Titus Thotawatta:

Lanka's titan in entertainment

By Amal Hewavissenti

The second death anniversary of Titus Thotawatta - a real titan in the sphere of Sri Lankan entertainment is in October. Beyond a shadow of doubt, Titus Thotawatta was a landmark figure who revolutionised the art of dubbing, splicing and editing films and the trend of subtitled films.

Titus Thotawatta

He had a surprising calibre in multiple aspects of cinema such as splicing and editing films, direction of films, composing screen plays and ceaseless inventiveness in original ideas. He often displayed his creative invention in shooting by employing most appropriate dialogues to particular situations even without a film script in his hands. Later he edited the film but with no changes to the dialogues that he had employed at the moment of shooting.

Most apparently, he had the best intuition for the public taste in Sri Lanka - the nature of taste of both children and adults. He bequeathed some immortal subtitled films, and superbly dubbed foreign films to Sri Lankan audience and there by generated a refined taste in children and adults in the broadest sense.

Thotawatta's first subtitled tele series Robinhood , Ha ha hari hawa, Gulliverge Suviseriya (Gulliver's Travels) and Malgudi Dawasa left a lasting imprint on the minds of both children and adults alike and broadened the horizons Sri Lankan entertainment.

There are more than 20,000 subtitled and dubbed programs to his credit - films, tele series, documentaries and cartoon films which prove his matchless skill in the correct use of language. These films and television programs are the real fruit of Thotawatta's expertise in the basic theories of film editing, dubbing and subtitling.

Thotawatta had mastered almost all aspects of the art of cartoon films and thereby became an inspirational figure in the tradition of Sri Lankan television. He performed miracles' in fitting Sinhala dialogues to the scenes of imported foreign cartoon films and he had the best intuition for the type and special phrases of language which subsequently appealed to the audience with lingering effect.

He was so genuine in injecting a local sense and colour to the dialogues of the foreign films that the Sri Lankan audience never feel that they are foreign films. The audience hardly notice any foreign element in the dialogues except for the scenes and costumes of the characters. His dialogue direction was so precise and masterful.

During his younger age, he studied camera work to his full potential at the Technical College - Maradana and painting and moulding at the Haywood College. At the same time, he was training in dancing by Sesha Palihakkara and Shukendra and later studied music with Suni Shantha and Ananda Samarakoon.

In 1950s, Don Emmanuel Titus de Silva (Titus Tholawatta) joined the State Film Corporation and was involved in producing documentary films and further studied sound mixing, camera work, and work in film laboratories. Thus he joined Lester James Peries and Willie Blake in the creation of Rekhawa for which he acted as the editor. While editing together the excerpts of the film Rekhawa , Titus Thotawatta gained adequate experience and knowledge for his subsequent involvement in cinema.

Accordingly, he achieved pre-eminence as the best film editor by contributing his highest potential to films such as Ranmuthu doowa, Sara wita, Getawarayo, Sandeshaya and Parasathu Mal . Moreover, he was the editor to "Daskon", and Chandiya - films which established the renaissance of Sinhala cinema.

Thotawatta's excellent gift for the children was Handaya which achieved tremendous popularity in the sphere of Sinhala cinema during 1979. Handaya being the very first of this film category, bagged exclusive awards at the Presidential Awards ceremony and at OCIC and Sarasavi Awards ceremony.'

The major turning point in his career of creative entertainment was his involvement in production of programs in Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation during the 1980s. At SLRC, he made the first attempt to produce teledramas, interviews, documentaries and cartoon films. He often focused more on shaping the mind of the child. His creations which unnoticeably made a real positive change in children were, Dostara Honda Hitha, Pissu Poosa, Bagalawathi, Elu Naide and so forth.

The top secret behind the massive popularity behind his dubbed films and subtitled films is his own use of local idiom and fitting expressions to the situation in the foreign film. He dubbed several classic films into Sinhala for Sri Lankan audiences.

In his dubbed films, different soundtrack (Sinhala) is added with actors speaking a translation of dialogues with impressive indiomatic expressions much closer to the Sri Lankan audience. He merits the credit of producing Sri Lanka's first subtitled program.

Titus Thotawatta firmly believed that shaping the thinking and attitudes of children is much more effective than changing the wrong attitudes of adult audiences. He appeared to believe that children with better taste, thinking and attitudes will ultimately make up a better country.

That is precisely why he focused move on producing dubbed films and subtitled programs for children - the future of the country.

The assistants to his programs often found it difficult to be unnecessarily relaxed in their duties and to shirk responsibilities because he was a strict and practical man.

Those who worked with him learned to "work" with the full sense of duty, commitment and responsibility in whatever they would do. The best lesson he taught was to do the best thing at the best time with commitment and interest.