Old photographs

Old photographs are valuable historical documents and what I have published here are photos collected by me over the years. The name of the photographer and other details are given if  known. This photo was given to me by Dr. Navamani Selvarajah of Jaffna. It shows the cast of a drama produced by the registrar of the Jaffna College, Vaddukoddai in the late 1960s.

This very old photograph shows a waterfall at Kuttalam, India. It was taken on 14/01/1953. It was given to me by Dr. Selvarajah. She says" "My late sister studied economics in India."

The photo carries the name Thawamanie S. on the back, so the photograph was presumably taken by Dr. Selvarajah's sister.

This photograph shows two actors posing for a publicity shot for Bertolt Brecht's play Puntila, which was produced in Sri Lanka by Finnish director Helena Lehtimaki in the mid-1980s. Seated behind the steering is Mahendra Perera, who is now a top film and stage actor. Standing next to him is the late Nihal Silva, who played Puntila (he was killed a few years later while driving past a military checkpoint).

The car belonged to Mr. Jayasuriya, a collector. Puntila was staged at the Lionel Wendt theatre. The owner drove this car on the stage via an improvised wooden ramp through a side entrance.

 The photo was taken with a Rolleicord twin lens reflex camera by photographer Edmund Gunasekara.