Denzil with compere Sunimal Balasuriya and wife Neela at awards ceremony
Denzil Abeyewardane who marked 50 years in Sri Lankan film industry last May had to face many odds as a young man to pursue his dream career which in his own words was ‘to study the art of movie making inside out’.
He began dabbling in arts while studying in Colombo Carey College by producing school dramas. He wrote, directed and acted in every single school drama he produced.
That’s the rough and tumble beginning for a budding artiste in a country where there were no conventional facilities like film schools to master a career in the celluloid industry. The only way was to begin the uphill task through personal contacts which was the norm in the film industry at that time. He encountered another serious challenge: His mother’s insistence to continue with his studies to be a doctor or an engineer.
“I very well understood my mother’s concern. It was the dream of any parent to see their kids do well in their studies and be successful in future,” Denzil said in an interview with newstrails.com.
But the young dreamer was not ready to give up his passion so easily. “I left school and began to hang around play houses and film studios. One of my favourite haunts was Madinnagoda Road in Rajagiriya where actor and director Shesha Palihakkara shot most of his films in the 60s and 70s turning the area into a mini film studio.”
Denzil’s first break was a role as Prince Bharatha in Tower Hall playwright Romulus Silva’s Ramayanaya in 1966. He acted in the drama without seeking permission from his mother and when he came home, to his dismay Denzil found out that it was not a secret to her.
“I had to face her wrath that night but I was not willing to give up a career in show business at any cost. I wanted to find some way to overcome her disapproval of a film career without hurting her sentiments. I asked actor Joe Abeyewickrema who knew her to have a chat with her to change my mother’s tough stand,” he adds.
Denzil was a great fan of Joe who became massively popular after movies like Getawarayo and Ran Muthu Doowa and when the actor was hospitalized for a few days Denzil went to see him and struck up a friendship. “My mother was working at the same hospital as a staff nurse and this gave me a chance to visit the actor during non-visiting hours and discuss films and plays seeking his advice, and in the mean time I told him my problem with my mother.”
It was late Joe who told his mother that parents should not interfere with their children’s career choices. “I am still grateful to him for what he did. Later my mother did not try to interfere but still insisted that I should not abandon higher studies.”
Denzil is a contemporary of playwrights like Henry Jayasena, Sugathapala de Silva, Namel Weeramuny and Dhamma Jagoda who heralded the new wave of Sinhala theatre in an era described as the golden age of Sri Lankan arts.
Their dramas became a catalyst for change after the nation’s political upheavals in the late 50s. Some critics say these playwrights shaped the mind of the youth with thought-provoking dramas that culminated in the violent insurrection of 1971 staged by educated, unemployed young men barely out of their teens, demanding a new social order. Denzil was a key element in that artistic movement and one of the few survivors who migrated to films from stage.
Heta Payana Hiru (Tomorrow’s Sun) was Denzil’s debut play which he produced and acted in. Music was directed by Somapala Rathnayake and Amarasiri Peries. The latter is still a very popular singer.
Henry Jayasena’s iconic Apata Puthe Magak Nathe (There is no way my son) became a voice for the frustrated youth fighting the prevailing political status quo. Denzil produced a play called Apata Puthe Magak Athe (We have a way son) with a message quite opposite to what Henry was trying to convey. While Henry painted a gloomy and pessimistic picture of the emerging social order, Denzil tried to show that there was no use blaming the status quo and the youths still had alternative ways of achieving their targets in life. The government banned the play citing the controversial nature of its theme after it was staged in all the major universities. Denzil’s other well known, socially-relevant and thought-provoking plays include Aluth Dawasak (A New Day), Deviyo Mamai (I am the god) and two short plays Loka Ledak (A Weird Illness) and Bindunu Banduna (Broken Vessel).
Some of the most talented stage actors of the 60s and 70s like Upali Aththanayake, Saman Bokalawela, Vijaya Nandasiri, Gamini Ganegoda, Lushan Bulathsinhala, Pathiraja L.S. Dayananda, Daya Alwis, Devika Weerasinghe, Mercy Edirisinghe, Quintus Weerakoon, Somie Rathnayake and Jayasekera Aponsu acted in his plays. Rohana Weerasinghe provided music for Heta Aluth Dawasak and also made his acting debut.
Denzil’s theatre career landed him even in jail, just before the 1971 insurrection as the government suspected him of being involved in the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) revolution.
“I was a good friend of Rohana Wijeweera as we worked on the Aththa paper editorial just before he left for Russia on a scholarship. After Rohana’s return from Russia armed with revolutionary ideals he launched the JVP and I attended his infamous five lectures that laid the foundation for the youth rebellion,” said Denzil who was a very active member of the Communist Party at the time. Rohana was a CP member before he broke off to launch the JVP as he was disgusted with the party’s conventional leftist policies.
‘Denzil’s career stretches from Tower Hall era and the early days of Sinhala theatre that became a catalyst for social change spearheaded by youths frustrated with the status quo. He also made his mark during the Sri Lankan film industry’s most prolific period (70s to 90s), also working as cast director for blockbuster Hollywood films made in the island’
Denzil was arrested by the army when some people were planning to stage his drama Heta Aluth Dawasak (Tomorrow is a New Day) in Ratnapura were pasting posters in the town advertising the play. “Prime Minister Sirima Banadaranaike was to address a meeting in Ratnapura as the rumours of an impending revolution was in the air and the army arrested me as the posters of my play were appearing on the walls of the city, suspecting that I had something to do with the revolution. They obviously thought that the name of my drama Tomorrow is a New Day was a slogan for the revolution.”
He was held in a camp for detainees on the coast of Colpetty for five days before Pieter Kuenaman, the leader of the Communist Party, intervened and secured his release.
After the successful stage career Denzil focussed his attention on Sinhala cinema. “I started working for Shesha Palihakkara who made popular films like Sara Vita. Denzil played a character in Laksheta Kodiya as a friend of Joe Abeyewickrema. He acted in movies like Haddinnath Tharu, Samanala Kumariyo and Api Kawadath Soorayo”.
“I learnt film making under Shesha and K.A.W. Perera starting as clapper boy and continuity assistant learning every aspect of film making. He worked in KAW’s movies like Lokuma Hinawa, Seeye Nottuwa and Bicycle Hora. I directed my own film, Visi Hathara Peya (24 Hours), in the late 70s. It became a very popular box office hit,” said Denzil describing that the movie was an important landmark in his career.
Visi Hathara Peya was a mix of both entertainment and art dealing with a family that comes to Colombo from a village and their bitter-sweet struggle in the big city. Some of the biggest stars in cinema at the time like Joe Abeyewickrema, Upali Aththanayake, Devika Karaunarathne, Rex Kodippili, Freddie Silva, Alexander Fernando and Somasiri Dehipitiya played leading roles.
After that he was to direct a film called Ahimi Sevaneli starring Sanath Gunatilleke, Sabitha Perera and Vasantha Kotuwella but half way through the project was abandoned due to production issues.
During his third phase of the career he was involved in several big budget Hollywood movies made in Sri Lanka, working as the casting director for local actors and extras.
He worked for Canadian director Giles Walker’s Ordinary Magic in which Canadian-born Hollywood heartthrob Ryan Reynolds made his debut as a 16-year-old teenager playing the role of an Indian boy (Denzil’s son Bimal played a cameo in this film); Iron Triangle in which French singer Johnny Halliday, Hollywood star Beau Bridges and Academy award winning actor of Killing Fields Haing S. Ngor played main roles; Steven Spielberg’s Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom; Tarzan and the Ape Man starring former Hollywood sex siren Bo Derek; Street Child directed by Fransisco Luciani; Crystal Book made by Swiss director Patricia Plattner; French Director Gerard Kawczyk’s Good Marriages; Shadow of the Cobra based on the life of Charles Sobhraj who was once the world’s deadliest criminal and the television series A Dangerous Life based on the last days Philippines’ strongman Ferdinand Marcos’ regime.
Recounting some interesting incidents during the shooting of foreign films Denzil says that the producers faced a problem of finding actors who looked like Filipinos to act in A Dangerous Life. “We hired most of the extras from a Sri Lankan community with Indonesian roots. Another problem was to find an actor who looked like a Filipino to play the role of late senator Benigno Aquino. The Filipino actor could not come for Sri Lankan shooting. After lot of searching I could find a local actor who resembled him. We also had a hard time finding locals with Far Eastern looks when the Vietnam war drama Iron Triangle was filmed in the country ”
Denzil who now lives in Canada with his family says Madara Parasathu was his last Sinhala film. “I worked in the movie as the assistant director just before coming to Canada in 2009 and could not be present at its premier in Colombo. It became a big box office success and had some stars like Sanath Gunatilleke, Geetha Kumarasinghe, Swarna Mallawarachchi, Sabitha Perera and Ravindra Randeniya.
Asked whether there are copies of his film still available he said his film Visi Hathara Peya ran continuously for a long time until some reels got damaged. “I withdrew several copies and kept a good one with me as a souvenir but unfortunately it was lost in the Kotte floods.”
Last May the Sri Lankan community in Toronto got together and had a reception to celebrate Denzil’s fifty years in films and stage and presented him with a Life Time Achievement Award. The award was presented by Toronto-based, Sri Lankan-born film director Priyankara Vittanachchi. – newstrails.com
