Veteran playwright, teledrama director, script writer and actor Bandula Vithanage has passed away at the age of 74.

Family members of the Sri Lankan cinema icon said he was receiving treatment at the Colombo National Hospital when he passes away this afternoon.  

A student of Dharmashoka College, Ambalangoda, Vithanage first joined the stage in 1963 at the University of Colombo playing in P. Welikala’s ‘Rathnawalee’ which was produced on the instructions of the legendary playwright Ediriweera Sarathchandra.

His first stage production was ‘Mega Garjana’ and that was followed by ‘Gangawa, Sapaththu Kabalak saha Maranayak’ which won rave reviews and many awards at the State Drama Festival.

Having played in the silver screens in films like ‘Paankiriththa’, ‘Ahas Gawwa’ and ‘Pembara Madhu’, Vithanage got interested in Shakespearean Theatre and wanted to share it with the Sri Lankan audience and produced ‘Merchant of Venice’ in 1980.

Subsequently Vithanage produced ‘Twelfth Night’ in 1988 and ‘Macbeth’ in 2006. In the 80s and 90s Vithanage presented some of the unforgettable Sinhala stage productions like ‘Senehebara Dolly’, ‘Romaya Gini Gani’ and ‘Sikuru Sanekeli’.

He also played in nearly 10 films including Vasantha Obeysekera’s ‘Wesgaththo’ and Pathiraja L. S. Dayananda’s ‘Jodu Walalu’.

When television was introduced to Sri Lanka, Bandula Vithanage was one of the few pioneers to direct teledramas.

He directed ‘Bumuthurunu’ and ‘Asalwesiyo’ and has been producing a large number of teledramas up to date.

Vithanage’s remains are to be placed at the Jayaratne Funeral Parlour in Borella tomorrow (Sep. 2) and National Art Gallery on Thursday (4), a spokesman for the family said.

Cortege leaves for Borella Cemetery the same day for final rites to be performed at 4.00pm, he said.