“Sampath Tharu”, the gigantic experience that displayed the artistic skills of Sampath Bank employees was held at the Bandaranaike Memorial Internation Conference Hall in a grand scale under the auspices of the Managing Director of Sampath Bank, Nanda Fernando. Following are excerpts from a discussion with Fernando regarding the show.
Please tell me something about this “Sampath Tharu” show
We started this gigantic show in year 2001, earmarking to be held every four years. Although, we could continuously stage this show, we had a very bad period in the recent past with Covid and economic crisis and had to stage this show after a period of seven years and this is our sixth show.
This year, more than 3000 persons participated in this show and we had to stage it as two shows at 2.00 p.m. and 7.00 p.m. Special feature of this show is, everything from dancing, singing, music and announcing were performed by the Sampath Bank employees.
What do you, especially the bank expect through such a show?
Life of a banker involves lot of pressure, whether while in service or in their daily lives, and goes on like a cycle. A show like this will ease their lives and allow them to spend their lives with their family members and with others alike and give them peace of mind and the enthusiasm to perform better in their duties.
The most important thing is, it is the display of the artistic skills and the talents of our own employees. Most of them have persevered their artistic talents during their childhood and schooling times, but may have had to stop them after joining the banking service owing to the pressure of work and fade away automatically. When shows of this nature are staged, we can easily see how their hidden talents come to surface. It is that happiness that they share with their parents and kith and kin on a big stage. As the Managing Director of this bank, it gives me lot of pleasure.
What are the benefits the bank gets with a show like this?
We expect the progress and welfare of the employees by staging such shows. We have seen an increase in the capacity of contribution of the employees whose skills and abilities have surfaced through such shows. Further, it helps to build unity, team work, gain experience in working together among employees and uplifts the mentality and helps in lifting the morale of the employees. Sampath Bank believes that there should be equilibrium among the staff. Experience of this sort helps them maintain such provable qualities.
Not only that. Even the mindset of the people towards banks start to change and they start t look at them positively. That sort of thinking is very important to the bank. That increases the profile of the bank and the contribution of the people towards the bank become positive. The experience our employees gain from such activities is very important to the business. When the news regarding the collective efforts of our staff reaches the general public and when they get an opportunity to enjoy such a show their trust towards the bank and its employees increases. It helps to achieve the business targets.
How did you select the artistes for this?
When we made the announcement, nearly 1500 employees out of our staff of around 4500 showed interest in taking part. They were selected by an independent and expert panel made out of senior artistes in the dancing, singing, musical and announcing fields.
Do you like to speak about the panel of judges?
Prominent actors such as Chandani Seneviratne, Kaushalya Fernando and Sampath Jayaweera judged the dramatists, Judges in the Singing and Music contests were Dr. Rohana Weerasinghe, Navaratne Gamage, Mahinda Bandara and Susil Amerasinghe. Prominent announcers Arun Dias Bandaranayake, Kelum Wijesuriya and Ranjani Rajmohan constituted the judges panel in announcing. Popular dancers Buddhika Ranaweera, Uthpala Sooriyarachchi and Gayan Ruppegoda judged the dancing category. Former Sampath Bank employee Thilak Abeysinghe assisted as the creative director of the pogramme. He is full of artistic talent. He has supported in the last few Sampath Tharu programme as a creative director. Dr. Rohana Weerasinghe, the veteran Musician conducted the music. Acting was under the direction of Senior Lecturer Prasannajith Abeysuriya.
How was the dedication of the staff members with regard to this programme?
After the artistes were selected, the training was started around three months back. They trained after the normal banking hours in the evenings, on holidays and weekends without hindering the official duties. We could see lot of dedication on their part.
For organizing the show, a small organizing committee under my chairmanship was formed. Actually, it was a very small group and a mixture of veterans and new comers so that the experience can be gained from the veterans while incorporating the new ideas of the new comers.
By that, we could create a stand by group to take over the reign from the veterans in time to come. That is why I, as the Managing Director, offer maximum support in every way.
Was this show staged free of charge?
No. Tickets were sold for the show. BMICH is a gigantic stage and we had to spend a lot of money to book that stage. Therefore, we spent the monies collected through the sale of tickets to set off this expense. Sampath Bank also contributed heavily. We were able to accommodate the families of minor staff such as messengers, drivers and cleaning staff free of charge. They really enjoyed the show and we are happy about it.
It was a beautiful show lasting for about four and a half hours having English, Sinhala and Tamil items performed by our own staff.