Abstract:
The purpose of this comparative study was to examine the type of teledrama genre
predominantly preferred by university undergraduates in Sri Lanka, out of the two
teledrama genres: romance and realistic teledramas and the rationale behind its
popularity. During the past two decades, Mega teledrama cult centered on romance fiction
subverted Sri Lankan teledrama culture, appealing to a wide range of spectators.
However, with novel and innovative approaches in teledrama direction, realistic
teledramas are being produced at present. Both these genres of teledrama have gained
notable popularity in modern Sri Lankan society, in comparison to other previously
popular Indian and Korean teledrama series. Thus, this research was conducted based on
two popular Sri Lankan teledramas: Koombiyo and Deweni Inima that premiered in 2017,
belonging to two teledrama genres; realistic and romance drama, respectively. Semistructured questionnaires were used as the research method to collect data from the
research participants to conduct a qualitative study. By using simple random sampling,
fifty undergraduates in different faculties from the University of Kelaniya were thus
provided with the questionnaires. The study presented an insight into the preference of
university undergraduates for Sri Lankan popular culture teledramas regarding Stuart
Hall’s Audiences and Reception theory (1993) and Raymond Williams’ (1961) theoretical
frameworks on popular culture. The primary finding revealed the most popular teledrama
as Koombiyo with a 68% voting as it is identified as an atypical, realistic teledrama. The
research also identified various factors influencing university undergraduates’ inclination
towards Sri Lankan teledramas. The outcome of this interdisciplinary research
disseminated new information and knowledge in media and cultural studies while
proposing dimensions for teledrama direction to produce atypical works to retain the
audience of the youth for Sri Lankan teledramas.
Keywords: Popular culture, Koombiyo, Deweni Inima, Sri Lankan teledramas, University
undergraduates
