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{{short description|Sri Lankan film director (1930-2000)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Robin Tampoe <br> රොබින් තම්පෝ
| image =
| image_size =
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_name = Rabindra Coomaraswamy
| alias =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1930|12|29|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Jaffna]], Sri Lanka
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|2000|3|22|1930|12|29}}
| death_place =
| death_cause =
| occupation = {{hlist|Actor|composer}}
| spouse = Rita Carmelyn Fernando (m. 1960)
| children = 6
| education = Jaffna Central College
| alma_mater = [[Madras Christian College]]<br> [[Sri Lanka Law College]]
| father = William McGowan Sellasamy
| mother =
| relatives =
| awards =
| nationality = Sri Lankan
| signature =
}}

'''Rabindra Coomaraswamy''' (29 December 1930 – 22 March 2000), popularly known by his stage name '''Robin Tampoe''', was a [[film maker]] of [[Cinema of Sri Lanka|Sri Lankan cinema]]. One of the earliest pillars in Sinhala cinema, Tampoe hailed from the [[Sri Lankan Tamil]] community but most of his movies were made in the [[Sinhala language|Sinhala]] language. He was the son of another pioneering filmmaker, W.M.S Tampoe.<ref>[http://www.citwf.com/person48262.htm Robin Thampo: Film Database – CITWF]</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.sundaytimes.lk/981122/mirror5.html | title=After Dark | date=22 November 1998 | newspaper=The Sunday Times | access-date=29 June 2019 }}</ref><ref>[https://archives.sundayobserver.lk/2007/05/27/spe04.asp Spectrum | Sundayobserver.lk – Sri Lanka]</ref><ref>{{cite book | last = Thambyayah | first = Thevathas | title = Ilankai thirai ulaka munnodigal(Pioneers of Sri Lankan Cinema) | publisher = Poobalasingham Bookshop | date = 2004 | location = Colombo | pages = 245 }}</ref>

==Personal life==
Tampoe was born on 29 December 1930 in Jaffna to a family of lawyers. The baby was named Rabindra in memory of renowned Indian dramatist [[Rabindranath Tagore]]'s visit to Ceylon. His great-grandfather Tamodan Pillai McQueen Tampoe was a retired magistrate and judge. Robin's grand father Gurusami Thananiel Hunt Tampoe was a lawyer in the District Court. Robin's father William McGowan Sellasamy was a lawyer, film producer and a director. William was known in Sinhala cinema as the W.M.S Tampoe or 'Pappa Tampoe'.<ref name="Anniversary">{{Cite web |title=Robin Tampoe 90th Birth Anniversary (1930-2000) |url=http://www.sarasaviya.lk/features-critics-films-local/2020/12/24/19558/තාගෝර්-නම-අනුව-රබීන්ද්%E2%80%8Dර-වූ-ඔහු-සිනමාවට-රොබින්-වූයේය |access-date=2020-12-22 |website=Sarasaviya}}</ref>

Robin was first educated at Jaffna Central College, Jaffna. Then he went to India and studied at the [[Madras Christian College]]. After his return, he attended the [[Sri Lanka Law College]].<ref name="Anniversary" />

In 1960 he married an ethnic Sinhalese, Rita Carmelyn Fernando, from Ja-Ela whom he had met during his law college days. They had six children, born between 1961 and 1969: four daughters, Vilasnee, Thiranee, Dulanee, and Yuanee and two sons Sanjeeva and Robin. Their eldest daughter Vilasnee Tampoe-Hautin is Full Professor at the University of La Réunion. Vilasnee Tampoe authored the biography of Robin Tampoe in 2008:<ref>{{cite book | last = Tampoe-Hautin | first = Vilasnee | title = Last of the Big Ones | publisher = Tower Hall Foundation Institute | date = 2008 | location = Colombo | pages = 239 | isbn = 978-955-51-1770-8}}</ref> Sanjeeva manages his father's business in the name of R.T film studios in Colombo Sri Lanka having its offices in Chennai India and Kuala Lumpur Malaysia. He is also involved in importing foreign language films for television, dubbing television programs and children's movies for Sri Lankan television stations, with his own recording and dubbing studios. He is also a registered sound engineer under the National Film Corporation of Sri Lanka. Rita died on 16 July 2018, whereas Robin Tampoe died on 22 March 2000, at the age of 69.<ref name="Anniversary" />

==Cinema career==
Robin started his film career at the age of 25 years under the guidance of his father W.M.S Tampoe. He generated his own interest in cinema after observing his father who directed the early Sinhala films including ''Sepali'', ''Samiya Birindage Deviyaya'', ''Landaka Mahima'', and ''Waradata Danduwam''. In India, his father was known as 'Ceylon Thambi' where he produced six Tamil films in India in 1942. He also engaged in an import-export film trade with South Indian film distributors, notably the renowned director and studio owner T. R. Sundaram of Modern Studios, Salem (near Madras). In 1958, he joined his father in Madras and co- directed and produced ''Sepali'' which was shot entirely in India.<ref name="Anniversary" />

Meanwhile, William and Robin laid a foundation in regional film cooperation between Ceylon and India. Under the supervision of Tampoe, Sinhala films were shot and produced in Gemini and Golden Studios, Madras. The 1960s, he visited a number of North Indian studios, including the Bombay Talkies to produce Sinhala films. Before becoming a producer, Robin used the existing companies in Ceylon to distribute his films beginning with [[K. Gunaratnam]], who had entered the film industry as W. M. S. Tampoe's assistant. His early films were also produced by C .A. Gardiner's Ceylon Theatres with the Indian technical crew. In 1961, he directed the film ''Suvineetha Lalani'' which recorded 14 songs. At the first Sarasaviya Film Festival held in 1964, the film came in fifth with 24,712 votes. In the film, he introduced the actress [[Shyama Anandan]] to cinema with the film ''Suvineetha Lalani'' who acted as a three-month-old baby as well as [[Wijeratne Warakagoda]] was introduced as a lawyer. [[Piyadasa Wijekoon]], who had played minor roles in two previous films, became a stuntman through the film.<ref name="Anniversary" />

Between 1956 and 1974, his films were shot exclusively in the Sinhala language. When the 1961 ban was imposed on Ceylonese directors, prohibiting the shooting of Sinhala films in South India, he began making films in Sri Lankan soil. During this period, he used only ethnic Sinhala crew and refrain from dubbing and sub-titling Sinhala films into foreign languages. Then, he travelled to Japan NHK through Hong Kong and Singapore in 1963, to purchase cameras, projectors and other equipment. After return to Sri Lanka, he constructed R. T. Studios, at Wellampitiya which was completed in 1964 becoming fourth shooting site in Sri Lanka (the other were: Ceylon Studios, Vijaya Studios and Navajeevana). In the adjacent area, he built a cinema which he named after his daughter, Vilasnee.<ref name="Anniversary" />

His studio became a training ground for several local actors, actresses, music directors, cameramen and technical assistants. In 1963, he directed the film ''Sudu Sande Kalu Vala'' where it became the first film to feature five musicians: [[Premasiri Khemadasa]], [[M. K. Rocksamy]], Alfred Perera, Latif, Mohamed Sally and Stanley de Alwis. In 1964, he released the blockbuster film ''Sudo Sudu'' which made the entry of renowned music director, Somadasa Elvitigala. Robin also introduced the cameraman Timothy Weeraratne and renowned actresses [[Suvineetha Weerasinghe]] and [[Nita Fernando]] to Sinhala cinema. Popular singer [[H. R. Jothipala]] acted as a charismatic actor in the film for the first time. He later contributed to the organization of the first festival of Sinhala films at the Shanthi cinema in Jaffna.<ref name="Anniversary" />

==Directed filmography==

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Year !! Film !! Ref.
|-
| 1958 || ''Sepali'' || Sitarist
|-
| 1959 || ''Sirimalee'' || Sitarist
|-
| 1961 || ''Suvineetha Lalani'' || Sitarist
|-
| 1962 || ''Suhada Divi Piduma'' || Sitarist
|-
| 1963 || ''Sudu Sande Kalu Wala'' || Sitarist
|-
| 1964 || ''Sulalitha Sobani'' || Sitarist
|-
| 1964 || ''Samaje Api Okkoma Samanai'' || Sitarist
|-
| 1965 || ''Sudo Sudu'' || Sitarist
|-
| 1966 || ''Sangevena Sevanelle'' || Sitarist
|-
| 1966 || ''Mahadena Muththa'' || Sitarist
|-
| 1966 || ''Sanasili Suvaya'' || Sitarist
|-
| 1968 || ''Dehakaha Dukha'' || Sitarist
|-
| 1969 || ''Pick Pocket'' || Sitarist
|-
| 1972 || ''Ada Mehemai'' || Sitarist
|-
| 1974 || ''Surekha'' || Sitarist
|}

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tampoe, Robin}}
[[Category:1930 births]]
[[Category:2000 deaths]]
[[Category:Alumni of Jaffna Central College]]
[[Category:People from Jaffna]]
[[Category:Sri Lankan Tamil people]]
[[Category:Sri Lankan film directors]]

Robin Tampoe - Revision history

imported>Dawnseeker2000: date format audit, refine ref details, link maintenance (linked miscapitalizations, WP:OVERLINK, WP:GEOLINK, unlink common terms), typo(s) fixed: great → great-