Anoja Weerasinghe

Anoja Weerasinghe (Sinhala: ) is an award-winning Sri Lankan film actress.[1][2][3]

Career
Weerasinghe rose to popularity in cinema after winning the Silver Peacock Award for the Best Actress at the New Delhi International Film Festival in 1987 for the film Maldeniye Simion, directed by D.B. Nihalsinghe.[4]

Known As : Anoja Weerasinghe Real Name : Anoja Weerasinghe First Released : Monarathenna 1979 Latest Released : Yakada Pihatu2003

Biography Anoja Weerasinghe comes from the hinterlands of Sri Lanka and spent her early years in a completely rural environment. On reaching adulthood, she migrated to the capital, Colombo, and became involved in acting on both stage and screen. Today Anoja is one of the countrys best known and most popular actresses, showered with National and International laurels for her skills. Anoja's first role on screen was a 30 second appearance in TAK TIK TUK in 1978. Since then she has gone on to work in the popular cinema, portraying the romantic heroine with as much ease as she plays the harried village wife, appearing in over 80 films so far and capturing the hearts and the imagination of film-goers both locally and internationally. As Anoja says, it is her experience of life in a village community which has enriched and enhanced her understanding of life in general. It has also enabled her to play the roles of village women in a convincing and down-to-earth manner. Her adaptation to urban life came later on and today she straddles both worlds, urban and rural, simple and sophisticated, with equal ease and finesse. In 1987, Anoja was awarded the Silver Peacock for Best Actress at the 11th International Film Festival held in Delhi India, for her portrayal of the dual roles of mother and daughter in D B Nihalsinghe's MALDENIYAE SIMEON. Her sensitive performances of the roles of these two quite different women within one film also won accolades for her within Sri Lanka, including the prestigious President's Award. Anoja went on to play leading roles in a series of outstanding films in Sri Lanka and continued to win praise from film critics and popular audiences alike. Over and over again she proved that she

was able to take on any challenge that was thrown her way as an actress, playing the role of a farming woman as well as she did that of an urbanized woman, playing a young debutante with the same ease with which she played a politician's middle-aged mistress. Having attained such heights with no formal training, in 1989 Anoja enrolled at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) and was awarded a Diploma on the successful completion of her course of studies there. Following the completion of her diploma at LAMDA Anoja completed a special course on acting at the Drama Studio London. Since 1990 to date Anoja has been receiving advanced training under the expert tutelage of Sue Weston in Movement, Stress & anger Management and Balancing. Anoja has received special voice training under Barbara Housemann of the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford upon Avon, and been trained further in the Western style of singing by Theresia Vanzethema. Her expertise in North Indian Classical singing has come from the training she has received from Sangeeth Nipun Manjula Seneviratne & Prof. K K Kapoor of Lucknow University in India.

Not only did this decision to undergo formal training demonstrate the seriousness with which Anoja herself treats her profession, it has also enhanced her performances in depth of understanding as well as in style. Over the years, Anoja has received many awards for acting as well as for her overall contribution to the cinema, both within Sri Lanka and abroad. She acknowledges this not only as a recognition of her talent and skill as an actress but also as a recognition of Sri Lankan cinema. Anoja says her success has been in part an achievement of one of her dreams which is to work towards the development of Sri Lankan cinema and to see it honoured among its peers worldwide. In 1990, she was honoured with the Kohinoor Award presented by the Governor of Tamilnadu. In Sri Lanka, the state has awarded her the Kala Shuri, a lifetime achievement award. In 1994, NETPAC and the Asian Film Centre organized a Tribute to her work in New Delhi. India. In 1995, the state governments of Kerala and West Bengal organized a retrospective of Anoja's films at the International Film Festivals held within their stales In July 1996. Following this there was a retrospective of her films at the Munich International Film Festival. It is Anoja's intelligence, combined with her keen understanding of the complexity of the human psyche and her deep awareness of what it means to be a woman in contemporary society that enables her to recreate characters on screen in a realistic and emotive manner. This is also what makes it possible for her to transcend national boundaries and reach out to film audiences all over the world. Within Sri Lanka, her contributions to the industry as a film producer has demonstrated her commitment to the development of the indigenous film industry.

In modern Sri Lankan cinema, Anoja is perhaps the actress who has received most acclaim outside her own shores. For instance the retrospective in Munich marked the first occasion on which a Sri Lankan actress has been thus honoured. Her retrospectives are perhaps the best acknowledgement of the respect that Anoja Weerasinghe has earned for her work in cinema throughout the world. Main Actress / Actress No 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) 7) 8) 9) 10 ) 11 ) 12 ) 13 ) 14 ) 15 ) 16 ) 17 ) 18 ) 19 ) 20 ) 21 ) 22 ) 23 ) 24 ) 25 ) 26 ) Year Name 1993 Gurugedara 1995 Seilama 1993 Surabidena 1986 Maldeniye Simiyon 1991 Kelimadala 1986 Maldeniye Simiyon 2003 Yakada Pihatu 2002 Thahanam Gaha 1987 Janelaya 1995 Vijey Saha Ajey 1982 Kele Mal 1983 Pasamithuro 1998 Julietge Boomikawa 1989 Obata Rahasak Kiyannam 1989 Sinasenna Raththaran 1989 Randenigala Sinhaya 1989 Sirimadura 1990 Yukthiyata Wada 1990 Pem Rajadahana 1988 Newatha Api Ekwemu 1999 Anduru Sewaneli 1990 Veera Udara 1981 Geethika 1981 Aradhana 1984 Hithawathiya 1987 Ahinsa Hithata Dukak Nathi 27 ) 1991 Miniha 28 ) 1989 Mamai Raja 29 ) 2003 Pura Sakmana Character Director Vijaya Darma Sri H.D. Premarathna Chandrarathna Mapitigama D.B. Nihalsinghe D.B. Nihalsinghe D.B. Nihalsinghe Udayakantha Warnasuriya Christy Shelton Fernando Chandran Rutnam Roy De Silva Sunil Ariyarathna Ananda Hewage Jackson Anthony Sunil Soma Peiris Sunil Soma Peiris Ranjith Siriwardhana Parakrama Niriella Sunil Soma Peiris Dayananda Jayawardhana Anura De Silva Ranga Wijendra Shirley P. Wijeratne Yasapalitha Nanayakkara Vijaya Darma Sri Camilus Perera Malani Fonseka Dinesh Priyasad Sunil Soma Peiris Tikiri Rathnayaka

30 ) 31 ) 32 ) 33 ) 34 ) 35 ) 36 ) 37 ) 38 ) 39 ) 40 )

1986 Peralikarayo 1981 Amme Mata Samawenna 1979 Monarathenna 1980 Tak Tik Tuk 1983 Kaliyugaya 1983 Hasthi Viyaruva 1992 Raja Daruwo 1987 Hitha Hoda chandiya 1987 Sathyagrahanaya 1987 Kele Kella 1988 Ko Hathuro

Dinesh Priyasad W. Wilfred Silva Yasapalitha Nanayakkara Yasapalitha Nanayakkara Dr. Lester James Peries H.D. Premarathna Ranjith Siriwardhana D.B. Warnasiri Bernard Reginold Sunil T. Fernando

Producer No 1) 2) 3) Year Name 1982 Kele Mal 1989 Obata Rahasak Kiyannam 1991 Kelimadala Character Director Sunil Ariyarathna Sunil Soma Peiris D.B. Nihalsinghe

Anoja's role as 'Mother Courage'

DRAMA: Henry Jayasena's landmark Sinhala adaptation of Bertolt Brecht's seminal anti-war drama, "Mother Courage and Her Children," with a cast largely comprising tsunami affected youth, will go on the boards at the end of March 2006 at the Lionel Wendt. The play will feature award-winning veteran screen and stage actress Anoja Weerasinghe in the lead. The play will take place at the Wendt from March 31 to April 2. Brecht's play follows the story of Anna Frieling, nicknamed 'Mother Courage', a clever, devious canteen woman with the Swedish Army determined to make her living from the war. Over the course of the play, she loses all three of her children, Swiss Cheese, Eilif, and Kattrin, to the same war from which she sought to profit. It is one of nine plays that Brecht wrote in an attempt to counter the rise of Fascism and Nazism. Following Brecht's principles for political drama, the play is set during the Thirty Years War of 1618-1648 and not in modern times. The play, directed by Sue Weston and produced under the banner of Anoja Weerasinghe's Abhina Academy of Performing Arts is sponsored by HSBC. HSBC teamed with Weerasinghe's Abhina Foundation last year to sponsor and help run a series of psycho-social drama workshops, where the veteran actress and her group toured all parts of the island, running theatre-based workshops for those traumatized by disaster and conflict. Workshops were held in the South, East and West of Sri Lanka at 10 centres which drew crowds of children and youth, who were given constructive tools with which to deal with loss, grief,

trauma and anger through drama, showing them a road to inner healing and peace through drama therapy and performance art, effectively giving them catharsis through theatre. On witnessing these children and youth now, it is hard to imagine what they would have been going through, their road to healing through drama showing great promise. The workshops took place during a span of three months in the latter part of 2005. From the large pool of potential talent that attended these workshops, Weerasinghe hand picked 21 of the most promising actors, and brought them to Colombo for an intense, advanced onemonth workshop in December. As a culmination of this workshop, HSBC supported the Abhina Academy in the decision to stage a full length play, "Mother Courage and Her Children," in which the members of the workshop will be prominently featured. For Abhina, this would be their second theatre project using tsunami-affected participants, the other being Edinburgh Festival award-winning "Children of the Sea," which is currently touring Sri Lanka following its successful run in Scotland. In staging a full-length play like "Mother Courage," widely considered to be one of the most influential works of drama of the 20th century, Abhina and HSBC feel it would be a fitting way to expose the talented members of the workshops to theatre. And in a gesture that could impact their future, it was decided that Anoja Weerasinghe herself take a role in the play, so they would have the chance of playing opposite a professional actor. Two other actors from the Sinhala theatre are also playing in "Mother Courage," giving the youth a chance to perform to their full potential on the same stage with an experienced professional. It would also give mass audiences a chance to see the wealth of talent unearthed from the country's rural areas, and also befitting for the children and youth to be recognised for their talents on a wider platform than in their own village or town forums. Sue Weston, Weerasinghe's own drama teacher at LAMDA to direct, the organizers felt would give the play the weight, high standard and treatment it deserved. Anoja Weerasinghe's Abhina workshops proved ideal for bringing emotional and mental healing through drama to a large number of those affected by the mass destruction wreaked by the tsunami. Speaking at a recent press conference held at the Galle Face Hotel to announce her latest attempt with the tsunami affected children, Anoja said: "Children of the Sea", the maiden drama I produced with the tsunami affected children forced me to make "Mother Courage and Her Children" as the second production of my Abhina Academy. It is sad to note that most of those who dealt with the tsunami victims treated these unfortunates as those possessed of a 'begging mentality'. But really what they needed was love and encouragement to build their lives back and not compassion.

"Not only Sri Lanka but the whole world today is facing a war risk. I thought that this is the most suitable time to bring back "Mother Courage and Her Children" to the Sri Lankan audience, which was earlier produced by veteran dramatist Henry Jayasena", she said. Veteran dramatist Henry Jayasena, offering his heartiest wishes and blessings to Anoja for her latest attempt said: "From Anoja's point of view, I am a Brecht specialist. But I am not so. However I have made two plays out of Brecht's books. When I was doing "Chalk Circle" (Hunuwataye Kathawa), there were two Germanies - West and East. 'There is enough war in this world'. This was the simple theory focused by Brecht through his plays and he observed it as a 'stupid' thing. However, he could not raise his voice for long as he was jailed by Hitler. During one of my visits to Germany I met, Brecht's wife Helen Wigel. The role of Mother Courage was found by my wife Manel Jayasena. Since she is not living, I believe, Anoja may have done justice to the character played by her".

Healing wounded minds "Mother Courage and Her Children" adapted to Sinhala by veteran playwright Henry Jayasena, will be staged with a large number of cast from the Tsunami affected, and with veteran screen and stage actress Anoja Weerasinghe, playing the lead role as Anna Frieling, from March 31 to April 02 at the Lionel Wendt Theatre. by Ranga Chandrarathne One of the monumental works of world-renowned German playwright Bertolt Brecht's "Mother courage and Her children" which Brecht wrote, to counter the rise of Fascism and Nazism at the time, will go on board from March 31 to April 02 at the Lionel Wendt theatre. The play, which was adapted to Sinhala by veteran playwright Henry Jayasena, will be staged with a large number of cast from the Tsunami affected, and with veteran screen and stage actress Anoja Weerasinghe, playing the lead role as Anna Frieling. The play is directed by Sue Weston and produced by Anoja Weerasinghe's Abhina Academy of Performing Arts. It is intended to heal the traumatized minds of the Tsunami affected, and is sponsored by HSBC. The drama is woven around the story of a clever canteen woman Anna Frieling, nicknamed " Mother Courage", who intends to make a living from the war. In the course of her journey through shattered landscapes of war, she loses her three children, Swiss Cheese, Eilif and Kattrin. The play is set against the backdrop of thirty years of war from 1618-1648, and not in the modern time, but is universal in character, which could easily fit into any calamity and is therefore, the most suited play for the Tsunami affected.

"The biggest business in the wars could not be made from the poor people," says Anna Frieling. The drama was first produced in Switzerland in 1939, and is considered as one of the best works of the playwright and one of the powerful anti-war dramas in history. The monumental work encompasses thirty years of war, which started from the outbreak of the Second World War and Brecht completed it in exile. The play is based on two works by Hans Jacob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen: his 1669 novel, Simplicissimus, and his 1670 play, Courage: An Adventuress. Most critics believe that it is a masterpiece of Brecht's concept of Epic Theatre. Concept In this concept, the spectators are expected to view the play with complete detachment, a technique called " alienation", reminding the viewers that they are watching a play and should not emotionally attach themselves with the characters in the play. The devices such as short, self-contained scenes that prevent cathartic climax, songs and card slogans that interrupt and explain forthcoming action, and detached acting are used to ward off audience identification. The playwright wanted the audience to view the play critically, objectively and to assess the war on an empirical level. However, Brecht thought that as the play was based on 'Thirty years of war', which occurred three centuries earlier, the audience would watch it objectively. Brecht re-wrote the play for 1949 East German production, with the intention of minimizing an emotional response from the audience, but since its debut decades ago, " Mother courage and Her children " still remains as the most potent and powerful anti-war drama. The play The play opens in Dalarna, a province of Sweden, in 1624 during the Thirty Year's War. The Swedish army is recruiting for a campaign in Poland. Mother Courage runs a canteen wagon that follows the army and sells the soldiers drink and items of clothing. A Recruiting Officer and a Sergeant are trying to find troops for the Swedish Army. They see Eilif, one of Mother Courage's sons, and try to recruit him. When Mother Courage prevents them, the Sergeant feigns interest in one of her belts. While she negotiates with him, the Recruiting Officer pulls Eilif away from her and signs him up for the army. Mother Courage follows the army into Poland, accompanied by her younger son Swiss Cheese and her mute daughter Kattrin. She enters the Commander's tent and tries to sell the cook a capon for dinner. The cook haggles with her over the price. Suddenly she overhears her son's voice talking with the Commander. Eilif is being honoured for having killed some peasants and stolen their cattle. She manages to sell her bird to the cook for a high sum, and then sees her son again. Eilif

embraces her, but she boxes him and tells him that the next time he encounters peasants he should surrender when they surround him (instead of fighting and killing them all). Three years later Mother Courage is still with the regiment. The Catholic Army attacks and wins, forcing her to switch flags. Swiss Cheese, who has become the payroll master for the army, foolishly hides the moneybox in her wagon. The Chaplain of the Protestant regiment joins Mother Courage and pretends to be a Catholic. After several days he and Mother Courage leave to conduct business. Swiss Cheese decides that he should hide the moneybox somewhere else, but when he does so Catholic spies watch him carefully. They arrest him and bring him back to Mother Courage, who has returned to her wagon and discovered that Swiss Cheese has left. She realizes that his life is in danger and pretends not to know him. They take Swiss Cheese away to interrogate him. Yvette Pottier, a prostitute in the army, arrives with a Colonel in tow. Mother Courage gets Yvette to buy her wagon for a large sum of money. She then sends Yvette to the Catholics in the hope that she can bribe one of the soldiers to release Swiss Cheese. However, she bargains too long and Yvette returns to the wagon and tells her that Swiss Cheese is dead with eleven bullet holes in him. The soldiers bring his body to Mother Courage, who must again deny knowing the man. She then goes to complain to a sergeant about the way the troops ruined her goods and charged her a fine for nothing. While in the tent waiting to complain, a soldier arrives, who has been cheated out of his reward. He tells her that his sergeant kept the reward money and spent it on whores and alcohol. Mother Courage explains to him that unless his anger is "long", he might as well capitulate and realize that his spirit has already been broken, and that there is nothing he can do about it. She succeeds in convincing him to give up his anger, but realizes that her own complaint is just as worthless. She leaves without complaining. Mother Courage is in a small town where the war is being fought. Several peasants need bandages, but she refuses to give them any. The Chaplain, who is still with her, forcefully enters her wagon and rips up some good shirts for bandages. The Commander of the regiment eventually gets killed and the soldiers spend the day drinking instead of attending his funeral. The Chaplain tells Mother Courage that the war will not end and that she should add more supplies while they are still cheap. As a result, she sends Kattrin into the town to buy supplies. Kattrin returns with lots of goods, but with a nasty scar on her face where she was hurt on the way home. Mother Courage patches up her daughter, but tells the Chaplain that it is doubtful Kattrin will ever be able to marry now. Financially ruined

Unfortunately for Mother Courage, peace does in fact arrive, meaning that she is financially ruined. She is, however, happy that she will get to see Eilif again. The cook from earlier in the play arrives and he gets into an argument with the Chaplain, where both men vie for Mother Courage's favour. The Cook suggests that Mother Courage should sell her goods before the prices drop too much, due to the peace. Yvette Pottier shows up again and she and Mother Courage go to sell the goods. Eilif is brought on stage in chains. He tells the Chaplain and the cook that he killed some peasants again in order to take their cattle, but since it was during peace time, he got arrested. He does not get to see his mother, and the Chaplain accompanies him to be executed. Mother Courage arrives back soon thereafter, with the news that the war has actually started again, but that they did not know it. The cook does not tell her that Eilif has been executed. The cook remains with the wagon for two years until he receives a letter that his mother has died and left him a small inn to take care of. He tries to get Mother Courage to accompany him, but since he refuses to take Kattrin along, she turns him down. While he is eating in a parsonage, she dumps his stuff on the ground and drives off with Kattrin. Two years later Mother Courage is near the town of Halle, in which she is buying goods for her wagon. Kattrin remains with the wagon near a farmhouse. Some soldiers arrive from the Catholic army and seize the peasants in the farmhouse along with Kattrin. They force one of the peasants to lead them silently into town. The remaining peasants go up on the roof and realize that the army is going to slaughter the townspeople. They kneel to pray, and Kattrin stays behind them and listens. During the prayer she suddenly goes and gets a drum out of the wagon and climbs up on the roof. She starts beating the drum and pulls the ladder up with her to prevent them from stopping her. Her noise brings back the soldiers. They first try to bribe her down by offering to protect her mother. Next, they threaten to shoot her. She refuses to stop beating the drum even when they get a gun and aim at her. Kattrin beats louder and harder until they shoot her down. However, the noise that she made successfully wakes up the town and allows it to defend its walls and to use its cannon. The next day Mother Courage pays the peasants to bury her daughter. She then says that she must get back into business. Hearing a regiment pass by, she harnesses herself to the front of the wagon and pulls the wagon off stage. The play is produced by Anoja Weerasingha's Abhina Academy of Performing Arts under the HSBC sponsored Tsunami rehabilitation programme "Trauma to Triumph". HSBC also sponsored Abhina to conduct a series of psychosocial drama workshops, which were held in diverse parts of the country, for those traumatized by disaster and conflict. From the large

pool of talented participants, Anoja Weerasinghe had chosen 21 of the most promising actors and brought them to Colombo for further training. The HSBC sponsored the Sinhala adaptation of the play "Mother Courage and Her children" which will prominently display the talented actors drawn from the Tsunami affected. Mother Courage - Anoja Weerasinghe, Kattrin-Shamila Tilani, Eilif-Kamal Amila, Swiss Cheese-Kosala Sandaruwan, Cook-Nimal Jayasinghe, Chaplain- Sunimal Perera, Yvette Pottier P.H.Prashanthi, Recruiting Officer /Soldier with female court / Young man - Sanjeewan Gunetileke, General/man with patch /Lieutenant - Anura Nanayakkara, Sergeant/Soldier Poopalasingham Pradeepan, Sergeant / Soldier - V Murugadas, Soldier with canon/ Young Soldier /Singing Soldier - Geeth Ranatunga, Army clerk/Soldier - Dinesh Chathuranga , Young Peasant/ Story teller / soldier - L.A.Venuka, Peasant woman/ Singer - Madumali Videshika , Peasant woman / Soldier - K.V.M Harshika, Peasant man - Sarath de Silva and Yvette's Colonel - Jerome Anthony are playing the main roles in the play. Apart from being a healing tool and potent anti-war drama, the Sinhala adaptation of " Mother Courage and Her Children" will give the general public an opportunity to watch a masterpiece in Sri Lankan theatre.