Saddha Mangala Sooriyabandara (born 19 June 1968; Sinhala: සද්ධා මංගල සුරියබණ්ඩාර) is a Sri Lankan journalist and media personality.
[3] He was born on 19 June 1968 in the village of Watapuluwa, about 5 km from Kandy, as the second son in the family with four siblings.
[5] Saddha completed his primary education at Watapuluwa Junior School and later passed the Grade 5 Scholarship Examination in 1979.
His elder brother Chandana is also a senior journalist in Sri Lanka and is currently the Executive Officer of Sirasa TV, who became the Channel Head in 2015.
[8] Saddha is married to his longtime partner, Warnakulasuriya Patambandige Chethani Wijetunga, whom he met during the work at the Alcohol and Drug Information Center (ADIC).
[9] After that, she worked as a journalist for an alternative newspaper called 'Iskra' and later joined Lakhanda radio in 1999 as a news reporter.
In 2013, she started 'Studio LK', a studio complex headed by her, which has filmed a number of Hollywood and Sri Lankan movies, large-scale reality shows, and TV commercials.
During his G.C.E Advanced Level examination in 1987/88, the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) launched an armed insurgency in Sri Lanka and there was severe terror in the Kandy area at that time.
State terror against the JVP was escalating to the point of killing young people on the streets.
Saddha chose nursing instead of his preferred field of art, as it was dangerous to stay home after high school.
Then in 1995, he got the opportunity to cover the visit of a peace delegation troupe from the South to Jaffna LTTE area, while he was working as a freelance presenter for TNL.
[5] In 1996, he was covering an LTTE bombing in front of the Army Headquarters in Colombo when he was seriously injured by another suicide bomber.
In the same year, he joined as a program producer in News and current affairs division for Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation.
[3] It was aired at 9.30 pm on Tuesday and became one of the highest grossing shows of all time in Sri Lanka.
Under his leadership, the Elle National Tournament was held day and night and was telecast live on CSN, for the first time in the history of Sri Lanka sport.
[citation needed][16] He joined the 'Institute of Media and Performing Arts' (IMPAS), which he co-founded with his wife, Chethani.
Through IMPAS, Saddha and Chethani were able to introduce a group of talented journalists, announcers and actors to the field of journalism and acting in Sri Lanka.
[3] At the same time, they started a production house called 'Fingerprint Media Solutions', through which they created various commercial programs and advertisements.
[3] He worked with the director Jayaprakash Sivagurunadan for multiple number of serials including: Kalu Araliya, Anguru Siththam, Hansa Pihatu, Kalu Kurulla, Suraduthiyo, Raja Yogaya, Amuthu Rasikaya and recently Agni Piyapath.
The serial became a hallmark in Sri Lankan television, where all the episodes became YouTube trending with more than 1 million views.