 In 1952, Lester James Peary's return to Sri Lanka to join the government film unit to make documentary films. His six-year stay in London had made him an alien to his own land and to his own people. Four years of making documentaries for the government film unit became for Peary's a journey of rediscovery. Those four years were the most formative, most influential four years of my life because those are the years in which I came to know my people, know the rural scene, getting closer and closer to the spirit and the heart of Sri Lanka. Peary's was now ready to make his first feature film in Sinhala language. Entirely shot on rural locations with amateur actors, Rikawa, or the line of destiny, was completed against all odds in 1956. It was hailed by the critics as the birth of Sinhala cinema and became the first Sri Lankan film to enter the competition of the Khan Film Festival. Kopita Sarka, a well-known Indian journalist, was here and got in touch with me and said, I have heard that you've made a film that I would like to see. What is it about? So I said, really, it is about a village, about a family. And she said, it's very strange. Has it been shot entirely on location? I said, absolutely, entirely on location. So she said, it is very, very extraordinary. My friend Satyajit Ray has made a film exactly on the same lines. I'd love to see it. So I ran it for her and she said, good Lord, how much it is like this film of my friends. Now you must, must start writing to him. And that started this wonderful, wonderful friendship on paper. I started the correspondence in 1957. I never met him till 1968. Lester James Pearies, the celebrated film director of Sri Lanka, has single-handedly created a national and international identity for Sri Lankan cinema. Dhakaava was a critical success, but as an artist, Pearies was still groping. Gamparelia, or changing village, was completed by Pearies in 1964. It was based on a celebrated novel by Martin Vikramasinge, just as Re's Pather Panchali was based on a literary classic by Vibhuti Bhushan Banerjee. Gamparelia depicts the changing family relationships in the backdrop of the declining landed aristocracy and the rising new business class. The people of Sri Lanka have always been the main source of inspiration for Lester James Pearies. But amongst the community of friends that he has acquired all over the world, India does occupy a very special place. Apart from the formal honours that his films have received in India, he was a member of the Indian festival jury in 1978 and several retrospectives of his films have been organised in India by major film societies. The spiritual relationship between Lester James Pearies and India culminated in the Lifetime Achievement Award that was given to Pearies at India's International Film Festival, held in New Delhi in January 2000. 50 years making films, it has been a long, long pilgrimage. Life and my people have been very good to me. I hope that through my films I have given something back to them.