Kadawunu Poronduwa

Kadawunu Poronduwa

Rukmani Devi in a scene
Directed by Jyothish singh
Produced by Chitrakala Movietone Ltd
Starring Rukmani Devi, B. A. W. Jayamanne, Peter Peiris, Miriam Jayamanne, Hugo Fernando, Stanley Mallawarachchi, Eddie Jayamanne, Gemini Kantha, Timothius Perera, J B Perera, Rupa Devi
Music by Narayana Aiyar
Cinematography K Prabhakar
Edited by Pakeer Saleh
Distributed by Minerva Group
Release dates
 January 21, 1947
Country Sri Lanka
Language Sinhala

Kadawunu Poronduwa (Sinhala: කඩවුනු පොරොන්දුව, "The Broken Promise") was the first film to be made in the Sinhala language; it is generally considered to have heralded the coming of Sinhala Cinema. The film was produced and filmed in India however, and was highly influenced by South Indian melodrama. It was first shown on January 21, 1947 at the Kingsley Cinema in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

A remake was released in 1982.

Plot

Ralahamy, a member of high status, dies leaving his family in debt after having squandered his fortune through extensive drinking and other vices. To get back into wealth, Ralahamy's wife Tackla pushes her daughter Ranjani to get married to a wealthy older man Victor with a child through an earlier marriage. In this process, Samson, Ranjani's boyfriend, who had tried extensively to get the family back into good graces going so far as to pay off their debts, is spurned. He then goes abroad to win a fortune.

When Samson returns he learns of Ranjani's engagement to Victor and tries to reach her through letter. His letters are hidden from her however, and rumours spread that Samson is now a cripple. Ultimately the truth is revealed.

Cast

Production

Kadawunu Poronduwa was at first a successful play for dramatist B.A.W. Jayamanne. In 1947 he filmed and processed the movie in South India.[1]

Kadawunu Poronduwa produced a formula that Sinhala films would follow up through the 1960s; Jayamanne describes the formula as such:[1]

“ The duration of a film had to be two and a half hours. One hour of this had to be given to scenes with dialogue. Half an hour to songs (about ten), another half-hour given to silent background scenes, with an interval of fifteen minutes. ”

Songs

Songs of Kadawunu Poronduwa were issued by Parlophone gramophone records with the film release in 1947. They were the last records issued by Palophone label in Sri Lanka.

Please note that the last two songs listed above were not issued on gramophone records and now it is difficult to find them.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Jayamanne, Laleen (2001). Toward Cinema and Its Double: Cross-cultural Mimesis. Indiana University Press. ISBN 0-253-21475-0.

External links

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