Well-known all-rounder Preethiraj Weeraratne who shot to fame with the box office hit Nommara 17 in 1988, followed it up with more movie productions like ‘It’s A Matter of Time’, ‘Pudumai Eth Eththai’ filmed at a South Indian Film Studio with trained animals.

“This was a hit movie that was done with the famous animal trainer Chinnappa Dewar. My fourth film was Sura Weera Chandiyo with Jeevan in the lead and that too was a box office hit. It became the most popular film in 1992 winning the Sarasaviya award and presidential award for the highest revenue. All my movies were originals scripted by me. Sura Weera Chandiyo was done without a script in hand. It was a sudden decision. I know it’s not the right thing to do but circumstances led me to do so,” he told Impulse.

“I am thankful to my wife Sharika and she deserves full credit for giving me the mental freedom to engage in the movie industry, by looking after the welfare of my two children Iraj and Rishini. If Iraj and Rishini are somewhere today, it’s largely because of Sharika. I must also mention that I wrote the Nommara 17 script while on a flight to London. Even today I am a great movie lover. I love movies of Udayakantha Warnasuriya, Somaratne Dissanayke, Sunil T. Fernando, Jackson Anthony and several others who are talented,” he said.

Preethiraj was also a newspaper publisher in the nineties. He started publishing Rasa, Suwanda, Birinda and Sumiyuru and they were the fastest selling publications then.  He also introduced ABE exams in Sri Lanka in 1984.

“My proficiency in both Sinhala and English has stood to my advantage. Today I regret not having learnt the Tamil language. I advise the young generation to learn Tamil too after English because it will certainly help them on the longer run,” he said.