Chithra Balasuriya | |
|---|---|
චිත්රා බාලසූරිය | |
| Born | 1931 British Ceylon |
| Died | 30 November 2025(2025-11-30) (aged 94) Colombo, Sri Lanka |
| Occupation |
|
| Years active | 1965–1970 |
| Awards | Best Film Producer |
Chithra Balasuriya (Sinhala: චිත්රා බාලසූරිය; 1931 – 30 November 2025) was a Sri Lankan film producer.[1][2] He produced two blockbuster films Parasathu Mal and Thunman Handiya, which were ranked as two of the top 10 Sri Lankan films ever released by the Sri Lanka Film Critics Association.[3][4]
Career
During his youth, Balasuriya volunteered to help out at a photo studio in Gampaha owned by a close friend of his parents. After working at the studio for few years, he established his own photo studio, Chithra Photo, in 1964.[5] During this period, he met his schoolmate Lionel Algama, a renowned musician.[6] Later, Balasuriya had the opportunity to co-op with Dayananda Gunawardena and Mahagama Sekara frequently with the help of Algama.[7] They encouraged Balasuriya to produce a film, where he made close contact with actor Dharmadasa Kuruppu to find a good script for the film.[5] Balasuriya went with Kuruppu to meet P. K. D. Seneviratne, who wrote the scripts of two films: Kurulu Bedda and Sikuru Tharuwa. After two weeks, Seneviratne made the script and handed over to Balasuriya.[5] Then he met blockbuster award winning filmmaker Lester James Peries to direct the film, but was later denied due to Peries' busy schedule.[8] Then he met actor Gamini Fonseka to direct the film, which was successful.[4][7] The film Parasathu Mal was screened in 1966 after one year of shooting at the Agra mansion,[5] where director Fonseka, Punya Heendeniya, Tony Ranasinghe, D. R. Nanayakkara and newcomer Anula Karunathilaka played the lead and supportive roles.[9]
The film went on to become a blockbuster, where Balasuriya won the award for the Best Producer at the 3rd United Lanka Fans Society Award Ceremony held at the Ananda College Hall, Colombo on 22 January 1968.[8] In 1967, the film won the award for fourth Best Film at 4th Sarasaviya Awards. In 1968, the film won the Best Film Award at the 2nd Swarna Sanka Award Ceremony.[10]
After the blockbuster, Balasuriya produced the film Thunman Handiya which was written and directed by Mahagama Sekera in 1970.[5][7][11] Even though the film was a commercial failure, the film received positive reviews from critics. In 1971, Balasuriya won the award for Best Film at the Fourth Critics' Choice Awards.[8] The film later won the award for best film of the 1970s at the 7th Honorary Film Awards Ceremony of the Sri Lanka National Catholic Film Forum held on 3 March 1980 at the Colombo Women's College Hall.[8][12]
In 1972, the Sri Lanka Film Critics Association released their own ranking of the ten best Sri Lankan films ever released, where Parasathu Mal was ranked fifth and Thunman Handiya was ranked fourth.[8] In 1997, the National Film Corporation of Sri Lanka made their own ranking of the best films of the past fifty years with the participation of thirty-two film critics and writers, where Parasathu Mal was ranked tenth and Thunman Handiya was ranked sixth.[8]
Filmography
| Year | Film | Ref. |
|---|---|---|
| 1966 | Parasathu Mal | [10][13][14] |
| 1970 | Thun Man Handiya | [12] |
Death
Balasuriya died on 30 November 2025 at the age of 94.[4][15] His remains were laid to rest at 9 am in his residence at Bellanwila Colonel Mawatha.[7] His funeral was held on 1 December 2025 at the Nedimala Cemetery.[3]
References
- ^ "Chithra Balasooriya". films.lk. Retrieved 13 February 2021.
- ^ "Parasathumal re-screened". Daily News. 2005. Archived from the original on 17 February 2005. Retrieved 28 March 2009.
- ^ a b "පරසතුමල් තුංමංහන්දිය නිෂ්පාදක චිත්රා බාලසූරිය දිවිසැරිය නිම කරයි". divaina.lk. Retrieved 13 February 2021.
- ^ a b c "චිත්රා බාලසූරිය දිවි රග මඩලින් සමුගනී". lankadeepa.lk. Retrieved 13 February 2021.
- ^ a b c d e "The blossoming of 'Parasathu mal'". sundaytimes.lk. Retrieved 13 February 2021.
- ^ "'සඳකත් පිනිදිය'සමඟින් ලයනල් අල්ගම සූරීන්ගේ අනූවැනි ජන්ම දිනය සැමරේ". sarasaviya.lk. Retrieved 13 February 2021.
- ^ a b c d "ප්රවීණ චිත්රපට නිෂ්පාදක චිත්රා බාලසූරිය අභාවප්රාප්ත වෙයි!". mirrorarts.lk. Retrieved 13 February 2021.
- ^ a b c d e f "විශිෂ්ට සිනමා කෘති නිපද වූ චිත්ර බාලසූරිය දිවි සැරිය නිමා කරයි". sarasaviya.lk. Retrieved 13 February 2021.
- ^ "Parasathu Mal / පරසතු මල්". films.lk. Retrieved 13 February 2021.
- ^ a b "Parasathu Mal / පරසතු මල් [ Black & White 35 mm ]". films.lk. Retrieved 13 February 2021.
- ^ "Mahagama Sekara". 20 October 2012.
- ^ a b "Thunman Handiya / තුන්මන් හන්දිය [ Black & White 35mm ]". films.lk. Retrieved 13 February 2021.
- ^ "The western sky fades to red paintings". Sarasaviya. 25 September 2019. Retrieved 23 January 2021.
- ^ "PARASATHU MAL -(Flowers that belong to someone else)". lankaweb.com. Retrieved 23 January 2021.
- ^ "චිත්රා බාලසූරිය මහතා අභාවප්රාප්ත වෙයි". vishvavahini.com. Retrieved 13 February 2021.
External links
- Chithra Balasuriya at IMDb
