A drama that shows vulnerability of parents and strength of LGBT male

A still from the drama ‘Arundathie Mama Manamalai’ 

Sugath Shantha Moragahakumbura’s drama ‘ Arundathie Mama Manamalai’ continues to pull at the heartstrings of the audience. He is set to show another series of his drama on June 2 (Sunday) at the Lanka Mahila Samithi Auditorium in Malabe. The  times for the shows have been set for 3.30 pm and 6.30 pm. 

The plot for the drama resolves around a boarding house where the land lady is the decision maker, but like most mothers is unaware of children’s interests and needs in life. The landlady has a daughter and the latter has to deal with a LGBT male (name of this character is Malinga) who occupies a room at the boarding. The landlady’s daughter is not happy with the way Malinga makes love to her. She attempts to find a quick solution to the problem through a young tuition master who enters the boarding house as a new tenant. 

The daughter (the name of the character is Arundathie) requests the tuition master to teach Malinga the art of making  love. However Malinga remains a flop in this department. Arundathie later elopes with the tuition master (name of the character is Suranga). Moragahakumbura makes an attempt in the drama to show how passionate LGBT individuals are about

relationships and that they too can take loads of responsibilities in society. This film director underscores that an LGBT individual has the makings to receive equal status as any normal male or female in the society. All these ideologies of the drama director surfaces when  Malinga eventually says that even though Arundathie might return with several children from her association with Suranga that he is ready to take her back as his life partner. The dad in the drama (the name of the character is Richard) responds to this statement by Malinga by saying that his wife (the landlady/ name of the character is Hilda) has found a good ‘customer’ or  tenant. These words go on to show to the society how shortsighted parents can be and how restricted thoughts don’t allow an individual to focus beyond finding a means of living 30 days of the month. 

This drama was first staged at the Lumbini theatre on October 7  last year. According to Moragahakumbura, he has been receiving positive responses via Facebook from those who have watched his drama. One of the yardsticks for success of a drama according to Moragahakumbura is a patron returning to watch the drama for a second time or coming again to the theatre tagging along a friend. This series of his drama is sponsored by Priyan Greshitha on behalf of Kavindi Production. The cast in the drama comprise Roshan Jayasundara, Dilhara Jayasinghe, Kulasiri Mallikarachchi, Rupa Gomes and Nishan Sampath. 

Moragahakumbura is a journalist, author and drama producer and has even made a short film titled ‘Christmas Gift’ which came in for much praise. Some of the other theatrical productions of Moragahakumbura are ‘ Vilanguwa’, ‘Dharmistala’ and ‘ Minissu’. He was the associate editor of Nawaliya (A newspaper catering to female readership) before he retired from his editorial job in 2022 after completing 32 years in mainstream media.