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The queen of Sri Lankan cinema, Malani Fonseka, passed away recently and her funeral was held with state honours at the Independence Square on the 26th.
However, the behaviour of some artists who came to pay their last respect to her at the funeral were criticized on social media.
Amidst that, a video was shared on social media suggesting that a group of artists held a party following the funeral of Ms. Malani Fonseka.
Social Media posts :
A video was posted on Facebook showing a group of artists dressed in white and having fun while singing songs, with the caption ‘After Funeral’.
This video was shared by many people with the caption “People who cried near Malini?” (“මාලනී ළඟ අඬපු ය නේද මේ”).
Furthermore, this video was posted on YouTube with the caption, “People who turned Malini Fonseka’s funeral into a wedding hall.” (“මාලිනී ෆොන්සේකා මල ගෙදර මගුල් ගෙයක් කරපු කාලකන්නි”,)
Many people expressed their displeasure and believed these claims to be true, as the video was posted with the interpretation that, artists held a party after Malini Fonseka’s funeral and enjoyed themselves by dancing and singing.
Therefore, we conducted an investigation to check whether these claims are credible.
Fact Check :
Since no major media outlet had reported that artists had held a party following the funeral of Ms. Malani Fonseka, we investigated what this occasion was.
Accordingly, the social media accounts of the artists in this video were checked and we were able to see that Mrs. Nilmini Tennakoon had broadcasted this party live on her Facebook account on May 12th, which was the Vesak Poya day.
Mrs. Malani Fonseka passed away on May 24th, and accordingly, it appears that this party was held while Mrs. Malani Fonseka was still alive.
Nilmini Tennakoon
Commenting on the circulated video, Mrs. Nilmini Tennakoon stated that this was a party held recently by the director of the teledrama ‘Sikuru Awith’, for the actors and the actresses who acted in the teledrama, to mark the successful completion of the drama.
(Archive)
She also posted a post on her Facebook account requesting people not to post old videos of artists and spread false messages.
She stated that white clothes are worn not only at funerals, and requests not to create an immoral society by spreading such false news.
She makes this statement while citing the comment made by the director of the teledrama ‘Sikuru Awith’ regarding the posting of videos of a party held by them on social media with a misinterpretation.
Director of the teledrama ‘Sikuru Awith’, Thilina Borelessa
Thilina Borelessa, the director of the teledrama ‘Sikuru Awith’, stated in his social media account that, the video being shared with a misinterpretation in actually a friendly gathering held between the team of the teledrama ‘Sikuru Awith’, after the Dansala they gave on the Vesak Poya day.
His post is as follows.
“Regarding the video that was posted by several pages.
At the end of the Dansala that we gave on the Vesak Poya day, the drama group of ‘Sikuru Awith’ held a friendly gathering. Videos of the party was taken by Facebook pages of artists of our team and was reposted by several pages with a misinterpretation.
The reach to the page will increase, but the act done is inappropriate……” (Fb|Archive)
(“Page කිහිපයක පලකර ඇති මේ විඩ්යෝව සම්බන්ධවයි.
මෙවර වෙසක් පෝයට අපි විසින් ලබා දුන්න දන්සල අවසානයේ සිකුරු ඇවිත් නාට්‍ය කණ්ඩායම එම නාට්‍යයේ අවසානයට සුහද හමුවක් පැවත්වුනා . එහි විඩියෝ අපේ කණ්ඩායමේ කලාකරුවන්ගේ facebook ගිනුම් වලින් අරගෙන වැරදි title දාලා විවිධ page වලින් නැවත post කරලා තියෙනවා.
Page reach වෙයි හැබැයි කරපු වැඩේ බාල වැඩක්……”)
Mrs. Nilmini Tennakoon had also live-streamed the video of the Dansala they gave on the Vesak Poya Day on her Facebook account.
When posting those videos, she has stated “Today is Vesak. The team of ‘Sikuru Awith’, ‘Sitha Nidi Na’ dramas which were broadcasted and broadcasting gave a Dansala”. (“අද වෙසක්.දෙරණේ විකාශනය වුණු විකාශනය වෙන සිකුරු ඇවිත්,සිත නිදි නෑ,අපි දන්සලක් දුන්නා.”)
In the video, she and the other actors can be seen wearing the same clothes they have worn at the party.
Sandasi Methmanthi
Sandasi Methmani, an actress in the teledrama ‘Sikuru Awith’, also commented on this video that is being circulated, saying that this is a party that took place at the end of the teledrama ‘Sikuru Awith’ in early May.
Citing the post by the director of the teledrama, she also commented regarding this on her Facebook account.
Angelo Gamage
Angelo Gamage, who is seen wearing a black dress and singing in the video also commented on the video stating, that this was not a party held after the funeral of Mrs. Malani Fonseka, but rather it was held on May 12th.
He had posted the following on his Facebook account regarding this.
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Conclusion :
The video being shared on social media claiming to be a party held by the artists after the funeral of Mrs. Malani Fonseka is a misleading video.
The video was not held after the death of Ms. Malani Fonseka, but rather a video of a party held on May 12th, when she was alive, with the director and actors of the teledrama, ‘Sikuru Awith’, to mark the successful completion of the drama.
Title:Did the artists hold a party after Malini Fonseka’s funeral?
Fact Check By: Factcrescendo TeamResult: Misleading
