Female genius behind the camera

Sumitra speaks of life with doyen of Sri Lankan cinema Lester James Peries:

By Lakmal Welabada

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“Some think I should retire from cinema saying, `Sumitra haven’t you done enough’. I would say `no’ because cinema is our life,” says Sumitra Peries, prominent wife of a famous husband, Lester James Peries, the God Father of the Sinhala Cinema screen.

“Many think that I entered the cinema following Lester, after our marriage, a few know the exact story,” she smiles unfolding her engrossing past which she has faced with courage and enthusiasm.

The Peries’ couple are no strangers to us; and have been acclaimed and applauded by local as well as the international audience for their tremendous and scintillating creations on celluloid tape. Like a painter’s best companion is his paint brush, the cinematograph camera still stands beside them reminding them of the ups and downs of their interesting past which has been dedicated totally to a novel evolution of the Sinhala cinema screen.

“Sip a soft drink. You might be feeling thirsty,” she offers me a glass of lime juice which was served by her old faithful domestic. Sumitra while answering my questions fired at her, gave little attention to her niece and nephew who have come down from England for a short tour. “They are my elder brother’s children. My elder brother, Karu Gunewardane was everything to me. We were so attached to each other,” she smiles.

Sumithra Rupasinghe Gunewardane was born on March 24 in 1935 in Avissawella to a well-known Proctor and Justice of the Peace, Henry Rupasinghe Gunewardane (alias Harry) and Harriet Cornelia Wickremasinghe as the third of four children.

“Gamini alias Karu Gunewardane was my elder brother. He is dead now. My younger brother is Ranjith. My elder sister Chandralatha lives in the house close to Visakha Vidyalaya which my mother bought for us to stay with her. We first went to St. Mary’s College, Awissawella. And later entered Visakha. My sister and I had to stay in the school hostel for a short period. I was about 9 years then. So, my mother wanted us to be with her and bought this house for that purpose. But sadly she couldn’t live to see our success and passed away within a year after we shifted to that house,” she recalls.

“It was a big blow. My father was fairly a detached person, and it was my mother even though a housewife handled everything including the property matters, etc. She was a strong character,” she says.

The short Hostel life was not an interesting episode for little Sumitra who sought parental affection. Her mother’s arrival to Colombo was a short lived delightful dream which left memorable benevolence.

“Along with her death we lost the motherly care and also the sense of security was eruded. My elder brother felt this terribly as he was the most pampered child. So, once he completed his higher studies, decided to go off abroad. He was a qualified lawyer who never practised in his life. He divided all his property amongst us and sailed off. After mother’s death, we who relied on him found it was a double tragedy,” recalls Sumitra.

Her brother who was a wander lust was living in a yatch sailing from one point to the other end of the world. After a lapse of 4-5 years, Sumitra got a pleasant surprise from her brother.

“I did science for my A/Ls and was studying at Aquinas to do the Withdrawal test. My aim was to go to England. I had a few more years ahead to complete my course, but when I wrote to my brother he asked me to come and stay with him without wasting time here. My sister was just married, and my father was at Awissawella most of the time,” she says.

Sumitra was not yet 21 years and was waiting to get her passport and the claim she was entitled as a beneficiary from her mother’s insurance. Sumitra’s inborn courage never let her down in whatever she stepped in to.

“After my mother’s death all four of us and three of our cousins lived at our Colombo residence. We had servants to do the house chores and somebody else paid our bills. We grew up without adult supervision, but never had even a glimpse of thought to take a wrong step, never frivolous and were serious in attitudes.

Since my father’s brother, Philip Gunewardane was a strong `Samasamaja’ figure, we had the exposure to the Left movement a lot. We were taken to see the rallies and were exposed to literature with ideas of social responsibility and so on. So we were treated as Leftists even at school which had a conventional Sinhala Buddhist cultural background.

May be due to this fact that I had a few friends at school, but had a strong sense of family bond with my siblings and cousins. However, since we didn’t have much of an adult guidance we gradually became independent which later supported me in my life and career immensely,” she says with a charming smile.

It was 1956, and Sumitra was just 20 years old. Prior to two weeks of her birthday she got into a Steamer and sailed in search of her lost brother. She celebrated her 21st birthday in the ship.

“I met my brother at Naples, Italy. He was living in a 34 feet yacht with a Frenchman and his American wife,” she recalls. It was momentous. Her brother, Karu Gunewardane was a good looking, clever and sociable young man. Instead she saw a long beared seaman with open arms waiting at the jetty to welcome his long time unseen adorable sister. “We cried and cried embracing each other,” she sighs.

Sumitra went all over in the yacht the whole of summer. Though her aim was to go to England her brother wanted her to go to Switzerland which was a calm and quite place. Sumitra entered the University of Lauzanne in Switzerland and started learning French first.

“When I was sailing, I had a lot of thoughts flowing through my head. Unlike my br other, I was not that good at literary work, so I could not record and report my feelings. The camera which I carried along with me was the only medium of reporting. That would have been the first inspiration,” she says.

“Since I was a science student I didn’t have the scope of expressing skills. I was not word oriented, but was good at art when at school. Everybody thought I would take up Architecture. I was good at athletics and was Under 14 Junior Champ. We loved to go for films. But we didn’t have a film industry as such in Sri Lanka during that era. However, while sailing when I started clicking the camera, some idea to study cinema struck in my mind,” she says.

Psychology was the other subject Sumitra was interested in. “I read all the books in Psychology available including what Freud had written even before I did my A/Ls. This knowledge helped me in my creative work as through Psychology you try to understand a human being. And even upto now I’m still discovering human nature,” she says.

Meanwhile her brother left for Sri Lanka. Sumitra was left in Switzerland. “I was searching for a cinema. So after learning French in Lauzanne I took a train and went to France. My aim was to enter the Idec Film School in France. During this time, in Sri Lanka, my brother had met Lester who was about to sail to France with his film `Rekhawa’. My brother had asked Lester to meet me there. That’s how we met for the first time, “smiles Sumitra.

It was 1957, and Philip Gunewardane was the Minister of Land and Agriculture. Vernon Mendis, Head of Legation in France and his wife were quite generous and accepted to take care of Sumitra. “Lester came there to take part in the famous Cannes Film Festival. It was he who asked me to go to London if I was really interested in learning about films,” she says.

Question: How did you feel about him?

Sumitra: Neither of us had any especial feelings towards each other, but were friendly. So taking his word, after summer I went to London and entered the London School of Film Techniques to follow a two year Diploma course in Film Making.

Lester James Peries was born on April 5 in 1919 to Dr. James Peries and Winifred Jayasooriya at Dehiwala as the second of their four children. Lester had one sister, and one of his brothers, Ivan Peries made a name as a famous painter.

His mother who studied at St. Bridget’s Convent, Colombo was the first lady to pass the London Matriculation examination in Sri Lanka, and the school had a half day holiday to celebrate it on the day when the results were out. Lester had his education at St. Peter’s College, Colombo, and dropped out from school early as his main ambition was to become a writer.

“He had gone to England to work as a journalist. Unlike me, he was totally a self taught film maker,” she says. Lester’s father was a County Cricketer when he was studying medicine in London. He had a great desire to see his kids becoming cricketers, but to his greatest disappointment none of them ever played Cricket. Instead they opted to their mother’s enthusiasm and bent more towards education. “Unlike a dramatic life of mine, Lester had fairly a good childhood and youth,” smiled Sumitra.

Sumitra was not job oriented. Before she came to Sri Lanka she worked with Mai Harris in her sub-titling work.

When Sumitra’s brother heard Lester was going to do his newest film, `Sandeshaya’ he asked his sister to come down to Sri Lanka. She returned in 1959 and joined Lester in his films. “That’s how I joined the Sinhala Cinema screen,” she recalls.

“Lester might have had faced difficulty in persuading the Producers to take me to his film crew as then everything was with male dominance. But, he managed to take me as an Assistant Director,” she says.

Question: How was your first experience working with Lester?

Sumitra: I would call it `Baptism of fire’ (laughs). `Sandeshaya’ was shot at Beli Hul Oya. Today we could finish a film in less than a month. But, at that time we had to spend about six months. All the male crew stayed in huts, but I was given accommodation in a village home. It was bit terrible as I just landed from abroad after enjoying much comforts. However, since I was a radical explorer, took everything as novel experience (laughs). .

Question: How did your working relationship end up in a love affair?

Sumitra: We became good friends and then gradually realised that we have had a lot of things in common. We carried on for a few years. Some of my family members opposed it as status wise Lester’s was totally different from ours. Our age gap was 16 years. He came from a strong Catholic background and ours was Buddhist. And even there was a caste difference too. He didn’t have a proper job. Though he had recognition some of his films were failure. We have never been lucky with money. He was once married to an English woman when he was in England which ended up in a divorce after two years. But, it was only I had confidence that he was the Mr.Right for me.

Question: Was that the first ever affair for you?

Sumitra: No. I too had two boy friends when I was abroad, firstly with a English boy, a writer and secondly with a Latin American poet. Though I was a free floating feather enjoying a permissive bohemian life, I never attempted to step out of the limits. I was confident in everything I was doing.

Some Karmic force might have guided me. I lost my mother when I was small, so I was looking for a strong emotional anchor for me. And I found it with Lester. He was a man of patience with a lot of versatility. He is well read, and so am I. We have had a good understanding. After a year of our marriage he was invited to the Mexico Film Festival for the film `Gamperaliya’.

He gave that opportunity to me and I roamed all around in USA and Japan for about a month. I hardly contacted him as the communication facility was poor at that time even abroad. He never grumbled over it. Gamini Fonseka who was waiting for me to get his film `Parasathumal’ edited had asked Lester when I was due to return.

`I don’t know which part of the world she is’ was his answer to Gamini (laughs). Lester has never been jealous, and that was one of the main secrets that helped me to go up in my career. Also again I went to France in 1969 on one-year scholarship to the Conservitoire Independente du Cinema in Paris. Lester never felt insecured and never discouraged me. I too never abused his trust.

Question: When did you get married?

Sumitra: On June 19 in 1964 at All Saints Church, Borella. I informed my father that I was getting married only on the previous day. We had a small number of a gathering with 10-15 family members and friends. We had our small wedding function at Anton Wickremasinghe’s home, Chairman of Cine Lanka Ltd who produced `Gamperaliya’.

Question: You mentioned that you have never been lucky with money. So, what made you to remain in Cinema this long?

Sumitra: Yes, as I mentioned earlier cinema is our life. Lester has created 21 films. He did his last film `Ammavarune’ in 2005 when he was 85 years-old. Now he is 89 years. He did some teledramas as well. We had sold many of our ancestral properties to find money for the films. Though they were acclaimed even Internationally this is the story behind the scene (smiles). But, we cannot make films which the popular audience ask for. We are satisfied with what we have done.

Question: What are the special qualities you see in Lester?

Sumitra: He is frank, but cool; and rarely loses his temper, but that also for a worthy reason, but never lingers angry very long. His food forbia has been the biggest problem I’ve seen in him. He looks for cleanliness and very fussy over food. He basically avoids food with chilies. Other than that Lester is a self sufficient person.