ARIYARATNE KAHAWITA The fervent film fan

The 18th death anniversary of veteran journalist, film dialogue writer and editor Ariyaratne Kahawita fell yesterday, July 22.

He paved the way for several actors, actresses and singers to enter stardom in his glorious career spanning several decades.

From his early days at Carey College, Colombo Kahawita was an ardent film fan and was also a collector of data relating films, actors and actresses as a hobby. But he never dreamt that he would someday become the editor of the popular ‘Kala’ film magazine in later years.

Jayawilal Wilegoda compiled the film page in the Dinamina newspaper then while popular novelist Karunasena Jayalath did it in the Lankadeepa. Straight after school, young Kahawita used to visit Jayalath at the Bristol Street Times of Ceylon office.

Ceylon Theaters and Cinemas were the leading film production companies during the fifties and sixties. Then came the new entrant - Ceylon Entertainments Ltd. In this competitive backdrop, Cinemas Chief K. Guneratnam wanted to publish a film magazine called ‘Kala’, but he wanted the right guy to head it. It was then that Lankadeepa’s Karunasena Jayalath introduced Kahawita to Guneratnam.

Young Kahawita then changed his route to new Chetty Street’s Cinemas Office since then. It was indeed a challenging task to compile a film magazine. But he was fortunate to receive valuable support from Jayalath and Karunaratne Abeysekara.

As the editor of the Kala magazine in 1955, Kahawita became the most trusted friend in the film fraternity comprising all big brand names.

He was a gentleman in the field who respected the big and small alike. He always tried to give a hand to anyone