The actor’s actor

A tribute to legendary actor Gamini Fonseka whose 80th Birth Anniversary fell last week:

by Pramod de Silva

The year: 1971.
The film: Neil Rupasinghe’s Hathara Denama Surayo (Four Champions).

The house is full, the lights go out and the silver screen comes to life. As the opening credits fade away, a dashing young man emerges on the screen with his trademark smile and bravado. No villain will want to grapple with this muscular epitome of youth. The audience is silent at first and then roars to life – whistles, energetic clapping and the real name of that young man reverberate throughout the darkened cinema, drowning out even the soundtrack.

The women in the audience, heavily outnumbered by the men, cannot probably express their feelings for they have been rendered speechless after getting a glimpse of that enigmatic smile, that handsome face. And who can dislike that deep, surreal voice, which was ably complemented by H.R. Jothipala in the playback songs?

Far and away

Just a few minutes into the movie, the audience has already got what it wanted – Gamini Fonseka, the actor’s actor and doyen of Sinhala cinema. They come especially to see him from far and away, to cheer him on for the next two hours as he smashes the brutish villains to smithereens and finally gets the girl he always wanted. It is an experience they would remember as long as they live.

The year: 1972.

The film: Lester James Peries’ Nidhanaya (Treasure).

The audience is transfixed as the very same Gamini Fonseka, playing the character of Willie Abeynayake, stabs the on-screen character portrayed by Malani Fonseka and waits until the access door to a legendary and valuable treasure opens. Of course it does not. Gamini seamlessly expresses the full gamut of human emotions ranging from surprise to shock to grief as he finally realises the sheer futility of his mission. This time, the entire audience is speechless.

That was Gamini Fonseka in a nutshell – a multifarious actor who was equally at home in commercial and art house roles. With his strong personality, he could easily transform himself into whatever character demanded by the director and give his 100 per cent or even more. Eschewing the Indian style of acting that was embraced by most contemporary actors; he evolved a uniquely Sri Lankan style of acting that local audiences could easily identify with. He was without doubt one of the best actors in the whole of Asia, on par with the best of the best, including the legendary Japanese actor Toshiro Mifune. They even had a passing resemblance to each other.

In a career spanning four decades, Gamini acted in nearly 110 films, 86 of which featured him as the lead actor. Among the most well-known films starring Gamini are ‘Sandeshaya’, ‘Ran Muthu Duwa’ (the first Sinhala colour movie), ‘Gamperaliya’, ‘Getawarayo’, ‘Chandiya’, ‘Senasuma Kothanada’, ‘Sigiri Kashyapa’, ‘Parasathu Mal’, ‘Sorungeth Soru’, ‘Sura Chawraya’, ‘Mee Masso’, ‘Welikathara’, ‘Baduth Ekka Horu’, ‘Paaraa Walalu’, ‘Ohoma Hondada’, ‘Sahanaya’, ‘Edath Suraya Adath Suraya’, ‘Adare Hithenawa Dekkama’ (the titular song is still a hit), ‘Hondata Hondai’, ‘Kasthuri Suwanda’, ‘Awa Soya Adare’, ‘Hulavali, Yakadaya’, ‘Deviyani Oba Kohida’, ‘Minisun Athara Minisek’, ‘Sarungale’ (where he played the role of Tamil clerk Nadarajah), ‘Uthumaneni’, ‘Sankapali’, ‘Thawalama’, ‘Sagarayak Meda’, ‘Sakvithi Suvaya’, ‘Pooja’, ‘Nomiyena Minisun’, ‘Pavana Raluwiya’, ‘Demodara Paalama’ and ‘Anthima Reya’.

He sat in the director’s chair for 10 films and his directorial debut was a critical and commercial success. The movie, ‘Parasathu Mal’ (Forbidden Flowers) became an instant classic, though Gamini portrayed an extremely nauseating character called Bonnie Mahaththaya. After a 15-year hiatus, his next directorial effort came in 1980 with ‘Uthumaneni’.

‘Mayurige Kathawa’, ‘Sagarayak Meda’, ‘Re Manamali’, ‘Sakvithi Suvaya’, ‘Koti Waligaya’, ‘Nomiyena Minisun’ and ‘Anthima Reya’ were among his other directorial efforts. He also acted in some of these films, letting others shine in the rest.

Gamini’s films are known for their exceptional cinematography, which is not surprising given the fact that he was a good cameraman as well. Thus in his mind’s eye he could conjure up the best angle for a particular shot and instruct his cameraman accordingly. He also produced two movies – ‘Sorungeth Soru’ and ‘Sahanaya’. He acted in both films.

Gamini had a starring role in ‘It’s a Matter of Time’ an English film produced in Sri Lanka and also the Sinhala teledrama ‘Kalu Saha Sudu’ (Black and White), his sole foray into television. There is no record of Gamini taking to the drama stage as a professional actor (he did act in a stage play titled ‘Mayuri’ as a schoolboy), but he was an avid watcher of well-known stage plays. Another little known fact is that Gamini was a poet and a songwriter, who wrote the lyrics for playback songs in ‘Sarungale’ (Kite) and ‘Mayurige Kathawa’ (Mayuri’s Story).

Gamini was no stranger to controversy and some of his films contained his ‘take’ on political and other issues of the day. ‘Koti Waligaya’ focused on the Northern conflict, while ‘Sagarayak Meda’ and ‘Uthumaneni’ had a political message.

He worked with all the leading directors, but had a very close relationship with Dr. Lester James Peries, with whom he initially worked on the critically acclaimed breakthrough film ‘Rekhava’ (Line of Destiny) as Second Assistant director. Coincidentally, Gamini was an ‘extra’ in ‘Rekhava’. Gamini also had a role in Lester’s ‘Muhudin Gedarata’ documentary.

Their partnership would last several decades. Gamini also had a hand in David Lean’s masterpiece ‘Bridge on the River Kwai’, which was filmed entirely in Kithulgala. Incidentally, Gamini did only one film each with directors K.A.W. Perera (‘Sanasuma Kothanada’) and Titus Thotawatta (‘Chandiya’).

Gamini’s acting excellence was widely recognised here and abroad. He won the Best Actor award for his role as Jinadasa in ‘Gamperaliya’, just five years after his acting debut in a minor role in ‘Daiwa Yogaya’ (1959).

He won the Sarasaviya Best Actor Awards for his roles in ‘Dheewarayo’, ‘Parasathu Mal’, ‘Sorungeth Soru’, ‘Sarungale’, ‘Uthumaneni’, ‘Sagarayak Meda’, ‘Yuganthaya’ and ‘Nomiyena Minusun’. ‘Yuganthaya’ also netted him a Presidential Award for Best Actor as did D.B. Nihalsinghe’s ‘Welikathara’, in which he portrayed the role of Police ASP Wickrema Randeniya. He also won the Sarasaviya Most Popular Actor Award on several occasions and the highly coveted Rana Thisara Award.

Undisputed king

Gamini’s fellow actors and actresses and the technical crew held him in high esteem as the undisputed king of local cinema. He always took pains to ensure that the technical crew received all due facilities. Once, when the producers had secured accommodation only for the actors but not for the crew during an extended shooting session in Dambulla, he left in disgust and returned only when he was assured that equally good accommodation would be found for the technical crew as well.

He acted with all the leading ladies of the Sinhala silver screen from Malani Fonseka to Sandhya Kumari and all leading main and supporting actors. While it was excruciatingly painful to portray a villain in a film starring Gamini Fonseka because some of the fight sequences were real, Gamini got on like a house on fire with all the ‘villainous’ actors including Dommie Jayawardena.

Gamini always appreciated the work of his compatriots and indeed, stated on several occasions that Joe Abeywickrama was a better actor than him. He was also effusive in his praise for the late Tony Ranasinghe. Even well-known Indian actors were no match for Tony, he once said.

He had a healthy on-screen rivalry, especially with Vijaya Kumaratunga, the heart-throb of Sinhala cinema and in fact, Gamini and Vijaya acted together in only a very few films, including the iconic ‘Hathara Denama Surayo’, and ‘Sakvithi Suvaya’, which Gamini directed. These films naturally attracted huge crowds, even though their individual appeal to filmgoers was somewhat different. They were good friends who later took to politics, with Gamini ultimately becoming Deputy Speaker of Parliament. He was also the Governor of the Northern Province for some time.

There are many who lament that politics’ gain was the film industry’s loss as Gamini could not undertake many acting and directing commitments during the period he was involved in active politics (1988-94). Gamini’s output could have been even more prolific if he had more time to devote to the film industry, which he loved.

As a movie lover, the one thing that distresses me is that Gamini’s films are not accessible to the younger generation. There are generations who have grown up without ever seeing that magical emotional film ‘Nidhanaya’ or indeed, the myriad other films starring Gamini, some of which were unfortunately consumed by the fire at the Vijaya Studio.

Film preservation

A single copy of ‘Run Muthu Duwa’ is said to exist in a film laboratory somewhere abroad, but the chances of getting it back to Sri Lanka are very low. There are bootleg DVD copies and unauthorised YouTube presentations, but two steps should be taken to preserve the films starring Gamini (and all quality Sinhala films for that matter) – a world class film preservation facility and the conversion of high quality, acclaimed Sinhala films to the High Definition Blu-Ray standard possibly in collaboration with a label such as the US-based Criterion Collection.

There will be a high demand among cinephiles around the world for fully digitally restored (picture and sound) Sinhala movie masterpieces such as Nidhanaya presented in high definition (a digitally restored version was shown at the Venice film festival a couple of years ago) with English subtitles and plenty of extra content such as interviews with the living artistes/directors.

Sri Lankan film and performing arts authorities must seriously consider this proposal. This will make Gamini’s best films globally known and admired. It is in this context that we laud recent efforts by actor and Gamini’s colleague Ravindra Randeniya and Gamini’s son Damith to digitally restore many of Gamini’s acclaimed films including ‘Parasathu Mal’. Notably, Damith wants to go beyond his father’s films and restore and preserve many of the most highly rated Sinhala movies.

Gamini, who passed away in September 2004, is synonymous with the golden age of Sinhala cinema. He may be no more, but the restoration and preservation of his films for the next generation is the greatest tribute we can pay to this astoundingly versatile thespian.