By Prasad Gunewardene
Actresses have become a political commodity for political parties that market them. These beautiful women offer themselves to politics with hopes based on their popularity on the mega and mini screen. Some of them are professionals and others are only pretty girls.
The pretty girls do not really know what acting is. With a series of tele-dramas being produced in the country it had made way for a large number of pretty girls to enter the profession of acting. And they gain recognition by the name given in that character.
For example; Upeksha Swarnamalee is popularly known as ‘Paba’. Professional actresses like Malini Fonseka and Geetha Kumarasinghe are certainly intelligent in their profession. However, their knowledge about politics stands at low ebb.
Many young pretty girls in acting do not know who the first Prime Minister of then Ceylon was. Their lack of knowledge in politics was proved when they came on TV debates at the last provincial elections.
Today the mega and the mini screen is packed with handsome boys and pretty girls who really do not know what is acting.
Acting cannot be natural as natural behaviour is not acting. Acting is a specialized subject. Acting means to perform a character in a controlled manner, said film doyen Gamini Fonseka. Very few are born with such talents.
Politics is a sphere where discipline and decorum is important. In the previous Parliament we saw two woman MPs who are actresses; Malini and Paba joining the male MPs (both young and old) to stage a protest inside the Chamber and sleep there till dawn.
Certainly, that episode was a protest and not a shooting of a film. The parliamentary chamber is not a dormitory for men and women MPs to sleep. That is the sacred chamber of the people in this country. Such scenes takes place due to lack of political knowledge of actresses who had entered politics.
We have time and again heard of incidents involving Geetha with her own colleagues in the Southern Provincial Council. Geetha is hot tempered in politics and oversteps the line. During the last provincial elections, Geetha engaged Mrs. World Rosy Senanayake for a TV debate.
It looked interesting as Rosy from the start shrewdly attackd Geetha but Geetha could not follow the shots of Rosy when Rosy praised Geetha about the character played in the film Colomba Sanniya (comedy film).
Rosy said she began to like Geetha having seen the film Colomba Sanniya and was glad to see her in politics. What Rosy indirectly meant in her reference was that Geetha was playing a similar role in politics.
Paba was given nominations overlooking Samanmali Sakalasooriya (an undergraduate of the University of Kelaniya) and Jeevani Kariyawasam (Attorney-at-Law). Jeevani is reported to be an outspoken person who calls the spade a spade. That attitude has been to her disadvantage in the attempt to enter politics.
Paba entered Parliament in 2010 through the UNP and later crossed over to the UPFA. It is appropriate to analyze her contribution to politics over the past five years as an politician. The people are not against actresses entering politics but they want those actresses to serve them and address issues in a knowledgeable manner. The country had not witnessed any worthy contribution made by any actress who entered Parliament during the past decade.
Geetha is an attraction on the silver screen. She is a talented actress. Novices like Geetha in politics should know whom they are taking on when addressing election meetings and must be cautious about the language and references they do make.
Leaders like Mahinda Rajapaksa, Maithripala Sirisena and Ranil Wickremesinghe could take on each other as they are veterans in politics. Novices in politics are free to make references on those leaders but those should not be derogatory in nature.
Geetha addressing an election meeting of the UPFA at Yakkalamulla, Galle last week described President Maithripala Sirisena as a Vairakkaraya (no direct English translation available to this word as it is the worst manner to describe a human being). Sometimes this word may have slipped her tongue as it’s usually uttered by women when they speak with anger and hatred.
She further described Maithri as a primary student referring to his address on 14 July where he said Mahinda would be a loser at the upcoming elections. Geetha should know that a primary student can never be a Vairakkaraya in that tender age. These derogatory references amply demonstrate the political knowledge of our actresses in politics.
Most of these actresses who enter politics like parachutes based on their film fan popularity do not pursue a permanent political career. They should take a cue from Actors like Gamini Fonseka, Vijaya Kumaratunga, Ravindra Randeniya, Jeevan Kumaratunga and Ranjan Ramanayake.
They embarked on politics while being engaged in the profession of acting. Once elected to Parliament, Gamini, Ravi, Jeevan and Ranjan contributed much towards their political profession having distanced the screen. They all maintained the highest level of discipline and decorum in the Parliament chamber as actors of repute.
Gamini retired from politics, while Ravi gave up. Jeevan too retired very recently. Ranjan continues in politics. Jeevan and Ranjan were re-elected by the people for their worthy contributions. Our actresses who look forward to enter Parliament should know the true meaning of politics.
Political party leaders should think twice before giving nominations to actresses with less political knowledge though they may be popular on the screen.
Courtesy:Ceylon Today