Saranga Disasekara

Background

Saranga Lalinada Disasekara is an actor, producer and media personality in Sri Lanka. He was born on January 31st 1983, at Kalubowila, Sri Lanka. He studied at the Thurstan College Colombo and the Northumbria University, Newcastle, England.His Father, Narada Disasekara, was a Sri Lankan singer, and his mother, Tileka Ranasinghe, was a well-known radio host and an actress in Sri Lanka. His maternal uncle, Dauglas Ranasinghe, is also an actor in Sri Lanka.Saranga is married to Dinakshie Priyasad, actress and a social media inflencer. Their daughter, Saranya, who is still in her early childhood as of June 2024, had made several appearances in mass media as well. Saranga was previously married to Umali Thilakarathna, a singer and an actress. Saranga won the awards for the most popular actor at the Sumathi Awards in 2011 and 2024, and at the Raigam Tele’es awards in 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016, and 2024.

Image 1: Saranga Disasekara. Source: Official Fan page of Saranga Disasekara.

Tobacco Related Activities

Smoking Scenes in the teledrama, Take Care

Take Care is a teledrama featuring Saranga in the lead role, while he is also the producer. There are multiple scenes that Saranga is shown to be smoking cigarettes. This teledrama was telecasted on the Independent Television Network (ITN), a state owned television channel in Sri Lanka. Two of the main actresses of this teledrama are Dinakshie Priyasad and Rebecca Dilrukshi.

Image 2: Disasekara depicting smoking in ‘Take Care’ teledrama.

Posting scenes with cigarette smoking that were edited out of the the teledrama

Saranga shared clips of the Teledrama Take Care which depict one of the female lead, Dinakshie Priyasad, smoking cigarettes, on his personal Facebook page. He indicated that they were censored and edited before it was telecasted.

Image 3: Dinakshie Priyasad depicting smoking in ‘Take Care’ teledrama posted on Disasekara’s page

Image 4: Excerpt from Disasekara’s Facebook page depicting smoking in ‘Take Care’ teledrama

He also shared posts justifying depicting cigarette smoking in media criticising actions against such depiction.

Image 5: Excerpt from Disasekara’s Facebook page which justified the smoking

Smoking scenes in several YouTube short films

Saranga, is seen smoking in several short films on YouTube he is associated with, including ‘Night’, ‘There is a body’ and ‘We’. Gallery:

• 

  Image 6: A screen shot from ‘Night’ short film

• 

  Image 7: A screen shot from ‘There is a Body’ short film

• 

  Image 8: A screen shot from trailer of ‘We’ short film

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

• Dinakshie Priyasad
• Umali Thilakarathna
• Take Care
• Rebecca Dilrukshi
• National Authority on Tobacco and Alcohol (NATA) Act

The local language translations