Warakagoda - Entertainer + +

As the Secretary to the Committee, Warakagoda would prepare the documents with meticulous care, looking after even such humane details as tea at the proper time. Waraks saw to it, that, the papers for the day were in perfect order. With equal assiduousness, he would look into the documentation, needed to ensure the continuity of the committee's work.

"In order to be happy oneself, it is necessary to make at least one other happy."

- Theodore Reik

In terms of the quoted wisdom above, Wijeratne Warakagoda is among the happiest persons in Sri Lanka. Waraks has made not only "one other happy," as required by Reik's formula, but has entertained several generations of Sri Lankans, ensuring their happiness.

Rajakaruna Navaratna Atapattu Mudiyanselage Wijeratna Banda Warakagoda - to give his name in full - seems to have been born to entertain and spread good cheer around. From his birth on, rural culture nourished him. His long association with cities - major and minor - has not at all succeeded in suppressing the wholesome values he has been able to imbibe as a child growing up in a village.

As Potheguru

The wholly genuine smile, with which he greets the world, the charming bashfulness that adorns his demeanour, and the perpetual friendliness he exudes, are foremost among this built-in personality assets.

In the instance of Warakagoda, it is an almost imperceptible thin line that separates 'The Man' from the adorable 'Mass Entertainer.' This explains the stark unaffectedness, that enlivens his public performances.

Strangely enough, I came to know him intimately at first, in a field that is worlds away from the arena of active entertainment. He, as a bureaucrat, was the Secretary to the Film Scripts Assessment Committee attached to the National Film Corporation. The Committee was chaired by late D. B. I. P. S. Siriwardene. Occasionally, I acted for the chairman.

As the Secretary to the Committee, Warakagoda would prepare the documents with meticulous care, looking after even such humane details as tea at the proper time. Waraks saw to it, that, the papers for the day were in perfect order. With equal assiduousness, he would look into the documentation, needed to ensure the continuity of the committee's work.

In hind-sight, what becomes inescapably clear is, that, in the contemporary circle of Sri Lanka's thespians, it was Warakagoda who unquestionably enthroned the spoken word - the voice - as a live and throbbing Actor.

His disembodied but alluringly cadenced voice, wafted through the other waves, as he articulated the dialogue lines assigned to him in a Radio Drama. The Radio Drama, that so stunningly transformed his voice into a 'personality', was 'Muwan Pelessa,' one of the longest running Radio Dramas in the recorded history of Sri Lanka's Radio.

Warakagoda 'voiced' the role of Korale Mahattaya (The Village Chieftain), giving due phonetic weightage to the spoken idiom peculiar to the character he portrayed, through the dialogue lines he delivered.

His verbal portrayed so enthraled the listening masses, that, snippets of those dialogue lines delivered by Waraks, can still elicit roars of laughter from modern audiences.

The Warakagodas

Warakagoda, evolved into his present stature of Supreme Performer and Entertainer + +, through a whole series of job-efforts. At one time he was an officer, attached to the Police Department. He was a clerk for a while. In another job-spell he was a security officer.

But, destiny decreed that he should dominate the world of public entertainment as a performer elevated to the height of mass idol. The celebration of the Golden Jubilee of his life as an Entertainer, spectacularly declared that Warakagoda has carved out for himself, a permanent slot in the history of public entertainment in this country.

In his distinguished career, he has passed through several distinct phases. He started as an artiste in the Sound Broadcasting sector. Next, the Legitimate Theatre, pressed him to its bosom. As a matter of course he migrated to the medium of cinema and its sister form TV.

As good fortune had it, stalwarts in the theatre and cinema extended their patronage to Waraks. Drama innovator and theatre maestro Prof. Sarachchandra, took Waraks under his wing. Henry Jayasena, Sri Lanka's stage-genius, assigned roles to Waraks, enabling him to slip surreptitiously into the hearts of audiences and get embedded there. Today, there is hardly any theatre - lover in Sri Lanka, who can reminisce about his or her experience of the Sinhala version of Bertolt Brecht's, "Chalk Circle," (Hunuvataye Katawa) without recalling Warakagoda's role of Chorus Leader (Pote Gura, Puraka, Sutradhara).

My own memory goes back to Waraks in Hunuvataye Katawa, announcing the Interval, with a lit cigarette between his fingers, making us wonder how it appeared there so suddenly.

Wijeratne Warakagoda

His elucidatory recitals are memorably enunciated, conjuring up the episodes in the play, with a moving touch of entertainment. In the Sinhala stage, he is the pistotype 'Pote Gura'.

In cinema, great Dr. Lester James Peries, extended his patronage.

In the small screen, he has earned a name even outside teledrama. He enriches the appeal of TV commercials, with his subtle sense of humour and the sotto-voce delivery of mischievous dialogue lines.

The recent celebration of his Golden Jubilee as entertainer, was redolent of an intimacy, that recalled a warm family gathering.

The souvenir, marking the occasion, was efficiently edited by critic Ajit Galappatti, and is a lively anthology of tributes, memories and a vast array of impressive photographs.

Wijeratne Warakagoda's ancestors were privileged to receive land-grants and honourific titles from Royalty. Today, Royal Patronage has been replaced by mass sponsorship. Royal decree gifted his ancestors only a stretch of land and honours. Today mass patronage has endowed upon Wijeratne Warakagoda, the whole of Sri Lanka as the domain of his popularity.