Samanalee Fonseka

Background

Wanniarachchige Samanalee Shanika Fonseka known as Samanalee Fonseka is a cinema and television actress, a singer, and a social activist in Sri Lanka. She was born on 23 November 1981. She studied at the St. Paul’s Girls School, Kelaniya and the Sirimavo Bandaranaike Vidyalaya, Colombo. She is a graduate from the University of Colombo and she holds a Postgraduate diploma in fine arts from the University of Peradeniya.

Image 1: Samanalee Fonseka.

Coming from a family active in the film industry in Sri Lanka, her father is Ananda Fonseka, a film director and the brother of the popular, veteran Sri Lankan actress Malani Fonseka. Her other three aunts, Sriyani, Rasadari, Damayanthi, and the uncle Dayananda are engaged in the film industry as well. Her aunt Damayanthi’s husband Prasanna Vithanage is also a popular film Director in Sri Lanka. Samanalee Fonseka is married to Indrachapa Liyanage, a singer and the son of famous veteran actor Hemasiri Liyanage. Samanalee was previously married to an actor, Gayan Lakruwan. Samanalee started her film career as a child actress and has contributed to many films and tele dramas including Akasa Kasuma, Prema Nama, Davena Wihagun, Avilenasului, Vizangamanaya, Susthi, Motor Bike, Ado and Bio. Samanalee received Best Actress Award at the Sarasaviya Awards (2018), the SIGNIS Saluation Awards (2018) and the Sumathi Awards (2020). She received Best Supporting Actress Award in 2019 at the Derana Film Awards and the SIGNIS Salutation Awards. Samanalee and her husband, Indrachapa Liyanage, are engaged in political activities of the Jathika Jana Balawegaya (NPP), led by Anura Kumara Dissanayake, and of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP).

Tobacco Related Activities

Promoting tobacco smoking in her acting

Samanalee played the main role in the film ‘Soosthi’ in 2020, which contained multiple cigarette smoking scenes. This movie was directed by Kushan Weerarathne and co-starred Kalana Gunasekara. She played the main role in ‘Avilenasului’, a film directed by Chinthana Dharmadasa, which contained multiple cigarette smoking scenes acted by Samanalee. She publicly stated that a woman smoking a cigarette is “normal” in a discussion about the movie ‘Avilensului’. In addition, the following teledramas and short films featured Samanalee smoking in them: Gallery:

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  Image 2: Excerpt from the trailer of ‘Soosthi’

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  Image 3: Excerpt from the trailer of the movie ‘Avilenasului’

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  Image 4: Excerpt from ‘Snap’ tele drama

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  Image 5: Excerpt from short film ‘Tharanaya (Life Odyssey)

Promoting tobacco smoking in her production

Samanalee directed a short film titled ‘Fly in the Jar: She exists beyond’ which depicted smoking and alcohol drinking scenes by Kalana Gunasekara.

Image 6: Excerpt from short film ‘Fly in the Jar: She exists beyond’ directed by Samanalee Fonseka.

Alcohol Related Activities

Promoting alcohol in her acting

Samanalee played a role in the movie ‘Beer without Alcohol’ directed by Ashoka Handagama in May 2020 (during the lockdown in Sri Lanka), which contained multiple alcohol promoting scenes throughout the movie. The movie was shot using Zoom video technology and was distributed through the YouTube. Nadee Kammallaweera, Indrachapa Liyanage and Rukmal Nirosh were also featured in the movie and they also depicted drinking beer throughout the movie.

Image 7: Excerpt from ‘Beer without Alcohol’ movie.

Promoting alcohol in her production

The short film ‘Fly in the Jar: She exists beyond’ depicted alcohol drinking scenes by Kalana Gunasekara, Antoinette Thilakshini Ratnayake, and Chandima Karunadasa.

Image 8: Excerpt from ‘Fly in the Jar: She exists beyond’ short film.

Promoting alcohol on her personal social media profiles

The following photographs portraying alcohol products and use were seen on her public Facebook profile .

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  Image 9: Excerpt from Facebook profile published on 05 August 2022

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  Image 10: Excerpt from Facebook profile published on 09 February 2021

Filing a Petition against alcohol control laws in Sri Lanka

In January 2018, then Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera issued a special gazette notification to lift the ban on women buying liquor and working at places where liquor was manufactured or sold. Then President Maithripala Sirisena ordered to re-impose the ban a few days after and the Cabinet of Ministers unanimously decided to withdraw the gazette notification. Samanalee Fonseka and ten other women filed a Fundamental Rights (FR) petition in the Supreme Court Sri Lanka against this withdrawal of the gazette. The court fixed the date for the argument on 16 February 2021. Further details of the outcomes of the petition are not available in the public domain.

Implications

Multiple research studies have shown that exposure to portrayal of tobacco products or their use in television and in movies is associated with initiation of smoking among viewers, especially among adolescents and youth, and sustenance of smoking among current smokers.A large body of evidence suggests that tobacco industry is known to have commissioned celebrities to promote tobacco and related products in media and through entertainment activities.

National Authority on Tobacco and Alcohol (NATA) Act No 27 of 2006 is the main legal framework for tobacco and alcohol control in Sri Lanka. Section 35 of the NATA Act prohibits tobacco and alcohol advertisements and promotion in media including ‘the internet’. NATA Act defines tobacco advertisements as, “any writing, still or moving picture, sign, symbol or distinctive colours or other visual image or any audible message or any combination of the aforesaid that promotes or is intended to promote – smoking, the purchase or use of a tobacco product, a trade mark registered in respect of a tobacco product or articles that include tobacco products, a brand name associated with a tobacco product, the name of the manufacturer of a tobacco product.” Thus, portrayal of tobacco products and their use has a negative effect on tobacco control measures in the country and violates the NATA Act.

TobaccoUnmasked Resources

• Anura Kumara Dissanayake
• Kalana Gunasekara
• Chinthinana Dharmadasa
• Mangala Samaraweera
• Maithripala Sirisena
• National Authority on Tobacco and Alcohol (NATA) Act

The local language translations