Vijaya Ramanayake

Vijaya Ramanayake (Sinhala: විජය රාමනායක ; 1 April 1945 – 26 October 2016) is a Sri Lankan film and music producer, songwriter, journalist and author. He was the founder and producer of Tharanga Music and Film. Ramanayake was the first to introduce compact cassette tapes to Sri Lanka.[1]

Vijaya Ramanayake
Birth nameWijasiri Prathapasinghe Ramanayake
Also known asVijay Ramanayake, Vijaya Ramanayaka
Born(1945-04-01)1 April 1945
Matara, Sri Lanka
Died26 October 2016(2016-10-26) (aged 71)
Colombo, Sri Lanka
Occupation(s)film producer, music producer, songwriter, journalist, author
LabelsTharanga

Early life

Vijaya Ramanayake was born 1 April 1945 in Matara, Sri Lanka to Don Deonis Ramanayake (Dondra Head Lighthousekeeper) and Dona Coraneliya Wimala.[2] In his late teens, Ramanayake came to Colombo and worked as an advertising canvasser for the Lakehouse newspaper organisation and then as a journalist.[1] Ramanayake authored two books, one of which is a children's book.

Career

Music

In 1978, Ramanayake began Tharanga Records,[1] and quickly dominated the music market.[3] He produced music for several popular Sri Lankan musicians including W. D. Amaradeva, Clarence Wijewardena, Vijaya Kumarathunge, Milton Perera and Neela Wickramasinghe.[3] Under the Tharanga label he released Sri Lanka's first audio cassette; Milton Mallawarachchi's Anytime, Anywhere. In the late 1970s and 1980s many of the country's top hits where produced and in some cases even written by Ramanayake.[4] The countries key classical music titles are owned and distributed under the Tharanga label.[5]

Film

In the early 1980s Ramanayake expanded the Tharanga label into production and distribution of popular feature films in Sri Lanka.[6]

His first film in 1981 Aradhana (Invitation) is a tale of love, separation and reconciliation, directed by Wijaya Dharmasri and featuring Malani Fonseka, Ravindra Randeniya, Anoja Weerasinghe and Ramanayake's then 3-year-old son Tharanga.[7] The film was both a critical and a popular success.[8]

Gamperaliya is a 1963 film adapted for screen from the first part of a trilogy of novels by Martin Wickramasinghe. The film was internationally acclaimed, winning numerous awards and screened at the Cannes Film festival.[9] Ramanayake continued the production [10] of part two and three in the trilogy, Kaliyugaya (Age of Darkness) 1982, and in Yuganthaya (End Of An Era) 1983. All three films were directed by Lester James Peries and starred Gamini Fonseka.[11] The trilogy was widely popular.[10]

In 1987 Ramanayake produced Maldeniye Simion,[12] for which he won a Sarasaviya Award for 'Best Picture'.[13] The film also earned a Silver Peacock Award at the International Film Festival of India.[14]

In the late 1980s, Ramanayake purchased the rights and ownership of Ranmuthu Duwaa, a film made in 1962 by British director Mike Wilson and financed by Arthur C. Clarke. The asset is a landmark of Sri Lankan cinema, it is extremely popular and also the first colour film in the country. The film was one of Ramanayake's favourites growing up, he took great pride in having it under his banner.[15]

Finance

In the late 1980s Ramanayake branched into the finance world with several other partners and created Tharanga Investments Ltd. The company ran a public bus service, imported vehicles for sale and invested in a number of other projects throughout the country and in Singapore.[2] Unfortunately this venture was short lived and was unsuccessful.[2]

Later life

In 1988 Ramanayake moved to Canada with his wife Nelum and son, Tharanga.[16] While there, he produced a Sri Lankan radio program, put on concerts by popular Sri Lankan artists and screened a number of Sri Lankan theatrical releases in Toronto.

Ramanayake returned to Sri Lanka in the late 1990s and successfully relaunched his Tharanga record store. A number of stores were in various shopping districts within Colombo. His wife Nelum later joined him in Colombo.[16] His son Tharanga remained in Toronto, Canada.

Ramanayake became terminally ill with cancer at the age of 71. He passed away 4 months after his diagnosis on 26 October 2016.[17]

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References
  1. "Connecting People Through News". Daily Mirror. 28 October 2016. Retrieved 5 April 2017.
  2. http://www.sarasaviya.lk/2016/09/08/?fn=sa1609088
  3. Broughton, Simon; Ellingham, Mark; Trillo, Richard (1 January 1999). World Music: Latin & North America, Caribbean, India, Asia and Pacific. Rough Guides. p. 232 – via Internet Archive. vijaya ramanayake.
  4. "පාටක් පක්‍ෂයක් නොමැති ස්වාධීන වෙබ් අවකාශය : තරංගා අධිපති විජය රාමනායක දැයෙන් සමුගනී..!!!".
  5. "Vijaya Ramanayake discography". rateyourmusic.com. Retrieved 5 April 2017.
  6. Citizen.lk. "තරංගා කැසට් අධිපති විජය රාමනායක මහතා අභාවප්‍රාප්ත වෙයි - Citizen.lk". www.citizen.lk.
  7. Abeywardene, Srimal (1 December 2002). "Child star from Sri Lanka wins Canadian Academy Award". The Island. Retrieved 7 April 2017.
  8. "'Aradhana': A tale of love, separation and reconciliation". Sunday Times. 9 December 2007. Retrieved 5 April 2017.
  9. "Spectrum - Sundayobserver.lk - Sri Lanka". archives.sundayobserver.lk.
  10. Jeyara, D. B. S. (18 October 2014). "Gamini Fonseka and Lester James Peries Cinematic relationship of an actor and director". Financial Times. Retrieved 5 April 2017.
  11. "Gamini Fonseka and Lester James Peries Cinematic relationship of an actor and director".
  12. "Maldeniye Simion". IMDb. Retrieved 25 April 2017.
  13. "සරසවි සම්මාන 1987". www.sarasaviya.lk.
  14. "Anoja Weerasinghe - National Film Corporation". www.nfc.gov.lk.
  15. "රන්මුතුදූවේ අයිතිය මගේ විජය රාමනායක අවධාරණය කරයි" (in Sinhala). Sarasaviya.lk. Retrieved 6 April 2017.
  16. Laporte, Donna (6 November 2008). "Mortgage-free in five". Toronto Star. Retrieved 24 April 2017.
  17. "තරංගා කැසට් අධිපති විජය රාමනායක මහතා අභාවප්‍රාප්ත වෙයි" (in Sinhala). Citizen.lk. 27 October 2016. Retrieved 23 April 2017.
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