At a time when children are vulnerable to sexual abuse and drugs, it is open for debate if parents in today’s highly competitive society are able to spare time to pay attention to their children providing them the best opportunities possible to maximise their innate potential and artistic skills.It is in this backdrop that some of our elders have gone out of the way to hone hidden talents of children and groom them into celebrity status in Sri Lanka.

 

As the country celebrates Children’s Day today, we take  a look at the children who have made a name for themselves largely thanks to the guidance, dedication and commitment of devoted elders.

Today we would perhaps not know about Nanda Malini, Premakeerthi de Alwis, Angeline Gunatilaka, Indrani Wijebandara, Rupa Indumathi, Malkanthi Nandasiri, Punsiri Soysa, Nirmala Ranatunga, Chandrani Gunawardena, Geetha Kanthi Jayakody and hundreds of others if not for Radio Ceylon’s Lama Pitiya training ground by Siri Ayya and Karu Ayya (Karunaratne Abeysekara) and later Sumana Jayathilake’s Handa Mama.

 

 

 

In the present scenario, popular film personalities Somaratne Dissanayake and Renuka Balasuriya are the undisputed godfather and godmother to several child stars who were gifted to the Sinhala cinema.

Going by the long list of child artistes introduced by Some and Renu one may wonder whether they possess any magical power to do so.

Starting from Nithyawani Kandasamy and Pramudi Karunaratne who played Saroja and Waruni in their movie ‘Saroja’ shot to fame instantly and even won international awards. Nithyawani holds the record of being the only child star to win the Sarasaviya best actress award in the country.

 

 

With other films, Somaratne and Renuka introduced more talented child stars like Sajitha Anuththara and Dasun Madusanka (Suriya Arana), Sachin Chathuranga Mendis and Ruwanthika Ishadini in Bindu, Tharaka Hettiarachchi in Punchi Suranganavi, Kokila Jayasuriya and Sharanya Jayakody in Siri Raja Siri and several others including Harshana Dissanayake who shot to fame as a singer with the hit ‘Iren Handen Eliya Aran’. Today he is a Visharada in music.

 

 

Besides them we had Sarala Kariyawasam who played the pivotal role in Deepa Mehta’s ‘Water’ which brought her international recognition. But among the youngest gifted stars today nobody would dispute the inborn talents of little Dinuli Mallawarachchi.

Child star Sandali Welikanna has also proven her talents via films and tele dramas.

Talking of commitment towards the cause of children in the arts field, one cannot ignore the positive contributions made by award-winning dramatist Nalaka Swarnathilaka who also possesses some magical powers in extracting the best talents from children.

 

 

His works like Anne, Danga Malla and Mama Wenama Malak have groomed hundreds of child stars who are exceptionally talented.

We wish to also take a look at celebrities who made their way up the ladder starting their artistic careers as child stars. Among them are Damitha Abeyratne, Kanchana Mendis, Veena Jayakody, Sabeetha Perera, Sujani Menaka, Kushani Sandarekha, Paboda Sandeepani,  Nethmi Umaya Adhikari, Shyama Anandan, Shiromi Fernando, Ruwan Srilal Dalpadadu, Nathasha Perera, Ajith Jinadasa and others.

 

 

 

By Ramesh Uvais