Comments on: The man who refused to be His Master’s Voice

By: Sanath Wijayatilake

Sanath Wijayatilake — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 03:55:17 +0000

Palitha was a real son of our mother land. We have to think about him as a person loyal to the mother land, sinhala laungae and our culture.
He has done a good duty for the development of Sri lankan cricket as a commentator. Not only cricket for other sports as well.
he was a good artist also. I remember how he conducted the one hour weekly musical program broadcasted by SLBC with the financial asistance of a local bank. His comments on some songs are still in my heart.
He has a good knowledge on various fiels. He come very well prepared for the program. he has a good memory also. I still remeber how he conducted week end two hours program on Ruphavahini.
As a sinhala person who love to this country, laungauge and pepole I admire Palitha as my hero who has rendered his full capacity to this country. Your voice, ideas and some comments are still in my heart. Palitha I wish you a good luck.

By: Nicola

Nicola — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 03:49:50 +0000

Once agian, Know your facts… he hosted many Radio shows way after 1980. so he was not limited to TV.

By: Sudath Wanasinghe

Sudath Wanasinghe — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 10:57:09 +0000

Nicola,
You have to be careful when making a point. PP in deed was an ordinary, very ordinary, as a matter of fact a poor commentator. You must have been born after 1980's, the time when he was on TV.

By: Jayantha Jayaweera

Jayantha Jayaweera — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 09:25:59 +0000

Hi Wilfred, you don't have to get that excited. We all know that Palitha was a very ordinary cricket commentator. I hated his voice and his very biased commentary. He was at right place at right time to get that job.

By: Wilfred Afonso

Wilfred Afonso — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 08:06:27 +0000

Even I haven't seen anything from Lalith's brother who himself was a commentator, once he's retired. Towards mid-late 1990's I heard many people sharing my sentiments, we just turned radios off when he came on. This is just another attempt by him to show up how important he is. He never refused his master's voice but the master refused him a chance in the commentary box in the 1996 world cup and that's something he lamented for years afterwards. There were many newspaper interviews where he mentioned it. You may not have listened to him, nor read any articles about him. I can advise you to know the facts but i won't. Because i only shared some obvious facts about him, not you. I know many other commentators but nobody glorifies themselves as much as Palitha does. Having said all, I also agree with many others, that it must have been a daunting experience giving commentaries in Sinhala those days, but then, I am sure there were others who were very fluent in Sinhala to do the job. My Sinhala teacher for example. But hey, the jobs are there for taking and he was lucky to be there perhaps to grab the job when it was made available.

By: Wilfred Afonso

Wilfred Afonso — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 08:05:59 +0000

Nicola, I am sorry if my comment hurt you but you appear not to have listened to him making a cricket commentary. Not only me, millions of others listened to his 'ammata hudu..' commentary and it's also a question he had to answer, when he was interviewed by Kelum Srimal in Lakbima one sunday in 1990's. You seem to have missed that interview too. I admire him for taking up Sinhala commentary in 1960's but unfortunately, he never developed himself in giving commentaries. He often ran out of words and struggled. But it was only a point (an obvious one at that) I was making not a personal grudge. In addition, whenever he spoke on Radio, (I listened to him hundreds of times), he was glorifying himself. Ultra-fluent sinhala speakers like Lalith S.Maithripala, never made himself look that important. (ctd..)

By: CheeLanka

CheeLanka — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 03:40:21 +0000

Prostituting their profession is not something unique to radio/tv broadcasters in Sri Lanka. This is a malady that runs wide and deep. Some years ago, Arthur Koestler wrote about 'call girls of science' — those scientists who run around hopping from one meeting to another, without engaging in serious research or teaching, but maintain a high public profile with little to show for it. The Sri Lankan state media gravy train is such a tempting and profitable one that few men/women can withstand its lure. Those rare ones who can have to 'retire hurt' as Palitha Perera did. No wonder the reviewer says his kind is endangered.

By: Jayantha Jayaweera

Jayantha Jayaweera — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 09:12:51 +0000

Palitha was a average cricket commentator and never played the game at any level. He is not in the same class as Tommy Perera, Premasirir Epasingha, Diyanesh Rajaratnam and Lucian De Soysa. It was very difficult task to broadcast cricket in Sinhala in 1963. However, Epasinghe mastered the language and did a fantastic job.

By: Nicola

Nicola — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 04:48:21 +0000

Mr. Afoso,

You seems to be the only one who has a bad remark here. May i ask whether you actuall heard him say what he you claimed he said in a commentary?? If he did so, how come he was not charged by his superiors??? wasn't he an employee of SLBC at the time? At that time the SLBC was run by respected Administrators – or are they too not so good in your eyes??

What does his resignation and world cup has in common??? what fact you have for this claim?? do you know this personnally?? or riding on gossip?

By the way, where has HE ever said he is "broadcasting god" – i sure haven't heard – please quote & enlighten us.

This article is about his work and his book. Obivously, you haven't even read the book as you say it "may be full of…' so what right does it give you to comment here where the whole article is about the book. you don't even know the subject matter of discussion. This clearly shows you have some personal grudge against him – settle that outside.

Please know your facts before you comment.

By: DR DESILVA

DR DESILVA — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 07:02:39 +0000

HE HAS MADE SOME ENEMIES,INEVITABLE,BUT WAS IT DESRVED?
TRYING TO BROADCAST CRICKET INSINHALA,IN63,WAS A TERRYFYING PHENOMENON,EVEN THE SINHALA SWABHASHA SCHOLARS, LAUGHED, BUT NO MORE.

By: wilfred afonso

wilfred afonso — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 08:03:36 +0000

He was a poor commentator/orator to put it bluntly to be honest. He often runs out of vocabulary, once he said 'Ammata hudu, thavath hayak'. (something like 'f***'s sake, another six'), which a broadcaster should never have said on air. He never was honest. He resigned only when he was refused (for good reasons) a place in the commentary box for the 1996 worldcup. He was just another pooor political commentator, washing linen for the then government. When retired, when he doesn't ahve things to do perhaps, he's writing a book to suggest he was Broadcasting-god. The book may be full of, heroics but will only suit to shoot a second rate movie in Bollywood.

By: Saman

Saman — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 04:19:34 +0000

WE MISS YOU with Cricket comments