Vijaya Kumaratunga
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Vijaya Kumaratunga (b. October 9, 1945, Sri Lanka - d. February 16, 1988, Polhengoda, Sri Lanka) was a popular Sri Lankan film actor and politician, married to former Sri Lankan president Chandrika Kumaratunga from 1978 to his assassination in 1988.
Kumaratunga's first film was "Hanthane Kathawa", in which he played the lead role. Since then, in a career that spanned nearly two decades, he acted in 114 films and won several awards. He was voted most popular actor in Sri Lanka from 1983 to 1988. Vijaya performed in one English film, "The God King" and one Tamil film, "Nanguran" during his career.
He was also a politician, who started his political life in the Lanka Sama Samaja Party. He later joined the Sri Lanka Freedom Party and was active in the presidential campaign of Hector Kobbekaduwa in 1982. After the election, he was jailed under the emergency regulations by JR Jayawardena for allegedly being a 'Naxalite' (a political creed hitherto and henceforth unknown in Sri Lanka), but he was never charged. He founded the Sri Lanka Mahajana Party (SLMP). He and his party argued for peace in the ongoing civil war in Sri Lanka.
In 1978, Kumaratunga married Chandrika Bandaranaike, daughter of late Sri Lankan prime minister Solomon Bandaranaike and also former prime minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike.
He was shot in the head outside his residence at Polhengoda on February 16, 1988 by an unknown assailant allegedly linked to the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (People's Liberational Front), a Marxist organization and to President Ranasinghe Premadasa. He died soon after. His murder was probably related to his political actions. His death is still mournced by many in Sri Lanka.
