B.A.W. Jayamanne

Biography

Bernard Aloysius Wanniarachchi Jayamanne who was better known as B.A.W. Jayamanne (20 May 1908 – 16 February 1965) was a Sri Lankan playwright, director, producer and actor.[1] He played a major role in the making of the first Sinhala film Kadawunu Poronduwa in 1947; Jayamanne achieved a level of popularity as a director with movies starring Rukmani Devi and Eddie Jayamanne in the 1950s.

PERSONAL LIFE

Aloy was born on 2 May 1908 in Periyamulla, Negombo to W. Don Thomas, a teacher at Maris Stella College. He along with younger brother Eddie formed the Minerva theater group in the 1930s and achieved some fame running plays that depicted contemporary middle class and village situations in contrast to the Tower Hall plays popular at the time which featured archaic tales of Sri Lankan kings. The Minerva dramas usually featured Rukmani Devi, Eddie and Jemini Kantha in the lead roles.

Aloy died on February 16, 1965 while making the film Magul Poruwa. It was completed by S. Ramanathan.

CINEMA CAREER

Around 1947, Aloy was approached by South Indian producer S. M. Nayagam to turn his popular play Kadawunu Poronduwa into a movie. Nayagam had noted its popularity and concluded that it would be a fairly viable investment. Although having misgivings initially, Aloy relented and the film was produced and released to commercial success in April 1947.

Aloy subsequently oversaw the adaption of a couple of his other plays before trying his hand at directing with Hadisi Vinischaya (with Mabel Blythe taking over for Jemini Kantha) in 1949. Due to the infancy of the film industry, BAW managed to dominate box office with minimal competition over the following years. Sangawunu Pilithura was released in 1951 and Umathu Wishwasaya in 1952.

Aloy had one of his biggest hits with Kele Handa in 1953; it made Sri Lankan film history as the first direct literary adaption and introduced actress Rita Ratnayake. His subsequent films include Iranganie (1954), Mathabedaya (1955, introducing actress Ruby de Mel), Daiva Vipakaya (1956), Wanaliya (1958), Hadisi Vivahaya (1959), Kawata Andare (1960), Jeewithe Pujawe (1961), Mangalika (1963) and Magul Poruwa (1967).

As a Cast

#	Film No	Year	Film	Role	Director
1	1	1947	Kadawunu Poronduwa කඩවුණු පොරොන්දුව	Main Actor	Jyotish Sinha
2	3	1948	Kapati Arakshakaya කපටි ආරක්ෂකයා	Actor	K.Subramuniyam, Jyotish Sinha
3	5	1948	Weradunu Kurumanama වැරදුනු කුරුමානම	Main Actor	Jyotish Sinha
4	7	1949	Peralena Iranama පෙරලෙන ඉරණම	Actor	Jyotish Sinha
5	9	1950	Hadisi Winishchaya හදිසි විනිශ්චය	Main Actor	Mersalin Albert, B.A.W. Jayamanne
6	11	1951	Sengawunu Pilitura සැඟවුණු පිළිතුර	Actor	B.A.W. Jayamanne
7	13	1952	Umathu Wishwasaya උමතු විශ්වාසය	Actor	B.A.W. Jayamanne
8	18	1953	Kele Handa කැලැ හඳ	Main Actor	B.A.W. Jayamanne
9	22	1954	Iranganie අයිරාංගනී	Main Actor	B.A.W. Jayamanne
10	28	1955	Mathabhedaya මතබේදය	Main Actor	B.A.W. Jayamanne
11	35	1956	Daiva Vipakaya දෛව විපාකය	Main Actor	B.A.W. Jayamanne
12	49	1958	Vanaliya වනලිය	Main Actor	B.A.W. Jayamanne
13	65	1959	Hadisi Vivahaya හදිසි විවාහය	Main Actor	B.A.W. Jayamanne
14	74	1961	Jeevitha Pujava ජීවිත පූජාව	Main Actor	B.A.W. Jayamanne
15	88	1963	Mangalika මංගලිකා	Main Actor	B.A.W. Jayamanne
16	156	1967	Magul Poruwa මගුල් පෝරුව	Main Actor	S. Ramanadhan, B.A.W. Jayamanne

As a Crew

Dialogs

#	Film No	Year	Film	Role	Director
1	1	1947	Kadawunu Poronduwa කඩවුණු පොරොන්දුව	Dialogs	Jyotish Sinha
2	3	1948	Kapati Arakshakaya කපටි ආරක්ෂකයා	Dialogs	K.Subramuniyam, Jyotish Sinha
3	5	1948	Weradunu Kurumanama වැරදුනු කුරුමානම	Dialogs	Jyotish Sinha
4	7	1949	Peralena Iranama පෙරලෙන ඉරණම	Dialogs	Jyotish Sinha
5	9	1950	Hadisi Winishchaya හදිසි විනිශ්චය	Dialogs	Mersalin Albert, B.A.W. Jayamanne
6	11	1951	Sengawunu Pilitura සැඟවුණු පිළිතුර	Dialogs	B.A.W. Jayamanne
7	13	1952	Umathu Wishwasaya උමතු විශ්වාසය	Dialogs	B.A.W. Jayamanne
8	22	1954	Iranganie අයිරාංගනී	Dialogs	B.A.W. Jayamanne
9	28	1955	Mathabhedaya මතබේදය	Dialogs	B.A.W. Jayamanne
10	156	1967	Magul Poruwa මගුල් පෝරුව	Dialogs	S. Ramanadhan, B.A.W. Jayamanne

Director

#	Film No	Year	Film	Role	Director
1	9	1950	Hadisi Winishchaya හදිසි විනිශ්චය	Director	Mersalin Albert, B.A.W. Jayamanne
2	11	1951	Sengawunu Pilitura සැඟවුණු පිළිතුර	Director	B.A.W. Jayamanne
3	13	1952	Umathu Wishwasaya උමතු විශ්වාසය	Director	B.A.W. Jayamanne
4	18	1953	Kele Handa කැලැ හඳ	Director	B.A.W. Jayamanne
5	22	1954	Iranganie අයිරාංගනී	Director	B.A.W. Jayamanne
6	28	1955	Mathabhedaya මතබේදය	Director	B.A.W. Jayamanne
7	35	1956	Daiva Vipakaya දෛව විපාකය	Director	B.A.W. Jayamanne
8	49	1958	Vanaliya වනලිය	Director	B.A.W. Jayamanne
9	65	1959	Hadisi Vivahaya හදිසි විවාහය	Director	B.A.W. Jayamanne
10	69	1960	Kavata Andare කවට අන්දරේ	Director	B.A.W. Jayamanne
11	74	1961	Jeevitha Pujava ජීවිත පූජාව	Director	B.A.W. Jayamanne
12	88	1963	Mangalika මංගලිකා	Director	B.A.W. Jayamanne
13	156	1967	Magul Poruwa මගුල් පෝරුව	Director	S. Ramanadhan, B.A.W. Jayamanne

Editor

#	Film No	Year	Film	Role	Director
1	22	1954	Iranganie අයිරාංගනී	Editor	B.A.W. Jayamanne

Producer

#	Film No	Year	Film	Role	Director
1	9	1950	Hadisi Winishchaya හදිසි විනිශ්චය	Producer	Mersalin Albert, B.A.W. Jayamanne
2	11	1951	Sengawunu Pilitura සැඟවුණු පිළිතුර	Producer	B.A.W. Jayamanne
3	13	1952	Umathu Wishwasaya උමතු විශ්වාසය	Producer	B.A.W. Jayamanne
4	18	1953	Kele Handa කැලැ හඳ	Producer	B.A.W. Jayamanne
5	22	1954	Iranganie අයිරාංගනී	Producer	B.A.W. Jayamanne
6	28	1955	Mathabhedaya මතබේදය	Producer	B.A.W. Jayamanne
7	35	1956	Daiva Vipakaya දෛව විපාකය	Producer	B.A.W. Jayamanne
8	49	1958	Vanaliya වනලිය	Producer	B.A.W. Jayamanne
9	65	1959	Hadisi Vivahaya හදිසි විවාහය	Producer	B.A.W. Jayamanne
10	69	1960	Kavata Andare කවට අන්දරේ	Producer	B.A.W. Jayamanne
11	74	1961	Jeevitha Pujava ජීවිත පූජාව	Producer	B.A.W. Jayamanne

Script

#	Film No	Year	Film	Role	Director
1	1	1947	Kadawunu Poronduwa කඩවුණු පොරොන්දුව	Script	Jyotish Sinha
2	3	1948	Kapati Arakshakaya කපටි ආරක්ෂකයා	Script	K.Subramuniyam, Jyotish Sinha
3	5	1948	Weradunu Kurumanama වැරදුනු කුරුමානම	Script	Jyotish Sinha
4	7	1949	Peralena Iranama පෙරලෙන ඉරණම	Script	Jyotish Sinha
5	13	1952	Umathu Wishwasaya උමතු විශ්වාසය	Script	B.A.W. Jayamanne
6	28	1955	Mathabhedaya මතබේදය	Script	B.A.W. Jayamanne
7	156	1967	Magul Poruwa මගුල් පෝරුව	Script	S. Ramanadhan, B.A.W. Jayamanne

Story

#	Film No	Year	Film	Role	Director
1	1	1947	Kadawunu Poronduwa කඩවුණු පොරොන්දුව	Story	Jyotish Sinha
2	3	1948	Kapati Arakshakaya කපටි ආරක්ෂකයා	Story	K.Subramuniyam, Jyotish Sinha
3	5	1948	Weradunu Kurumanama වැරදුනු කුරුමානම	Story	Jyotish Sinha
4	7	1949	Peralena Iranama පෙරලෙන ඉරණම	Story	Jyotish Sinha
5	9	1950	Hadisi Winishchaya හදිසි විනිශ්චය	Story	Mersalin Albert, B.A.W. Jayamanne
6	11	1951	Sengawunu Pilitura සැඟවුණු පිළිතුර	Story	B.A.W. Jayamanne
7	13	1952	Umathu Wishwasaya උමතු විශ්වාසය	Story	B.A.W. Jayamanne
8	22	1954	Iranganie අයිරාංගනී	Story	B.A.W. Jayamanne
9	49	1958	Vanaliya වනලිය	Story	B.A.W. Jayamanne
10	69	1960	Kavata Andare කවට අන්දරේ	Story	B.A.W. Jayamanne