Award-winning film director Tissa Abeysekara passed away at the Colombo National Hospital this evening where he was recieving treatment after being admitted this week for a sudden illness. He was 70 years old. Having entered films in the early sixties as a screenplay writer, Deshabandu Tissa Abeysekara later directed movies like Karumakkarayo, Mahagedara and Viragaya.
In 1996, Tissa Abeysekara turned tables on the local English literary establishment by winning the prestigious Gratiaen Prize for the best piece of Creative Writing in English by a resident Sri Lankan.