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Udula Dabare

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Udula Dabare
උදුලා දාබරේ
Born
Gangodavilage Udula Dabare

(1936-09-22)22 September 1936
Died26 December 2023(2023-12-26) (aged 87)
Colombo, Sri Lanka
NationalitySri Lankan
EducationMaradana St. Lawrence College
Dharmapala Vidyalaya
OccupationActress
Years active1953–2018
Spousenot married
Parents
  • Lewis Dabare (father)
  • Alyssa Dias (mother)
RelativesMillie Kahandawela (cousin sister)
Upul Nishantha (cousin son)

Kalabooshana Gangodavilage Udula Dabare (උදුලා දාබරේ; 22 September 1936 – 26 December 2023), was an actress in Sri Lankan cinema, theatre and television.[1] One of the earliest pillars in Sinhala cinema,[2][3] Dabare started her career with comic roles but turned to dramatic roles and made award-winning appearances in the films such as Warada Kageda, Radala Piliruwa, Duppathage Duka, Dosthara and Pirimiyek Nisa.[4] In the period between 1950 and 1963, she particularly acted in villain stepmother roles.[5]

Personal life

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Udula Dabare was born on 22 September 1936 in Mahawatta, Narahenpita, British Ceylon as the sixth of the family with seven siblings. Her father was P. R. Lewis Dabare and her mother was Ataudarachchige Alyssa Dias. However, three sisters died at a young age except an elder brother and a younger sister.[6] She started education from Narahenpita Mahawatta Junior High School (currently as Parakramabahu Vidyalaya) and completed from Maradana St. Lawrence College and Dharmapala Vidyalaya, Pannipitiya in English medium.[7] She was dated with a photographer for a long time. But when he went Australia with a scholarship, her mother did not allow Dabare to go with him. The relationship ended from there and since then she did not get married.[8]

Her elder brother was married to fellow film actress Millie Kahandawela.[6][9] Dabare's younger sister's son Upul Nishantha is a cinema media coordinator.[10]

Dabare died on 26 December 2023 at the age of 87 following a brief illness.[11] Her remains were laid at No. 32 / 97, Golden Meadows Housing Complex, Kirigampamunwa, Polgasowita from 12.00pm to 4.00pm on 27 December.[12] Her final rites were performed on 28 December 2023 at the Mattegoda Cemetery.[13]

Career

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Besides cinema, she joined with Lama Pitiya singing program of Radio Ceylon at the age of 12 and voiced in radio films.[6] In 1952, she went India with her cousin sister Milly Kahandawala who acted in the film Kele Handa for her support.[8] During this visit, she was able to be friendly with the film crew. When a new actress was needed for a small role, director B. A. W. Jayamanne asked Dabare to act in the film.[7] With that, she made her first cinema appearance in the 1953 film Kele Handa with an uncredited role.[14][6]

Her acting credentials were thoroughly observed by Karunaratne Abeysekera where he introduced Dabare to film producer and director K. Gunaratnam.[8] With that, she acted in Gunaratnam's 1954 film Warada Kageda by singing a comic song along with Bertram Fernando. The film became her turning point in the career, where he rose to popularity overnight.[7] In 1954 while still a school girl, she acted in the T.R. Sundaram's film Radala Piliruwa opposite to Christy Leonard Perera.[15]

Since then, she acted in numerous blockbuster films in the following years including: Dosthara,[16] Duppatāgē Duka, Gæhænu Gæṭa, Naḷangana, Pirimiyek Nisā, Suvinīta Lālanī, Daruvā Kāgeda, Sīgiri Kāśhyapa, Sulalita Sōbanī, Sūrayangeth Sūrayā, Dæn Matakada and Sally.[7][6] In many of those films, she acted as sub-lead characters, but they brought popularity due to lyrical scenes that are memorable to the audience.[8] In these films, she was lucky to share the acting with popular actors such as Gamini Fonseka, Joe Abeywickrama, L.M. Perera, Ravindra Rupasena and Anthony C. Perera.[6] She took a break from cinema in 1970 and re-entered in 1977 with the film Hithuwakkarayo.

She also made stage appearances with the stage dramas such as: Ran Ethana, Warenthuwa, Sivammā Dhanapāla, Ganudenu, Samaja Peraliya and Balgisnōnā. Then she acted in few television serials in 1980s, including: Gama Sundarayi Rēvathī, Raja Varam, Siyapatha, Eḷivanathuru, Gangulen Etheraṭa and Wasanthaya Nimāviya.[6] Apart from acting, she worked as the Public Relations Officer at the National Lotteries Board for 18 years from 1977 to 1995.[8]

In 2013, she acted in Upali Piyaratne's Pramada Wadi and Lal Priyadeva's Yali Pipunemi, which are yet to screened.[6] Her final cinema acting came through the 2018 film Madhura Charika directed by Udayakantha Warnasuriya.[17]

Awards and accolades

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She was honored with "Namaskara Pooja" Special Award at the 25th Sarasaviya Awards in 1998.[4][18] Apart from that, she received awards at 1977 Sarasaviya, 1994 Journalist Fellowship and 1978 SIGNIS OCIC Award ceremonies. In 2004, she was titled with Kalabooshana and Pioneer award at the 2004 Presidential awards. Homagama Vibhuti Award and Dream Institute Tribute award in 2011 are also received for her acting achievements.[6]

In 2014, she won an award at the Suwanda Padma award ceremony.[19] In 2018, she received the tribute award at the Gamini Fonseka's 14th virtue commemoration.[20] In 2021, she was honored with a lifetime achievement award at an award presentation for 21 artists who have done exemplary service to Sinhala cinema in the initial decade of Sinhala cinema.[21]

Filmography

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Year Film Role Ref.
1953 Kele Handa Mourner [9]
1954 Warada Kageda
1954 Radala Piliruwa Ayesha [22]
1956 Dosthara Thusitha [23]
1956 Duppathage Duka Mallika
1958 Daskama [24]
1959 Gehenu Geta Seetha
1960 Nalagana Sunil's sister [25]
1960 Pirimiyek Nisa [26]
1961 Suvineetha Lalani
1961 Daruwa Kageda Ananda's sister
1964 Sulalitha Sobani Nimala
1964 Suba Sarana Sepa Sithe
1965 Sekaya Maduri
1966 Sigiri Kashyapa Sundara Kumari
1966 Kapatikama Actress Rita
1967 Manamalayo [27]
1967 Sarana
1968 Akka Nago
1969 Surayangeth Suraya
1970 Dan Mathakada [28]
1977 Hithuwakkarayo
1978 Sally
1983 Chandi Siriya
2004 Randiya Dahara Amali's mother [29]
2018 Madhura Charika [30]

References

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  1. ^ "ප්‍රවීණ රංගන ශිල්පිනි උදුලා දාබරේ දිවි සැරිය නිම කරයි". www.liveat8.lk. Retrieved 31 May 2022.
  2. ^ "Our senior actors". www.lifie.lk. Retrieved 31 January 2024.
  3. ^ "58' මහ ගංවතුරට නළු නිළියන් ආධාර එකතු කළ හැටි". www.sarasaviya.lk. Retrieved 31 January 2024.
  4. ^ a b "Udula Dabare - උදුලා දාබරේ - Sinhala Cinema Database". www.films.lk. Retrieved 31 January 2024.
  5. ^ "උදුලා දාබරේගේ රංගන මතක". www.sarasaviya.lk. Retrieved 31 January 2024.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i "කැලෑහඳේ පෙනී හිටියා මිස රඟපෑවේ නැහැ: උදුලා දාබරේ ඇත්ත පහදා දෙයි". www.sarasaviya.lk. Retrieved 31 January 2024.
  7. ^ a b c d "වනමෝහිනි' චිත්‍රපටයේ කෙටි ඇඳුමට එරෙහි වූ උදුලා දාබරේ". www.sarasaviya.lk. Retrieved 31 January 2024.
  8. ^ a b c d e "ඔහු විවාහ වූදා මා තනිවම ඉන්න තීරණය කළා: උදුලා දාබරේ". www.sarasaviya.lk. Retrieved 31 January 2024.
  9. ^ a b "'කැලෑ හඳේ' ජයපාල මැතිනිගේ චරිතය රඟපෑවත් 'සිකුරු තරුව'ට පෙම්බැඳි: මිලී කහඳවල". www.sarasaviya.lk. Retrieved 31 January 2024.
  10. ^ "මගේ කලා ජීවිතයට වසර 37යි: ප්‍රකට සිනමා මාධ්‍ය සම්බන්ධීකාරක උපුල් නිශාන්ත". www.sarasaviya.lk. Retrieved 31 January 2024.
  11. ^ "උදුලා දාබරේ දිවි රඟමඩලට සමු දෙයි". www.lankadeepa.lk. Retrieved 31 January 2024.
  12. ^ "කළු-සුදු සිනමාව වර්ණවත් කළ උදුලා දාබරේ නික්ම යයි". www.ceylonwire.lk. Retrieved 31 January 2024.
  13. ^ "Funeral of veteran actress Udula Dabare, today". www.srilankamirror.com. Retrieved 31 January 2024.
  14. ^ "උදුලා දාබරේ යළි මතකයට නඟමු". www.sarasaviya.lk. Retrieved 31 January 2024.
  15. ^ "උදුලා දාබරේ දිවි රඟමඩලට සමු දෙයි". www.theleader.lk. Retrieved 31 January 2024.
  16. ^ "රේඩියෝ සිලෝන් එකෙන් දොස්තරට තහංචි". www.sarasaviya.lk. Retrieved 31 January 2024.
  17. ^ "Actress Udula Dabare in no more". www.lankaleader.lk. Retrieved 31 January 2024.
  18. ^ "Road to Prestige 1964-2018". Sarasaviya. Retrieved 10 January 2021.
  19. ^ "සුවඳ පත්ම සම්මානය: රංගන ශිල්පිනී උදුලා දාබරේ". www.sarasaviya.lk. Retrieved 31 January 2024.
  20. ^ "සක්විතිිට කළ උපහාරයක්". www.sarasaviya.lk. Retrieved 31 January 2024.
  21. ^ "සිනමාවේ පුරෝගාමී කලාකරුවන්ට සම්මාන පිදුමක්". www.sarasaviya.lk. Retrieved 31 January 2024.
  22. ^ "රඟපාමින් කතා ලියූ ඉලංගරත්න". www.sarasaviya.lk. Retrieved 31 January 2024.
  23. ^ "ගුණරත්නම් + මෙයියප්පන් = දොස්තර". www.sarasaviya.lk. Retrieved 31 January 2024.
  24. ^ "මුල් සිංහල සිනමාවේ ජුන්ඩා, පීතර කොලුවා, ගොළුබෙල්ලා වූ බර්ට්‍රම් ප්‍රනාන්දු". www.sarasaviya.lk. Retrieved 31 January 2024.
  25. ^ "සිතෙහි බැඳි ආලේ සැමදා". www.sarasaviya.lk. Retrieved 31 January 2024.
  26. ^ "සිංහල සිනමාවේ ජනකතාකරු". www.sarasaviya.lk. Retrieved 31 January 2024.
  27. ^ "කවුද මේ හොලම්ස්". www.sarasaviya.lk. Retrieved 31 January 2024.
  28. ^ "මේ සීත සුවදෙන රැයේ දැන් මතකද?". www.sarasaviya.lk. Retrieved 31 January 2024.
  29. ^ "'Randiya Dahara': New story on an old theme". Sunday Times. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
  30. ^ "සිංහල චිත්‍රපට නාමාවලිය". www.sarasaviya.lk. Retrieved 31 January 2024.
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