Sugath Moragahakumbura’s ‘Arundathie Man Manamalai’ today

A still from the drama ‘Arundathie Mama Manamalai’

Sugath Shantha Moragahakumbura’s drama ‘Arundathie Man Manamalai’ will be shown to the public on August 31 (Saturday) at Lumbini Theatre in Colombo. Shows will be held at 3.30 pm and 6.30 pm respectively. 

The plot for the drama revolves 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. 

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. 

The cast in the drama comprise Roshan Jayasundara, Dilhara Jayasinghe, Kulasiri Mallikarachchi, Rupa Gomes and Saman Alankara. Dancing in the drama is handled Shanu Dissanayake. 

Moragahakumbura is a journalist, author and drama producer. 

He 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.