4 May 2016 12:00 am
The nation bade farewell to the doyen of Sinhala cinema who passed away recently at a funeral held with state honours.The organizing committee on an unanimous decision had invited a highly respected personality to deliver the funeral oration, but when the time came for it, an uninvited character who appeared from nowhere began addressing the gathering.
He first started showering praise on the VIPs present and soon afterwards turned his guns on the high-ups of the film corporation. He charged that the running of the corporation had been left in the hands of inept and incompetent individuals who had later ruined it. It was quite obvious that this intruder wanted to impress the Big Boss and the VIPs present that there was none more suited to run the corporation than himself.
A cinematographer, a close associate of the departed film director present at the event, reacting angrily to the intruder’s critical remarks had told another veteran film maker seated by his side: “The Corporation was going through its worst times, when this fellow was enjoying the best of times as a consultant to the Queen at the palace. It was the time when Anojas and Rukanthas were harassed. I’ll tell the fellow a thing or two when I meet him!”