Veteran film director Sugathapala Senarath Yapa, who was known as the pioneer of youth cinema in the 70s, has passed away yesterday (25).
He was 89 years old when he passed away yesterday afternoon (25) at his home in Batuwaththa after being ill for some time.
Sugathapala Senarath Yapa was born on November 10, 1935 in the village of Neraluwa, Maluduwa, Akurassa.
He joined the cinema by directing the movie ‘Hanthane Kathawa’, which is still talked about today, and through that film, Wijaya Kumaratunga, the handsome theater personality born in this country, was introduced to the silver screen.
Characters like Dharmasena Pathiraja, Wijaya Dharmasree, Berti Jayasekara, Berti Gunasekara are the huge cinematographic characters he popularized through the movie of Hanthane Kathawa.
‘Pembara Madhu’ and ‘Induta Malmitak’, which are extremely popular among Sri Lankan cinema lovers, are the other cinematic assets that Sugathapala Senarath Yapa contributed to the cinema.
Apart from this, he made many movies like ‘Paswenna’, ‘Garudagala’, ‘Udawadiya Mal Dekak’, ‘Anagathaya Upan Dawasa’, ‘Isuru Sayura’, ‘Dalada Siritha’, ‘Acharya Colvin’, ‘Randiya Dahara’, ‘Apita Hetak Atha’ and ‘Piya Saha Daruwo’ and won the Rajatha Award to Sri Lanka at the 15th Iran International Film Festival for the record movie ‘Garudagala’.
Mr. Sugathapala Senarath Yapa, who worked as an external lecturer in university cinema courses, also worked as a deputy director of Jathika Rupavahini channel.
