{"id":79347,"date":"2013-03-28T06:02:55","date_gmt":"2013-03-28T06:02:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=79347"},"modified":"2013-04-14T01:06:22","modified_gmt":"2013-04-14T01:06:22","slug":"irangani-serasinghe-the-life-and-times-of-a-living-legend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/irangani-serasinghe-the-life-and-times-of-a-living-legend\/","title":{"rendered":"Irangani Serasinghe : The Life And Times Of A Living Legend"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Titled <strong>\u2018Irangani \u2026.. as told to kumardesilva\u2019<\/strong>, is a vivid autobiography of the life of this legendary and much-loved stage, screen and television actress.<\/p>\n<p>It takes readers from her carefree childhood days sailing down the Gurugoda Oya on <em>paaruwas<\/em> and the peace and quiet of Moodugomuwa, off Ruwanwella \u2026 from the Christmases and the Vesaks of her early years at the Mideeniya Walauwwa \u2026 from her school days at St. Bridget\u2019s Convent where she remembers \u201cwearing a hat with a veil to school\u201d, and later Bishop\u2019s College and its animated hostel life where the girls \u201cused to eat anything and everything at midnight feasts\u201d \u2026 to her dare-devil escapades at University when her sister Kamini and she \u201crode bicycles when good Sinhala girls were not supposed ride\u2019.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/irangani-serasinghe-the-life-and-times-of-a-living-legend\/cover-final\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-79348\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright  wp-image-79348\" title=\"COVER - FINAL\" src=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/COVER-FINAL.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"482\" height=\"656\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/COVER-FINAL.jpg 2126w, https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/COVER-FINAL-220x300.jpg 220w, https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/COVER-FINAL-752x1024.jpg 752w, https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/COVER-FINAL-800x1088.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The book also takes readers to her foray onto the stage first at University and then at the Lionel Wendt Theatre \u2026 through her two marriages, to Prof. S.B. Dissanayake and then to Winston Serasinghe \u2026 to life in Bristol and London \u2026 to her two sons Ravi and Ranjith \u2026 to \u2018Ruk Rekaganno\u2019, her the voluntary service organisation which takes the message of conservation to grass roots Sri Lanka \u2026 to the big screen and her portfolio of death-defying experiences \u2026 to the little screen where she doesn\u2019t quite enjoy \u201cacting to somebody\u2019s (off-camera) hand\u201d \u2026 and now to a premature semi-retirement at Epitamulla in Pitakotte.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI consider it a singular honour that Mrs. Serasinghe consented to my playing the role of <em>ghost writer<\/em> in this project\u201d, says well-known media personality Kumar de Silva, Chevalier in the Order of Arts and Letters. \u201cAs <em>ghost writer,<\/em> I also find myself landed in a strange dilemma in that this book is both mine and also not mine. There\u2019s a very fine line that divides these two situations which I constantly kept crossing, in what I now consider both a richly fulfilling and totally humbling experience. In retrospect, the both of us had our unforgettable moments these past two years, collaborating on this story, which I modestly hope, will soon end up as a collector\u2019s item.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen Kumar offered me the opportunity to be the publisher of Mrs. Serasinghe\u2019s biography, I knew instantly that I had been offered the chance to publish a literary gem that will be greatly appreciated by many Sri Lankans. It is certain to be one of those books which will find a permanent space in the bookshelf of every house it finds its way to. Perhaps this will become one of those books that will be handed down to the next generation as a cherished possession by booklovers\u201d, says the publisher Ranjith Samaranayake.<\/p>\n<p>Despite more than well over half a century\u2019s fame and unbroken popularity with generations of Sri Lankans, Irangani Serasinghe is still the \u201cvillage girl\u201d at heart as she seamlessly combines charm and simplicity with sheer graciousness and absolute dignity.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe village was an extremely quiet place. Now it is an entirely different story, sadly, with the sound of traffic and people. \u2026 Right through my life and even to this day, silence became, and still is, a very important part of my life \u2026&#8230; I have looked for this kind of peace and silence all my life. Unfortunately I cannot find it anywhere today\u201d, she says in her autobiography.<\/p>\n<p>Mrs Serasinghe first hit the stage 55 years ago in 1948 in the Prof. Cuthbert Amarasinghe\u2019s production of <em>The Second Mrs. Tanqueray<\/em> in 1948. \u201cThat was my first play. We were asked to come and read at the auditions. I happily ended up doing the lead role,\u201d she recalls.<\/p>\n<p>Coincidentally, this year, 2013, is significant in that the Lionel Wendt Theatre celebrates its 60<sup>th<\/sup> anniversary. Irangani Serasinghe records thus in her story \u2026.. \u201cAt that time all the plays were shown at the King George\u2019s Hall at the University of Colombo. The opening of the Lionel Wendt Theatre in December 1953 was quite an event. At the King George\u2019s Hall we had to get the lights fixed on but here we had a proper theatre with proper lights and sound. Everything was geared for proper performances. We had brand new dressing rooms and toilets too. We opened the theatre with Maxim Gorky\u2019s <em>The Lower Depths<\/em>. I played Nastya. Colombo did not have much entertainment at that time and we used to attract a really good crowd.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":79348,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[45,3,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-79347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-book-review","category-colombotelegraph","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Irangani Serasinghe : The Life And Times Of A Living Legend  - Colombo Telegraph<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/irangani-serasinghe-the-life-and-times-of-a-living-legend\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Irangani Serasinghe : The Life And Times Of A Living Legend  - 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