Kanagasabai Gunaratnam (20 July 1917 – 27 August 1989; ta, கனகசபை குணரத்தினம்; si, කනකසබේ ගුණරත්නම්), popularly known as K. Gunaratnam was a prolific
film producer
A film producer is a person who oversees film production. Either employed by a production company or working independently, producers plan and coordinate various aspects of film production, such as selecting the script, coordinating writing, di ...
in
Sri Lankan cinema.
Started his film producing career during post-independent Ceylon, Gunaratnam is the pioneer to establish two Sinhala film studios: 'Cinemas Limited' and 'Vijaya Studios',
where he produced more than 20 blockbuster and commercial movies.
Personal life
He was born on 20 July 1917 in Athiyadi, Jaffna as the youngest son of the family. His father Manikkam Kanakasabey was a merchant in Jaffna. His mother Manikkam Murugesu was a housewife. He studied at
Jaffna Central College
Jaffna Central College ( ta, யாழ்ப்பாணம் மத்திய கல்லூரி ''Yāḻppāṇam Mattiya Kallūri'', JCC) is a national school in Jaffna, Sri Lanka. Founded in 1816 by British Methodist missionaries, it ...
up to junior class.
In 1941 he married Padma Selvadore, however her untimely death led to him marrying her sister, Kamala Selvadore. Apart from cinema, he was also a planter. Horseback riding and tennis were his main hobbies and he was an active member of the Tamil Union Sports Club and the Orient Club.
The couple had two sons and four daughters.
Career
Gunaratnam came to Colombo hoping to get a job as a representative of a film distribution company in Sri Lanka. In 1934, he worked for two years as an agent for a film distribution company called Windsor Talkies. When the company was bought by
Chittampalam Abraham Gardiner
Sir Chittampalam Abraham Gardiner (6 January 1899 – December 1960) was a Ceylon Tamil businessman and member of the Senate of Ceylon.
Early life and family
Gardiner was born on 6 January 1899. He was the son of Samuel Vairamuttu Gardiner a ...
and ruled under a new administration called Ceylon Theatres, he worked for about three months before retiring in 1941 and buying the soft drink business at No. 117, New Chetty Street, Colombo where his ice cream business was known as Nelwani & Co.
Then he joined the film industry as a partner in a film distribution company called Wallington Talkies. In 1948, he became its chairman and built the Wellington Cinema in Jaffna. Then in 1950, he established the cinema company called Cinemas Limited and started building cinemas and producing films.
The first production of Cinemas Limited was 1953 film ''Sujatha'' directed by T. Somasekeran, which made a new era in Sinhala cinema industry. Even though the story of the film was chosen by imitating the then popular Hindi film ''
Bari Behen
''Bari Behen'' is a 1949 Hindi drama film directed, written and produced by D. D. Kashyap, starring Suraiya, Rehman, Ullhas and Pran.[Prem Jayanth
Hettiarachchige Emanuel Aloysius Rodrigo (1933–17 March 1997), better known as Prem Jayanth, was an actor in Sri Lankan cinema as well as a producer and art director. Considered as the first male superstar in Sinhala cinema, Jayanth rose to ...]
,
Florida Jayalath
Jayathilake Arachchige Florida Cooray (born 1936 – died 2007 as ෆ්ලොරිඩා ජයලත්) inhala, popularly as Florida Jayalath, was an actress in Sri Lankan cinema. Apart from acting, Florida also worked as a filmmaker, chor ...
,
Dommie Jayawardena
Dommie Jayawardena, (25 June 1927 – 28 December 1979 as :si:ඩොමී ජයවර්ධන, ඩොමී ජයවර්ධන in Sinhala language, Sinhala) was a Sri Lankan actor and singer. He achieved fame playing villainous roles in ...
,
Shanthi Lekha
Rita Irene Koys (July 1, 1929 – May 11, 2009), better known as Shanthi Lekha, was a Sri Lankan Film actress. She played the role of mother in more films than any other actress in Sinhala cinema.
Personal life
Lekha was born in Kalutara on July ...
and
David Dharmakeerthi
Kalukapuge Don David (born 1 September 1913 – died 10 September 1987 as ඩේවිඩ් ධර්මකීර්ති), popularly known as David Dharmakeerthi was an actor Sri Lankan early Sri Lankan cinema.
Personal life
He was born on 1 ...
.
The film also made the first trailer and a full-fledged promotional plan of a Sinhala film. Gunaratnam introduced the first patriotic song ''Manaranjana Darshaniya Lanka'' to the film and included several Sri Lankan scenes such as Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Sigiriya and Katharagama in the film which was produced entirely at the Modern Studio in India.
In 1965, Gunaratnam was instrumental in inviting famous Indian actor M G Ramachandran (MGR) to visit Sri Lanka.
After the box office records in his first film, Gunaratnam produced his second film ''Warada Kageda'' in 1954.
The film introduced
Karunaratne Abeysekera
Karunaratne Abeysekera (3 June 1930 – 20 April 1983) was one of Sri Lanka's most famous Sinhala broadcasters. He was also a poet and songwriter and was widely admired for his excellent command of Sinhala.
Abeysekera wrote the lyrics to over 2, ...
as a lyricist,
T. B. Ilangaratne
Navaratne Rajakaruna Wasala Mudiyanselage Tikiri Bandara Ilangaratne (27 February 1913 – 21 May 1992), popularly as T. B. Ilangaratne, was a Sri Lankan politician, author, dramatist, and theater actor. He was a Member of Parliament for K ...
as a dialogue writer and
Christy Leonard Perera
Kala Keerthi Madurawela Arachchilage Christy Leonard Perera (born 27 July 1932 – died 23 December 2015 as ක්රිස්ටි ලෙනාඩ් පෙරේරා) inhala, popularly as Christy Leonard Perera, was an actor in Sri Lank ...
as an actor. Meanwhile, Gunaratnam sponsored the publication of Ilangaratne's first novel, "Vilambitha", at the request of his friend Nadesan. After that in the same year, he agreed to produce the novel "Radala Piliruwa" by
W. A. Silva
W. A. Silva (16 January 1890 – 3 May 1957) was a best-selling author of Sinhala literature. Wellawattearachchige Abraham Silva was born in Wellawatte, Colombo. After receiving a formal Sinhala education, he wrote his first novel, "Siriyalath ...
into a film after Ilangaratne's proposal.
Eventually, he was associated with the companies as Chairman of K.G. Group of Companies, Fuji Graphics Ceylon Ltd. And Photo Kina Ltd. Apart from that, he was the Managing Director of Cine Sounds Sales and Services Ltd., Union Carbide Ceylon Ltd., Asbestos Cement Industries Ltd., Alhambra Hotels Ltd. And United Spinning and Weaving Mills.
As an industrialist, he manufactured ballpoint pens, corrugated cartons and plastic containers. He also developed state-of-the-art yarn spinning and weaving mills at Ja-Ela with 24,000 Swiss Reiter spindles which was being expanded into weaving with 200 Picanol water jet looms with 100 looms having been imported in June 1983. They were temporarily stored at the Hendala industrial complex until the foreign engineers were to install them at the weaving mills in Ja-Ela in August 1983.
Determined to promote his films as well as other Sinhala films, Gunaratnam released the magazine 'Kala' on 20 August 1955. In 1956, he produced the film ''Dosthara''. Before screening the film, Cinemas Limited released the book 'Mage Jeevitha Viththi' written by
Rukmani Devi
Daisy Rasammah Daniels, known popularly as Rukmani Devi (15 January 1923 – 28 October 1978: si, රුක්මණී දේවී) was a Sri Lankan film actress and singer, who was often acclaimed as "The Nightingale of Sri Lanka". She mad ...
who acted in the film. This is the first book written by a Sinhala actress. In 1956, Gunaratnam won the award for the second most popular film in the 1956 'Dinamina' newspaper 'Rangamadala' film competition with 11,243 votes. In the following years, he produced many commercially successful films such as ''Duppathage Duka'' (1956), ''Suraya'' (1857), ''Vana Mohini'' (1958).
In 1960 he joined with
Lester James Peries
Sri Lankabhimanya Lester James Peries ( Sinhala: ශ්රී ලංකාභිමාන්ය ලෙස්ටර් ජේම්ස් පීරිස්; 5 April 1919 – 29 April 2018) was a Sri Lankan film director, screenwriter, a ...
and produced his film ''Sandesaya''.
He made the Portuguese fort, which was 20 feet in circumference and 80 feet in circumference in Belihul Oya with a cost about LKR 38,000 in 1959 out of black stone. It is said that Cinemas has spent around Rs. 500,000 for this film. The film became a hallmark in the film industry, where 132 copies have been printed from one negative film. All the songs became popular and the song 'Pruthugeesi Karaya' became popular and thousands of CDs containing the songs were sold.
Meanwhile, it has been screened in 136 cinemas island-wide and it is reported that the dialogues were screened in Czech in Czechoslovakia. Gunaratnam also took steps to credit the proceeds of the premiere to the Deaf and Dumb Fund in Ratmalana.
In 196, he established Vijaya Studio, Hendala.
The original name of this studio was 'Seeni Studio' which was started by purchasing an 8-acre land in Hendala at a cost of LKR 800,000. Gunaratnam's full-fledged printing press on Armor Street, Colombo was the 'Seeni Press' where he printed color film posters and 'Kala' magazine. The first film to be shot at the Vijaya studio, was ''Adata Vediya Heta Hondai'' directed by M. Masthan. The first song recorded in its studio was 'Oya Belma Oya Kelma' sung by
Dharmadasa Walpola
Dharmadasa Walpola ( Sinhala: ධර්මදාස වල්පොල) (1927–1983) was the most prominent Sri Lankan male playback singer of the 1950s and 1960s. Walpola was an accomplished musician adapt at playing the flute, harmonium, ...
and
Latha Walpola
Deshamanya Matharage Rita Genevieve Fernando, better known by her stage name Latha Walpola ( si, ලතා වල්පොල), is a prominent Sri Lankan vocal artist. It was during when Walpola was a member of a church choir, that she began a ...
for the film ''
Kurulu Bedda
Kurulu Bedda is a 1961 Sri Lankan drama directed by L. S. Ramachandran and written by P. K. D. Seneviratne. It attempted to follow in the precedent set by ''Rekava'' and create a truly Sinhala film.
Plot
The story takes place in a small Sri Lank ...
''. In 1963, he produced the film ''Chandiya'' where all the street scenes and clubs built at the Vijaya studio.
Gunaratnam was responsible for half of its production of the first color full-length Sinhalese language film ''Ranmuthu Duwa'' directed by Mike Wilson.
Then he involved with many blockbuster films such as ''Dheewarayo'' (1964), ''Sura Chowraya'' (1967), ''Ataveni Pudumaya'' (1968), ''Lakseta Kodiya'' (1970), ''Athma Puja'' (1970) and ''Hodai Narakai'' (1973).
In 1965, he won the award for the Best Producer at 2nd United Lanka Fans Society Award Ceremony.
During the
Black July
Black July ( ta, கறுப்பு யூலை, translit=Kaṟuppu Yūlai; si, කළු ජූලිය, Kalu Juliya) was an anti-Tamil pogrom that occurred in Sri Lanka during July 1983. The pogrom was premeditated,T. Sabaratnam, Pirapa ...
ethnic riots of 1983 in Colombo, Gunaratnam suffered with many problems. He traumatically fled from his residence in the middle of the night on 22 July 1983, to escape from marauding mobs. He later sought refuge at the then Holiday Inn Hotel in the city of Colombo. Meanwhile, some of his film studios together with the collection of Sinhala films were totally destroyed during the riots.
Death
He was assassinated on 27 August 1989 at the age of 72 during the
1987–1989 JVP insurrection
The 1987–1989 JVP insurrection, also known as the 1988–1989 revolt or the JVP troubles, was an armed revolt in Sri Lanka, led by the Marxist–Leninist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna, against the Government of Sri Lanka. The 1987–1989 insurr ...
by a gunshot. At the time of death, he was going from his office to his residence for lunch.
Whilst coming out of his office, in the front seat of his car, at a point of turning, two gunmen on a motorcycle had shot him at very close range.
Aftermath
In 2019, his son G. R. Pathmaraj filed a lawsuit due to plaintiff claims that the late Gunaratnam's exclusive economic and moral rights were protected during his lifetime and are also protected for 70 years from his death. The Commercial High Court later extended its Enjoining Order restraining telecasting, exhibiting, displaying or showing the Sinhala film ''Sujatha''.
Filmography
Dubbed films
- Pathiwatha 1957
- Vira Putha 1959
- Zimbo 1961
- Angulimala 1963
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gunaratnam, Kanagasabai
1917 births
1989 deaths
People from Jaffna District
Sri Lankan businesspeople
Sri Lankan Tamil people
Sri Lankan film producers
Sri Lankan business executives
People murdered in Sri Lanka
Deaths by firearm in Sri Lanka