Krishanadasa Narayana Bandaranayaka Brahmachari Mudiyanselage Parakrama Bandara Niriella ( පරාක්‍රම නිරිඇල්ල; born 18 April), popularly as Parakrama Niriella, is a Sri Lankan

director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''Di ...

in Sri Lankan cinema, theater and

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

. One of the pioneer dramatists in Sri Lankan drama, Niriella is the founder of the "Janakaraliya" Drama troupe. He is also a stage playwright, a film script writer.

Personal life

In 1971, Niriella got the first job in the

Sri Lankan Navy ta, இலங்கை கடற்படை , image = Sri Lanka Naval Seal.png , image_size = 180px , caption = Emblem of Sri Lanka Navy , dates = , c ...

in Trincomalee in civil section.

Career

In 1974, Niriella studied at Nalanda College Drama & Theater from the Art Center Theater Academy of the Lionel Wendt Memorial Center in Colombo. He started drama career with

Gamini Haththotuwegama Kala Keerthi Dr. Gamini Kalyanadarsha Haththotuwegama (born 29 November 1939 – died 30 October 2009 as ගාමිණී හත්තොටුවේගම) was a Sri Lankan playwright, director, actor, critic and educator. He was widely known ...

in 1970s in Sri Lanka's first street drama troupe. He worked as the street drama organizer in Haththotuwegama's street drama troop. On December 31, 1976. he produced his first stage play ''Sekkuwa'' which was played at Lumbini Theater. The play won several awards at the State Drama Festival in 1976. Niriella won the award for the Best script. In 1998, the play was staged as a new production. In 2017, a series of celebrations were held to celebrate the achievements of ''Sekkuwa'' in the drama industry in Sri Lanka. It was held on the 13 February 2017 at the University of Colombo University of Visual and Performing Arts at 4.00 pm. In January 2017, ''Sekkuwa'' was presented at the annual polymorphic International Drama Festival held by the Institute of Theater Performing Arts in Mysore, Karnataka, India. He was the chief guest on the opening day of the International Drama Festival. He continued to produce many stage plays such as ''Vinischaya'' in 1979 and ''Galileo'' in 1983. Then he produced ''Uththamavi'' in 1989. Afterwards, together with

H. A. Perera Habarakadage Alosius Perera (10 May 1950 – 4 February 2010 as එච්. ඒ. පෙරේරා), popularly as H. A. Perera, was an actor in Sri Lankan cinema, theatre, and television. He is considered one of five actors who have dominated t ...

, Niriella produced ''Warenthu'' in 1998. Niriella directed two feature films - ''Siri Medura'' in 1989 and ''Ayoma'' in 1995. Both films were critically acclaimed and won several awards at local film festivals. In 2009,

Henry Jayasena Kala Keerthi Dr Bastian Koralage Henry Rudrigo Jayasena (born 6 July 1931 – died 11 November 2009 as Sinhala: හෙන්රි ජයසේන), popularly known as Henry Jayasena, was an actor in Sri Lankan cinema, theater and televisi ...

granted the rights to play ''Hunuwataye Kathawa'' through a contract. His play ''Charandas'' often played outdoors in different setups without using theater lighting effects and stage designs. The play won the highest award at the 1983 Edinburgh Drama Festival in England. In 1985, his tele-film of 90 minutes duration''Kadaima'' won special jury prize from the Golden Crest International TV Festival of Poldiv, Bulgaria and then Transtel prize for the prix Futra International TV Festival of Berlin. In 1999, Niriella handed over an alternative theater program to the National Youth Services Council. But at that time it was not implemented due to the scarcity of the youth service council. Without any government funds, Niriella along with Udul Bandara Awusadahami took the responsibility for a plan for the mobile theater. On 29 July 2004, he created "Janakaraliya" Mobile Drama troupe Theatre of the people) with the help of HIVOS institute, Netherlands with 20 members. It is the first time that Sri Lanka drama use New Arena concept. The first play created by "Janakaraliya" is ''Andara Mal''. He produced the play ''Mati Karaththaya'' which won many awards at State Drama Festival. For the first time in Sri Lanka drama history, a Tamil actor won the Best Supporting Actor award and Sinhalese actor wins best supporting actor in Tamil drama for the play ''Mati Karaththaya''. In 2014, he won the awards for the best direction and Best Play at State Drama Festival for the play ''Hunuwataya'', his own translation of Bertolt Brecht's "Caucasian Chalk Circle" . In 2016, Niriella produced the Tamil version of Bertolt Brecht's "Caucasian Chalk Circle" translated by Dr. Kulanthai Shanmugalingam of Jaffna, with the title "Venkatti Vattam". On 13 January 2017, he inaugurated Bahuroopi international theatre festival. In 2019, Niriella produced two stage plays titled ''Wangagiriya'' and ''Gira Panthiya''. The play ''Wangagiriya'' is based on the short story by the same name written by

Dharmasena Pathiraja Pathiraja Navaratne Wanninayake Mudiyanselage Ranjith Dharmasena (28 March 1943 – 28 January 2018) was a Sri Lankan film director and screenwriter. He has been referred to as a 'rebel with a cause', an ‘''enfant terrible'' of the '70s', and ...

in 1960s. The play ''Gira Panthiya'' is based on the short Illustration ''Parrot's Tale'' written by

Rabindranath Tagore Rabindranath Tagore (; bn, রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter. He resh ...

Direction

Theater

Cinema

Tele-Drama

References

External links

පරාක්‍රම නිරිඇල්ල, රාජ්‍ය නාට්‍ය උළෙලේ විරෝධතාවට දිරිදෙයි..!

”නෙළුම් පොකුණ ගැන ඔබේ ස්ථාවරය වෙනස් වෙලාද?”

කඩේ යන එකෙත් සීමාවක් තිබිය යුතුයි – පරාක්‍රම නිරිඇල්ල

හොරුන්, මැරයන් පත් කරගැනීමට මග පාදන ව්‍යවස්ථාවක්: පරාක්‍රම නිරිඇල්ල
{{DEFAULTSORT:Niriella, Parakrama 1959 births Sri Lankan film directors Living people Sinhalese writers Sinhalese educators Sri Lankan theatre directors Sri Lankan dramatists and playwrights 20th-century dramatists and playwrights