Bogoda Appuhamilage Don Wickrama Bogoda ( si, බෝගොඩ අප්පුහාමිලාගේ දොන් වික්‍රම බෝගොඩ; June 16, 1940 – January 15, 2013), popularly as Wickrama Bogoda, was an

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

in Sri Lankan cinema and theater. Primarily known for character acting in both in stage plays and movies.

plays Play most commonly refers to: * Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment * Play (theatre), a work of drama Play may refer also to: Computers and technology * Google Play, a digital content service * Play Framework, a Java framework * P ...

, Bogoda has performed in many theater plays and over 15 selected movies over two decades from 1960 to 1985. His role in Movie

Golu Hadawatha ''Golu Hadawatha'' (Translation: The Silent Heart) was a popular 1968 Sinhalese language romance movie directed by Maestro Lester James Peiris. Wickrama Bogoda and Anula Karunathilaka acted the lead roles of Sugath and Dhammhi. The movie's s ...

made his acting sensational

Early life

He was born on June 16, 1940 to a middle-class family during the war years. His father worked in the

Ceylon Electricity Board The Ceylon Electricity Board - CEB ( si, ලංකා විදුලිබල මණ්ඩලය - ලංවිම, Lankā Vidulibala Mandalaya - Lanwima; ta, இலங்கை மின்சார சபை - இமிச), is the largest el ...

and his mother was a school teacher. In a family of three children, he was the eldest, with one brother and two sisters. Bogoda studied in the

Dharmapala Vidyalaya Dharmapala Vidyalaya, Pannipitiya, established in 1942 on land owned by Anagarika Dharmapala, is the largest mixed school in Sri Lanka with about 8000 students and 600 academic staff. It is a public school and provides primary and secondary educ ...

, Pannipitiya. He never had any inclination to be an actor and did not have an atmosphere at home or influence for acting. During the school life, being a sports enthusiast, he was a member of the school's Army Cadet team. His father encouraged him to concentrate on studies and gain an opportunity for a respectable government job. As a result of his father's claim, after the Higher School Certificate (HSC) examination, Bogoda joined the

Bank of Ceylon Bank of Ceylon (BOC; Sinhala: ලංකා බැංකුව ''Lanka Bænkuwa'', Tamil: இலங்கை வங்கி ''Ilangai Vangi'') is a state-owned, major commercial bank in Sri Lanka. Its head office is located in an iconic cy ...

. In the 1960s, when he was about to leave the school, the principal of his school directed him to play in a school drama. During that time,

The Merchant of Venice ''The Merchant of Venice'' is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1596 and 1598. A merchant in Venice named Antonio defaults on a large loan provided by a Jewish moneylender, Shylock. Although classified as ...

was a popular stage-drama and used in literature and theater performance education. Bogoda played the character of Shylock. It became his first step for acting in a stage drama.

Early career

During his employment in the Bank of Ceylon, he met the Sri Lankan playwright and

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others asp ...

Sugathapala de Silva Sugathapala De Silva (4 August 1928 – 28 October 2002) was an acclaimed Sri Lankan dramatist and novelist, translator, radio play producer, and Sinhala Radio Play writer. Biography Early life Sugathapala De Silva was born on 4 August 1928 M ...

who led the drama group ''Apey Kattiya'' (Our Clan), a group of young artists known for adapting stage plays in the early 60s. Bogoda became a close associate of Sugathapala De Silva and members of the drama group. The group included notable people such as

Tony Ranasinghe Deshabandu Ranasinghe Hettiarachchilage Ignatius Anthony Silva (31 July 1937 – 16 June 2015 as ටෝනි රණසිංහ), popularly as Tony Ranasinghe, was an actor in Sri Lankan cinema, theater and television. He is known as the Lov ...

and

Simon Navagattegama Simon Navagattegama lso spelled Nawagattegama (September 15, 1940 – October 9, 2005) was a Sinhala novelist, Sinhala Radio Play writer, playwright and actor. He is well known for his novel Sansararanye Dhadayakkaraya (Hunter in the wilder ...

, were the most noted young theatre artists and peers of Bogoda in the early 60s. Their common meeting place was the Lion House restaurant and cafe in

Bambalapitiya Bambalapitiya is a southern coastal neighbourhood of Colombo, Sri Lanka. The area also known as Colombo 4, spans about along Galle Road. The western boundary of the suburb is the Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the ...

wrote the stage-play ''Bodinkārayo'' (Boarders) which became a well-known stage-play in 60s. De Silva invited Bogoda to play a character in Bodinkārayo. One day, Sugathapala De Silva invited

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 ...

to watch his stage-play. It was an unexpected opportunity for Bogoda, who at the time, was 21 years old. Dr Peries, noticing Bogoda's latent talent, decided to give him a leading role in his forthcoming film ''Gamperaliya'' (Transforming village) in 1963.

Role of Thissa in Gamperaliya

At the age of 21, Bogoda made his screen debut, under the direction of veteran film director Dr. Lester James Peiris, in the film Gamperaliya (Transforming Village). The film, is based on a novel, Gamperaliya written by veteran Sri Lankan novelist

Martin Wickramasinghe Lama Hewage Don Martin Wickramasinghe, (commonly known as Martin Wickramasinghe) ( si, මාර්ටින් වික්‍රමසිංහ) (29 May 1890 – 23 July 1976) was a Sri Lankan journalist and author. His books have been tran ...

in 1944 and later story followed by two versions as Kaliyugaya (Modern Era) and Yuganthya (End of an Era). Lester James Peiris directed these movies based on these three novels. Bogoda has the continuous opportunity to act in these 3 movies as the character, Thissa. Thissa is the youngest boy of a colonized and privileged family around which the stories are centralized. Thissa symbolizes the changes and subsequent adoption to the modern era who becomes radicalized and rejects the old colonized, traditional, and cultural practices. Gamperaliya gave Bogoda a warm debut, since the film was shown internationally and the novels were popular literature of Sri Lanka.

Role of Sugath in Golu Hadawatha

The movie Goluhadawatha gave Bogoda an opportunity to enter into the movie field.

(Silence of the Heart) was also based on a popular romantic novel about a relationship between teenage boy and a girl studying in the same class of their school. Karunasena Jayalath wrote this novel in 1962 based on his school life experiences. Lester James Peiris directed the novel into a motion-picture in 1967 from an original script by Piyasiri Gunaratne.

Reggie Siriwardena Kala Keerthi Regi Siriwardena (15 May 1922 – 15 December 2004) was a Sri Lankan academic, journalist, poet, writer, playwright and writer of screenplays. Early life and education Reginald Siriwardena (known as 'Reggie' until the 1980s) was ...

also worked on the script.

Character actor

Bogoda's first major breakthrough came from his acting in Golu Hadawatha as Sugath his performance in this movie showed an outstanding skill of improvisation.

conceptually influenced the romantic and love film genre in Sri Lanka in the 60s. Apart from its cinematic format and screen-presentation style, it heavily designed on the characterization and portrayal of the main two characters of Sugath and Dhammi, which were fictitious characters. According to broadly discussed cinema concepts, Bogoda's characterization of Sugath, tinged with traits explained in the Stanislavski's system to character acting; Bogoda had approached Sugath from his persona, with a deeper immersion of expressions than appearing as Sugath. He has intensively used his physical and psychological involvement to make the fictitious character come alive before an audience, who had read about the ''defeated lover'', in the novel. The characterization of Sugath comprised a wider range of emotional expressions and characteristics throughout the movie to portray the personae of the defeated lover and how he reacted to his relationship with his girl friend. Simultaneously, he has used the acting styles defined in the

Meisner Technique The Meisner technique is an approach to acting developed by American theatre practitioner Sanford Meisner. The goal of the Meisner approach is for the actor to not focus on themselves and instead concentrate on the other actors in the immediate ...

. In the point of Meisner Acting Technique, Bogoda has given a major support to the characterization of Dhammi (acted by veteran actress Anula Karunathilaka). In the relationship between Dhammi and Sugath, Dhammi is dominant and ''controller'' of the relationship, and Sugath is flexible/adaptable to her actions. According to Mesiner Technique of Acting, Bogoda demonstrated this adaptability throughout role of Sugath. Bogoda strongly characterized Sugath than acting as Sugath which made a popular Character of "true defeated lover" among movie buffs. In many of his later roles in the movies followed by Golu Hadawatha he chose to characterize roles. Being a man with a calm and soft characteristic in real life, Bogoda maintained his own interpretation and judgments over his acting career. As his contemporaries in the cinema and journalism reveal, Bogoda did not like to act every character, on the basis of acting. He did not like to accept all the offers that not matching his instinctual impetus. He judiciously selected his characters based on the story and type of character assigned to him and he preferred neutral but influencing roles—the role that has a crucial impact on the story of the movie rather than the character itself. Over 20 years long career in Cinema and Theatre (1960-1985), he contributed over 20 stage-plays and over 15 movies. The hallmark of his acting was the character of Sugath in Golu Hadawatha. His acting career ended in 1985 after Kaliyugaya (Modern era), the 3rd episode of the Gamperaliya (Transforming village) saga. By this time the cinema and theatre has notably declined in Sri Lanka and Bogoda was one of the early retired actors. His last public appearance was in a Tele-drama series as a senior adult.

Personal life and death

Following his retirement from the Bank of Ceylon and his acting career, he lived a personal life, while attending his personal business. Bogoda maintained a notable space between his acting career, personal and family life. As his contemporaries mentioned, he never sought gratuitous publicity for his acting life. He had his own set of hobbies; Bogoda was a good-reader and was fond of literature of varying genres. Being an environmental enthusiast, he neatly maintained his home-garden and engaged in the fruits of cultivation. ''He is a self-contained man'' who had his own business to take care of and was never dependent on cinema. In the final years of his life, Bogoda had been suffering from liver disease. Bogoda died on 15 January 2013 at his home. Upon his last-will, the remains of his physique was handed over to the Sri Lanka Medical Colleges, for educational purposes.

Legacy and popular culture

Golu Hadawatha, both the novel and movie became a romantic and love icon among the young generation in the late 60s in Sri Lanka. Characters of Sugath and Dhammi turned to Archetype examples for a sacrificed love. Bogoda was one of the most popular actors in the late 1960s; especially his contribution (as Sugath) to Golu Hadawatha earned him that popularity and he became popular as Sugath. He earned respect among professional cinema artists for his memorable performances and charismatic screen presence. That gave an accurate characterization to Sugath that was a complex fictitious character in the novel. In the popular-cinema culture during the late 60s, the then young generation acclaimed Sugath as a role-model of a true lover. He received the sympathy of both men and women for being “booted” by his girlfriend Dhammi (''“Boot” is a word used in the 60s to describe betrayal or refusal by either member of a couple''). Sugath and Dhammi belong to a tradition of tragic romance and love broadening back to the past in the memories of the movie buffs in Sri Lanka in the early 60s. Their story is viewed in the context of romance, love, and attachment which ended in pathos. In the late 60s, the story touched with the Rama-Seetha, Jaliya-Krishna, or Romeo-Juliet in the popular aesthetic and romance culture in the 60s and argument is based on the fact that Dhammi betrayed Sugath, while the idea stands though they were apart from each other, their love and attachment are permanent. Young men followed his characteristics fanatically and introduced them as “Sugath-type of lovers”. Over the years, the story of Sugath and Dhammi of Golu Hadwatha is broadly discussed in popular romance and love in the different genre of Literature, Music, Tele Drama, and Cinema. Today, the Golu Hadawatha has emerged with a new fame based on the social media networking—particularly on Facebook, personal or media blogs and YouTube. In popular culture today, Sugath's character is being analyzed as a weak character fallen before his girlfriend, yet he is a genuine lover. The new young generation views Dhammi and Sugath story as an attachment that should not have an end of that nature. Today, the novel Golu Hadawatha is not much known among the young generation, but the movie has a popular reception over the YouTube, the young generation who view the movie explains it as a romantic Sinhala movie for all seasons of the romance and love genre and acclaimed Wickrama Bogoda has performed as real Sugath who shows vulnerability and frustrated in his attachment to Dhammi. Many youths who use Facebook, use “Golu Hadawatha” as a popular slogan to express their feelings in different terms pertinent to their relationships, expressions of thoughts.

Contribution to theatre and cinema 1960–1965

Stage plays

* 1960 ''Vānisiya Welendā'' ( si, වැනිසියේ වෙලෙන්දා) Merchant of the Venice * 1961 ''Borading Kārayo'' ( si, බොඩින් කාරයෝ) Boarders * 1963 ''Thattu Geval'' ( si, තට්ටු ගෙවල්) Storied Houses * 1964 ''Harima Badu Hayak'' ( si, හරිම බඩු හයක්) 6 Stooges * ''Akkara Paha'' ( si, අක්කර පහ) Five Acres * ''Kaní Pālama'' ( si, කැළණි පාලම) Bridge Over Kaleni River * ''Nattukakari'' ( si, නැට්ටුක්කාරි) Dancing Girl (adaptation of Jean Anouilh's 'Colombe') * ''Thuranga Sanniya'' ( si, තුරඟ සන්නිය) Horse Race * ''Ranthodu'' ( si, රන් තෝඩු) Golden Ear Rings * ''Onna Babo Athinniya'' ( si, ඔන්න බබෝ ඇතින්නියා) Baby Watch out that's an elephant * ''Thāthā'' ( si, තාත්තා) Father * ''Vahalak Nethi Geyak'' ( si, වහලක් නැති ගෙයක්) A house Without a Roof

Filmography

References

Sources

# Amarasena, Arthur U (2013). අපේ කට්ටිය අත්හැර වෙන්ව ගිය බෝගොඩ. http://www.sarasaviya.lk/2013/01/24/?fn=sa1301247 # Devapriaya, Uditha (2017). Getting (into) Sinhala Movies. http://mirrorcitizen.dailymirror.lk/2017/07/27/getting-into-sinhala-movies/ # Silva, Promod (2017). Taking Lankan Movies to the world. http://www.sundayobserver.lk/2017/06/25/columns/taking-lankan-movies-world # Nandana, Mālaka (2013). සුගත්ගේ වියෝව මට දරාගන්න බැරි වුනා.http://www.gossiplankahotnews.com/2013/01/blog-post_5822.html # Senevirathne, SSA (2017).The Paradigm Shift of Sri Lankan Cinema. http://www.ajbssit.net.au/index.php/AJBSSIT/article/viewFile/54/45

External links

# http://archives.dailynews.lk/2013/06/19/fea26.asp # http://rateyourmusic.com/artist/wickrema-bogoda # http://www.sundaytimes.lk/170521/magazine/ever-popular-kelani-palama-goes-on-the-boards-240362.html # http://www.sarasaviya.lk/2013/01/24/?fn=sa1301247 # http://www.lecinematographe.com/CHANGEMENT-AU-VILLAGE-GAMPERALIYA_a1412.html # https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/indraka/bHZekTYXGGQ # http://www.sundaytimes.lk/130120/plus/saluting-a-quiet-talented-actor-29250.html # http://www.nation.lk/2009/02/22/world6.htm # http://www.ft.lk/article/440987/Tony-Ranasinghe--the-greatest-character-actor-and-romantic-lover-in-Sinhala-cinema # http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=25024 # http://archives.dailynews.lk/2013/02/18/fea20.asp # http://island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=127269 # http://archive.srilankamirror.com/arts/4630-golu-hadawatha-silenced-forever # https://www.pressreader.com/sri-lanka/daily-mirror-sri-lanka/20130116/281775626515292http://kottu.org/m/?post=220908 # http://kottu.org/m/?post=220908 # http://www.silumina.lk/2017/02/25 # http://archives.dinamina.lk/2013/01/16/_art.asp?fn=n13011612 # http://www.dailymirror.lk/article/Sinhala-Cinema-s-Line-of-Destiny-Re-drawn-By-Rekava-Years-Ago-121184.html # http://www.sundaytimes.lk/990425/mirror5.html # http://www.sundaytimes.lk/130421/plus/indian-influence-in-early-sri-lankan-cinema-41463.html # http://dbsjeyaraj.com/dbsj/archives/272 {{DEFAULTSORT:Bogoda, Wickrama 1940 births 2013 deaths Sri Lankan male stage actors Sri Lankan male film actors 20th-century Sri Lankan male actors Sinhalese male actors