We have nine TV channels in this country. But hardly any channel broadcast English teledramas produced in our country. Earlier there were some feeble attempts to show some. But that died out. By English teledaramas, I do not mean the imported canned ones which are very abundantly shown. Most of them are junk programmes like the junk food of burghers & pizzas that is dished out from the various multinational outlets that have invaded our country lately. I was forcibly taken to one such outlet by my wife recently and I vowed that I will never step into the place again to taste such insipid food.

We have a glut of Sinhala teledramas and we have became sick of them, that now we tend to put off the TV sets whenever one is shown. I urge the TV companies to take more initiative to produce English teledramas with the plenty of local talent that is available. Most of the Sinhala actors are fluent in English and they can be easily made use with some additional talent. The benefits are two fold; one it will help to improve the English knowledge of the present generation of viewers, who lack in proper English education, the other is that it will have a ready export market because Sri Lanakan films and teledramas are acclaimed to be of world class standards.

Therefore, I strongly urge the government or the private sector companies to enter into this lucrative trade of producing good quality English Dramas in this country. It will be really refreshing to watch an English teledrama shot in a Sri Lankan setting with the Sri Lankan accent. It will be a fine treat for the starved TV viewers like us. It will be like eating a spicy Sri Lankan meal at the McDonalds or like having a good thosai diet at the Pizza Hut.
P. V. S. Ranjan
Dehiwela