Sirisena Wimalaweera
Sirisena Wimalaweera (c.1900–1963) was an early Sri Lankan director. He made some of the first Sinhala films after the industry was begun by B. A. W. Jayamanne's Kadawunu Poronduwa.
He made his first film Amma in 1949 . His second feature Seedevi was produced the following year. His other films include Pittisara Kella (1953), Sardiel (1954) and Podi Putha (1956).
Wimalaweera's films attempted to stay true to Sinhala history and culture and are considered a step forward in Sinhala cinema. Due to his indefatigable efforts a film studio named NAWAJEEWANA was built in Kirbathgoda, Kelaniya. His style and techniques were similar to Jayamanne's work however and Wimalaweera didn't receive critical approval.
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Sirisena Wimalaweera was an early Sri Lankan film director/producer/lyric writer. He was a man of good knowledge about different languages such as Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Urdu,etc.
Mr.wimalaweera was born in Tangalle in the village of polonmaruwa. At the age of eleven,he travelled to India with his uncle to study ayurvedic medicine.
But,unfortunately,he got the idea of doing drama.Later,he came back to Sri Lanka and did many dramas and went back to India to direct the film "amma" in 1949 and "sidevi" in 1951. Then he returned to Silanka and built the first film studio. He continued his film career by directing many films such as "pitisera kella" and "saradeyal" in 1954, "podi putha" in 1955, "asoka" in 1957,"eka math eka rataka" in 1958, "ma alaya kala tharuniya" in 1959,and many more. He also received an award for best film "podi putha" in 1956.
He himself introduced many actors and singers too.
In 1963,June 22 he died. However,he was able to pass on his abilities to his two sons Daya wimalaweera and Upasena Wimalaweera.
Daya wimalaweera is himself a popular film director,cameraman,script writer and also a producer. Upesena wimalaweera is also a sound engineer and editor.