Bogoda Appuhamilage Don Wickrama Bogoda (; June 16, 1940 – January 15, 2013), popularly as Wickrama Bogoda, was an actor in Sri Lankan cinema and theater. Primarily known for character acting in both in stage plays and movies. plays, Bogoda has performed in many theater plays and over 15 selected movies over two decades from 1960 to 1985. His role in Movie Golu Hadawatha made his acting sensational
Early life
He was born on June 16, 1940, to a middle-class family during the war years. His father worked in the Ceylon Electricity Board and his mother was a school teacher. In a family of three children, he was the eldest, with one brother and two sisters. Bogoda studied in the Dharmapala Vidyalaya, Pannipitiya. He never had any inclination to be an actor and did not have an atmosphere at home or influence for acting. During the school life, being a sports enthusiast, he was a member of the school's Army Cadet team. His father encouraged him to concentrate on studies and gain an opportunity for a respectable government job. As a result of his father's claim, after the Higher School Certificate (HSC) examination, Bogoda joined the Bank of Ceylon.
In the 1960s, when he was about to leave the school, the principal of his school directed him to play in a school drama. During that time, The Merchant of Venice was a popular stage-drama and used in literature and theater performance education. Bogoda played the character of Shylock. It became his first step for acting in a stage drama.
Early career
During his employment in the Bank of Ceylon, he met the Sri Lankan playwright and novelist Sugathapala de Silva who led the drama group Apey Kattiya (Our Clan), a group of young artists known for adapting stage plays in the early 60s. Bogoda became a close associate of Sugathapala De Silva and members of the drama group. The group included notable people such as Tony Ranasinghe and Simon Navagattegama, were the most noted young theatre artists and peers of Bogoda in the early 60s. Their common meeting place was the Lion House restaurant and cafe in Bambalapitiya
Sugathapala de Silva wrote the stage-play Bodinkārayo (Boarders) which became a well-known stage-play in 60s. De Silva invited Bogoda to play a character in Bodinkārayo. One day, Sugathapala De Silva invited Lester James Peries to watch his stage-play. It was an unexpected opportunity for Bogoda, who at the time, was 21 years old. Dr Peries, noticing Bogoda's latent talent, decided to give him a leading role in his forthcoming film Gamperaliya (Transforming village) in 1963.
Role of Thissa in Gamperaliya
At the age of 21, Bogoda made his screen debut, under the direction of veteran film director Dr. Lester James Peiris, in the film Gamperaliya (Transforming Village). The film, is based on a novel, Gamperaliya written by veteran Sri Lankan novelist Martin Wickramasinghe in 1944 and later story followed by two versions as Kaliyugaya (Modern Era) and Yuganthya (End of an Era). Lester James Peiris directed these movies based on these three novels. Bogoda has the continuous opportunity to act in these 3 movies as the character, Thissa. Thissa is the youngest boy of a colonized and privileged family around which the stories are centralized. Thissa symbolizes the changes and subsequent adoption to the modern era who becomes radicalized and rejects the old colonized, traditional, and cultural practices. Gamperaliya gave Bogoda a warm debut, since the film was shown internationally and the novels were popular literature of Sri Lanka.
Role of Sugath in Golu Hadawatha
The movie Goluhadawatha gave Bogoda an opportunity to enter into the movie field. Golu Hadawatha (Silence of the Heart) was also based on a popular romantic novel about a relationship between teenage boy and a girl studying in the same class of their school. Karunasena Jayalath wrote this novel in 1962 based on his school life experiences. Lester James Peiris directed the novel into a motion-picture in 1967 from an original script by Piyasiri Gunaratne. Reggie Siriwardena also worked on the script.