| Kadawunu Poronduwa | |
| Director: | Jyotish Sinha |
| Producer: | Chitrakala Movietone Ltd |
| Story: | B. A. W. Jayamanne |
| Screenplay: | Roy De Silva, B A. W Jayamanne |
| Starring: | Rukmani Devi, B. A. W. Jayamanne, Peter Peiris, Miriam Jayamanne, Hugo Fernando, Stanley Mallawarachchi, Eddie Jayamanne, Gemini Kantha, Timothius Perera, J B Perera, Rupa Devi |
| Music: | Narayana Aiyar |
| Cinematography: | K Prabhakar |
| Editing: | Pakeer Saleh |
| Distributor: | Minerva Group |
| Country: | Sri Lanka |
| Language: | Sinhala |
Kadawunu Poronduwa (Sinhala: කඩවුනු පොරොන්දුව, "The Broken Promise") was the first film to be made in the Sinhala language; it is generally considered to have heralded the coming of Sinhala Cinema. The film was produced and filmed in India however, and was highly influenced by South Indian melodrama. It was first shown on January 21, 1947, at the Kingsley Cinema in Colombo, Sri Lanka.[1]
A remake was released in 1982.
Ralahamy, a member of high status, dies leaving his family in debt after having squandered his fortune through extensive drinking and other vices. To get back into wealth, Ralahamy's wife Tackla pushes her daughter Ranjani to marry a wealthy older man Victor with a child through an earlier marriage. In this process, Samson, Ranjani's boyfriend, who had tried extensively to get the family back into good graces going so far as to pay off their debts, is spurned. He then goes abroad to win a fortune.
When Samson returns he learns of Ranjani's engagement to Victor and tries to reach her through letter. His letters are hidden from her however, and rumours spread that Samson is now a cripple. Ultimately the truth is revealed.
Kadawunu Poronduwa was produced by S. M. Nayagam, a pioneer of Sinhala film industry and an Indian citizen. He had to ferry the entire cast to Madurai India for filming and production. It began as a successful play for dramatist B. A. W. Jayamanne. In 1947 he filmed and processed the movie in South India.[2]
Kadawunu Poronduwa produced a formula that Sinhala films would follow up through the 1960s; Jayamanne describes the formula as such:[2]
Songs of Kadawunu Poronduwa were issued by Parlophone gramophone records with the film release in 1947. They were the last records issued by the Palophone label in Sri Lanka.