When a man on the screen plays the character played by superstar Malini Fonseka in a movie with Srimathi Mallika Kaluarachchi as a girl, Kaluarachchi would cry.
In desperation, she would then turn to her father. Kaluarachchi, 68, recalls that “we used to scream at the screen, telling our father to save her.” We adored her, they said.
Fonseka passed away on May 24 at the age of 78 while receiving treatment in a hospital, joining thousands of fans on Monday to bid her final farewell. The nature of Fonseka’s illness has not been made public by either her family or the hospital. Fonseka, one of the country’s most well-known actresses, was regarded as the queen of Sri Lankan cinema.
Fans flocked to Colombo’s Independence Square to view her coffin before she was cremated with full state honors as they admired her in full state tutelage. A projector drone flew above the crowd, playing songs from Fonseka’s films, displaying a montage of scenes from her career.
Anura Kumara Dissanayake, president of Sri Lanka, described Fonseka as a “true icon of Sri Lankan cinema whose grace and talent inspired generations” and that “her legacy will forever shine in our hearts and on our screens.”
a pioneer
Fonseka had a more than 50-year career in Sinhala cinema, where she starred in more than 140 movies.
We would forget how hurt we had in our hearts if we saw her, Kaluarachchi said, wiping away tears. “We know that movies aren’t real, but when we were kids, we didn’t.”
Because of how she represented how common people experience love, Fonseka, according to Kaluarachchi, was special.
Before making her film debut in 1968’s Punchi Baba, she began her acting career as a stage actress.
In the 1970s and 1980s, Lester James Peries and Dharmasena Pathiraja were among Lester James Peries and Dharmasena Pathiraja, her popularity grew.
In many of her most well-known roles, the struggles of women in a society predominated by men were a common theme. In the movie Nidhanaya (1972), she portrays a wife who was killed by her husband, a college student who was involved in a difficult relationship in Thushara (1973), a village girl who was hounded by men in Eya Dan Loku Lamayek (1975), and a girl from a rural fishing village who was drawn to the big city lifestyle in Bambaru Avith (1978).
She also expanded into directorial work, including the 1987 movies Sasara Chethana and Ahimsa, which helped her continue to succeed into the 1980s.
![Thousands of Sri Lankans gathered at Fonseka's cremation on Monday, May 25, 2025 [Jeevan Ravindran/Al Jazeera]](https://i0.wp.com/www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/DSC_0049-1748411243.jpg?w=696&ssl=1)
“A bridge” between generations
In 1978, she and legendary Indian Tamil actor Sivaji Ganesan co-starred in the first Indian-Sri Lankan co-production Pilot Premnath.
She never had a category to fit into. She worked in arthouse and commercial cinema, according to 27-year-old teacher Prabuddhika Kannagara. She played a grandmother, a married woman, a young woman, a mother, and even a grandmother. She made a diverse range of female statements.
According to Buddhist customs, Kannagara was one of the final mourners at the funeral, sitting and watching as sparks emitted from the white cloth tower in the square for Fonseka’s cremation.
She claimed to Al Jazeera that Fonseka had acted as a “bridge” between various eras of film, from black and white to digital, and that she had remained a star for both her mother’s generation and her own.
At Sri Lanka’s Presidential Film Awards, Fonseka won five times for Best Actress. Her most recent success came in 2006 with her directorial debut in the movie Ammawarune. At both the New Delhi Film Festival and the Moscow International Film Festival, she also received numerous awards.
In the 1980s, when women’s roles in front of the camera were uncommon, she became Sri Lanka’s first female television drama director. Additionally, Finseka made a brief foray into politics by serving in the parliament of Sri Lanka from 2010 to 2015 while under the former president Mahinda Rajapaksa.
Anuradha Kodagoda, a journalist and critic of movies in Sri Lanka, described Fonseka as “rare and unique in Sri Lankan cinema” for the range of characters she portrayed.
Fonseka “represented the beauty idol for Sri Lankan women” and was “petite and fair, with an oval face and soft features.”
She “portrayed her characters with a lot of organic and realty in them.” That is, in my opinion, the magic of it,” Kodagoda said.
![People carrying Fonseka's coffin to a specially erected cremation tower at Colombo’s Independence Square on Monday, May 25, 2025 [Jeevan Ravindran/Al Jazeera]](https://i0.wp.com/www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/DSC_0032-1748411354.jpg?w=696&ssl=1)
There will be no more queens, the saying goes.
Many mourners recall conversations or conversations with Fonseka, some of whom traveled far away for the funeral.
She served as our role model. Pushpa Hemalatha, a 56-year-old jam factory worker, said, “We saw her as an example when we went to the cinema. She exhibited no arrogance. When we were younger, we had a crush on her.
In the song Eya Wasanathaya Nowe, Fonseka reprised her role as an elderly woman remembering her late husband in the 2024 music video.
Ivanka Peiris, an actress and musician who co-starred with her in the TV series Hithuwakkara, claimed that Fonseka was “very empowering” as a role model for women and “everything” for younger actresses in the field.
And, she continued, Fonseka would never be a replacement.
She is the queen, she says. That is it, according to Peiris. No other queens will exist in Sri Lanka. She will be both the first and last.
