Growing up in a remote village near Ruwanwella, being outdoors was the norm for Irangani (or Chandi as she is fondly called) and her siblings. Occasionally for live entertainment, a sort of circus came to the village with various performances under a huge tent. Chandiís star acts were the animated ëBombay dancingí and the tabla player. At home, she would mimic what she viewed at the shows as well as imitate characters she encountered in her daily life. ìI became a bit of a clown really,î she smiles.
Perhaps it was thus inevitable for this little chandiya to pursue a career in acting. ìNot quite. I never wanted to be an actress and I never thought of myself as one. My great ambition was to get married and have babies. I just love babies,î she confesses.



Irangani began schooling in Colombo at the St Bridgetís nursery and then transferred to Bishopís College where she completed the SSC (the equivalent of t he Ordinary Level examinations). She found learning a delight as it was not a competitive scholastic environment and the teachers were a great encouragement. Irangani was appointed sports captain and tennis captain, and played on the college netball and tennis teams during her school career. She began swimming when she was about seven years old and would train every Saturday at the St Thomasí College Mt Lavinia pool with the Bishopís College girls.

Irangani and her sisters resided in the schoolís boarding during the academic year but always wanted to return home. On hindsight she feels that it was a good experience because she made great friends and was taught discipline at a young age (which she most certainly needed!). One day, she told the school principal that she was leaving the boarding and came home. (Normal procedure required the childís parents to officially inform the school authorities.)

Albeit no one thought of higher studies at that time, the strong-willed teenager was determined to complete a university degree. So for her HSC (the equivalent of the Advance Level), Irangani went to the Girlsí High School in Kandy where she also applied to sit the university entrance exam, which she passed. Breaking this news to her father was a terrible task and he was not at all pleased. She remembers his exact words: ìYouíre not going into that den of iniquity.î Irangani went on a hunger strike and pleaded until finally her father relented. She entered the Colombo University in 1947 to follow her three-year general degree in the Arts studying History, English and Economics.

Straight after university, Irangani taught for a year at Musaeus College in Colombo. She liked teaching but the principal felt she ëhad missed her vocationí. This was because Iranganiís attempt to teach her students about snow somewhat backfired after she described it as similar to soap flakes. The next day, the children stood on tables and chairs sprinkling soap flakes around the classroom, exclaiming, ìLook miss, itís snowing!î Obviously, this did not go down well with the school officials and the hilarious incident is remembered to this day.



Chandi and her younger sister Karmani were rebels. They did everything that one (especially young ladies) should not do such as hanging out with boys, going dancing, swimming in the sea, smoking cigarettes, being an extreme Leftist and marching in protest rallies. Some of her feats include placing a hora (illegal) vote during one election just because someone challenged her to do it; she has been arrested, and had a run in with a prominent politician who sent her and her friends to the nearby police station, saying ìStop this Chandi!î Yet she feels that it is all part of oneís youth. She says, ìUniversity was very different to what it is today. We had differences of opinion but people did not harm each other as they do now. Even the ëFreshersí Ragí was clean fun.î



Her interest in acting progressed gradually, beginning with end-of-term plays in school and later in university.

ìStage is my first love. The theatre roles are what I call my real roles,î Irangani remarks. She prefers the stage because there is a simultaneous audience-actor interaction - one can feel the vibrations, both negative and positive. She says that a play builds up to a climax which is a wonderful feeling but it cannot be replicated on camera as there isnít the same continuity. Her first public theatre performance was in Bernard Shawís Pygmalion by the Girlsí High School in Kandy where she played Professor Higgins.
She was a member of the university drama society ëDramSocí which organised a major play every year. In her first year, Irangani was selected for the lead role. Irangani went on to take part in Antigone, Macbeth and Caucasian Chalk Circle. She produced a stage drama based on Chekovís Proposal titled Parasthava for Rupavahini television station as well as Rama and Sita, which was written by Gamini Goonewardane, the brother of Sumithra Peries.

She was one of the founder members of the lively Arts Centre Club (part of the Lionel Wendt Theatre) where amateur artistes met regularly to critically discuss plays, relax between rehearsals and unwind after performances. At the end of 2003, Irangani will take the stage (after over two decades) in a minor role in an Ernest Macintire play, which is part of the celebrations for the Lionel Wendt Theatreís 50th anniversary. This is most apropos considering that she starred in the inaugural play that opened the theatre to the public - Lower Depths (1953), and is the only surviving artiste from that show.
 

Film director, Lester James Peries, who was and is a friend of Iranganiís, used to view the university plays. He noticed her unique talent and invited her to take part in his productions. Her inaugural role was in his government documentary for the traffic police called ëBe Safe or Be Sorryí about how not to drive, followed by her first film ñ Rekava.
 

Once married, Irangani accompanied her first husband to England where she followed courses in the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School (the oldest such establishment in England) for a year followed by another yearís stint at the Central School of Speech Training and Dramatic Art in London. Despite the cold weather, she describes the experience and exposure as fantastic.

During the 1950s, the independent Irangani worked in the features department of the Times o f Ceylon (a national newspaper) for almost four years. Determined to support herself, she found the job after her divorce shortly after she returned from England. She then held the post of English drama producer for a year at the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC) proceeded by a four-year career in the tourism industry at Walkersí Tours & Travels in the 1970s.

Being educated almost entirely in English, the talented artiste regrets that she did not better apply herself to the Sinhala language. Fortunately, her village roots meant that she spoke Sinhala at home. She says, ìI feel I miss out a lot and that I cannot give as much of myself because of my limitations to communicate in Sinhalese. This is especially so with my environmental work. Iím invited to speak at schools and forums and I shudder because I cannot express myself the way I want to. I keep forgetting words so I generally carry a list of Sinhala vocabulary and meanings with me.î