in the
teledrama, the creation is based on the novel itself, not the film,”
Sirithunga stressed while adding that the team had taken great pains to
do justice to the creation. `Handapana’, the teledrama is an Active Tele
Films presentation and is produced by Upajith Lal Balasooriyarachchi.
The screenplay is by Ranjith Jayasuriya while the cameraman is Yapa
Vijaya Bandara. The main assistant director and production manager is
Nanda Imbulgoda. Derrick Fernando is the make-up artiste and Gamini
Sarath Gunawardena is the still photographer. `Handapana’ is slotted to
be telecasted on the mini screen soon. |
