Rasanjana plays father’s role
Rasanjana Nandasiri, the son of veteran actor Wijeya Nandasiri, is playing the role of Jayampathi Gunasekara in the new production of the stage drama ‘Kusa Pabawathie’ which was originally played by Wijeya Nandasiri. “This is the first time Rasanjana is playing a role played by Wijeya,” Devika Mihirani, renowned stage and small screen actress and the wife of late Mr Nandasiri told Sunday Times.
Kusa Pabawathie is one of the four stage dramas produced by Wijeya in his career. It was first staged in 1982 . Wijeya had also produced other popular stage dramas such as ‘Vrushaba Raja’, ‘Harath Rajina’ and ‘Sri Gajaba’.
Wijeya who had acted various roles in all the three media films, stage dramas and teledramas won a number of awards for his performances. He had acted the role of king Maname in the Maname drama by Prof. Ediriweera Sarathchandra more than 1000 times.
Later he became popular with his roles in various comedy teledramas like ‘Nonawaruni Mahathwaruni’ and ‘Ethuma’.
The new production of ‘Kusa Pabawathie’ was staged at the Bishop’s College Auditorium on March 26 where Rasanjana Nandasiri played the role his father had acted.
The drama was also starred by well known artistes such as Devika Mihirani, Roger Seneviratna, Jayanath Bandara and Thilak Kumara Ratnayake.
The script of ‘Kusa Pabawathie’ was written by Rathnasiri Paranawithana and music was by the veteran musician Lionel Algama.