Saddha Mangala Sooriyabandara

Saddha Mangala Sooriyabandara (born 19 June 1968; ) is a Sri Lankan journalist and media personality. He is best known for the television programs Angili Salakuna and Always Breakdown. He has worked as a program director, and before the public as a film and teledrama screenwriter, teledrama producer, television program director, journalist, announcer, songwriter and actor.

Sooriyabandara is the screenwriter of the popular television serials Haara Kotiya, Nadagamkarayo, and currently has written nearly 20 television serials.

Saddha completed his primary education at Watapuluwa Junior School and later passed the Grade 5 Scholarship Examination in 1979. Then he entered St. Anthony's College, Kandy in 1980 to complete his secondary education. During his school days, he was involved in various drama activities and excelled in stage drama production and acting, art, singing, oratory and debate, and writing. He is also an athlete and has represented the school at the national level in the 110m hurdles. Chandana has been involved in several television programs as the program director and with the quiz program Obada Lakshapathi Mamada Lakshapathi and political program Satana. In 2018, Chandana was appointed as the head of Sirasa Stein Studios.

Chandana is married to journalist, author, actress and television announcer Tharaka Wasalamudaliarachchi. They have two sons: Gimhan, Muniwara and Nimna. In 2006, Tharaka won The Outstanding Young Person's Award for her contribution to media. She has acted in the television serial Udu Viyan. She worked as a journalist on Swarnavahini for about 15 years and hosted the program Helidarawwa. and then wrote the novels Andaramandiya to which she won the Presidential Youth award, Dehi, Mati and Kalu which she was nominated for a Swarna Pusthaka Award. Later she published Aes, Paata, Indrachapa, Guru, Kaasi and Neela Nimna.

Personal life Saddha is married to his longtime partner, Warnakulasuriya Patambandige Chethani Wijetunga, whom he met during the work at the Alcohol and Drug Information Center (ADIC). She is a past pupil of Ananda Balika Vidyalaya, Colombo. She volunteered for ADIC and later joined TNL Television. After that, she worked as a journalist for an alternative newspaper called 'Iskra' and later joined Lakhanda radio in 1999 as a news reporter. She has also worked as a freelance TV presenter on Rupavahini. She and her husband started the Institute of Media and Performing Arts (IMPAS) in 2003. Simultaneously, she and Saddha started a television production house called Fingerprint media solutions with the aim of creating commercial productions and TV commercials. From 2006 to 2009 she worked for Nature's Secrets, a leading cosmetics company in Sri Lanka. In 2013, she started 'Studio LK', a studio complex headed by her, which has filmed a number of Hollywood and Sri Lankan movies, large-scale reality shows, and TV commercials. Apart from that, she holds a Diploma in Journalism from the University of Colombo and has studied Journalism from Fojo, an affiliate of Kalma University, Sweden. He was born on 29 August 2000 and educated at Isipathana College, Colombo. He is pursuing a Diploma in Sound and Music Technology from the 'Hit Factory Audio Institute' led by Ranga Dasanayake and following a Sangeeth Visharad degree in Music from the Bhatkhande Music Institute Deemed University. At the age of 19, Induwara became the music director of the teledrama Agni Piyapath, the youngest music composer in Sri Lanka. Apart from that, he also composed music for the teledramas Agni Piyapath and Malwara Mal. During that visit he had his first televised interview which was with LTTE theorist Anton Balasingham. After that successfully reporting on his Jaffna visit, Saddha was recruited to the permanent staff of TNL on 15 February 1995 and got a job as a news coordinator in the news division. At the peak of its ratings, Saddha was removed from the program due to his rejection of attempts by the then rulers to use the program for their own political purposes. Later he was transferred to the documentary and religious division. In addition to Angili Salakuna, he created the programs Uththamachara and Tele Kolama. He was also a prolific political show host who hosted the political programs such as Janamandali, Eththa Netta, Kathiraya for Rupavahini. He left the Rupavahini in 2006.

In 2009 he was invited to become the Program Manager of the television channel Siyatha TV. He left Siyatha TV in 2011 to work full-time in commercials and commercials, and in 2013, Saddha became the creative director of Carlton Sports Network (CSN), Sri Lanka's first sports channel. During this period, he led the development of Elle where he was the CEO of the Sri Lanka Elle Federation. Under his leadership, the Elle National Tournament was held day and night and was telecast live on CSN, for the first time in the history of Sri Lanka sport.

Outside television He joined the 'Institute of Media and Performing Arts' (IMPAS), which he co-founded with his wife, Chethani. Through IMPAS, Saddha and Chethani were able to introduce a group of talented journalists, announcers and actors to the field of journalism and acting in Sri Lanka.

In 2017, he created the television serial Haara Kotiya for Swarnavahini. Saddha later produced its sequel, titled Kotipathiyo in 2018.

Saddha has already written the scripts for two films titled Ashawari and Sihinabhisheka. In 2016, he became a teledrama producer with the teledrama Kalu Kurulla aired on ITN. In 2020, he wrote the television serial Agni Piyapath in which he also played the role of a gangster "Raajan". Meanwhile, he is also a lyricist, who wrote the song Heena Thibunata Kotiyak sung by Shyamen Dangamuwa for the serial Haara Kotiya, song Dahas Ganan Heena Balala for the serial Kotipathiyo and song Heena Lowe Thaniwila for the serial Sillara Samanallu. In 2020, he appeared in the teledrama Agni Piyapath with the supportive role 'Rajan'. In the same year, he wrote the script for television serial Nadagamkarayo. The serial became a hallmark in Sri Lankan television, where all the episodes became YouTube trending with more than 1 million views. After the 400th episode, the series was ended and a spin-off series titled Kolam Kuttama was started under Sooriyabandara's script and Sivagurunathan's direction.

Television serials + Year Television serial Director Roles Channel Ref. 2001 Amara Bawana Himself Director, Scriptwriter Sirasa TV 2005 Sorakama Santhusa Liyanage Scriptwriter Rupavahini 2005 Lembert & Somapala Namal Sooriyabandara Scriptwriter Rupavahini 2010 Sudu Gindara Rihan Raveendra Scriptwriter Independent Television Network 2012 Kalu Araliya Jayaprakash Sivagurunathan Scriptwriter Swarnavahini 2013 Anguru Siththam Jayaprakash Sivagurunathan Scriptwriter Swarnavahini 2014 Monara Kadadhasi Christy Shelton Fernando Scriptwriter Swarnavahini 2015 Hansa Pihatu Jayaprakash Sivagurunathan Scriptwriter Swarnavahini 2016 Kalu Kurulla Jayaprakash Sivagurunathan Scriptwriter, Producer Independent Television Network 2016 Sura Duthiyo Jayaprakash Sivagurunathan Scriptwriter, Producer Hiru TV 2017 Haara Kotiya Jayaprakash Sivagurunathan Scriptwriter, Producer Swarnavahini 2018 Kotipathiyo Jayaprakash Sivagurunathan Scriptwriter, Producer Swarnavahini 2018 Sillara Samanallu Sanjaya Nirmal Scriptwriter, Producer Swarnavahini 2018 Rajayogaya Jayaprakash Sivagurunathan Scriptwriter, Producer Independent Television Network 2018 Aganthukaya Christy Shelton Fernando Scriptwriter, Producer Swarnavahini 2019 Dadayam Bambaru Sanjaya Nirmal Scriptwriter, Producer Swarnavahini 2019 Amuthu Rasikaya Jayaprakash Sivagurunathan Scriptwriter, Producer Rupavahini 2020 Agni Piyapath Jayaprakash Sivagurunathan Scriptwriter, Producer, Actor: Raajan Swarnavahini 2021 Nadagamkarayo Jayaprakash Sivagurunathan Scriptwriter, Producer Swarnavahini 2021 Paara Dige Jayaprakash Sivagurunathan Scriptwriter Swarnavahini 2022 Paara Vasaa Aetha Jayaprakash Sivagurunathan Scriptwriter Swarnavahini 2022 Kolam Kuttama Jayaprakash Sivagurunathan Scriptwriter Swarnavahini 2023 Salli Pokuru Jayaprakash Sivagurunathan Scriptwriter Swarnavahini 2023 Circuskarayo Jayaprakash Sivagurunathan Scriptwriter Sirasa Tv 2024 Pirimi Lamai Jayaprakash Sivagurunathan Scriptwriter Swarnavahini TBD Malwara Mal Iresh Lokubandara Scriptwriter TBD

As a lyricist Heena Thibunata Kotiyak ('Haarakotiya' theme song) – sung by Shyamen Dangamuwa Dahas Ganan Heena Balala ('Kotipathiyo' theme song) – sung by Shyamen Dangamuwa Heena Lowe Thaniweela ('Sillara Samanallu' theme song) – sung by Tiran Yap and Sandaruwan Jayasinghe Jeewithe Kaviyak Nowe ('Dadayam Bambaru' theme song) – sung by Vinod Alwis and Kaizar Kaiz Bodima Bodima ('Hulan Gedara' theme song) – sung by Rodney Warnakula Sura Doothiyo (Sura Duthiyo' theme song) – sung by Raini Charuka Amara Warama ('Amara Bawana' theme song) – sung by Ravindra Yasas Umathu Ginidel ('Agni Piyapath' theme song) – sung by Bachi Susan Api Yanawa – sung by Harsha Dhanosh ft. Lokka

Awards and accolades

Sumathi Awards

State Television Awards

Raigam Tele'es

Sumathi Awards