Kopi Kade (Coffee Shop) (Sinhala:කෝපි කඩේ) is a popular Sri Lankan comedy-drama television series broadcast on the Independent Television Network.[2] One of Sri Lanka's iconic television series in history,[3] Kopi Kade remains the most popular program at its time-slot according to Survey Research Lanka.[4][5] The 1500th uninterrupted weekly episode was broadcast on January 17, 2017.[6] It was telecasted on Sundays for a brief period, where the drama was starts back to telecast on every Wednesday which was later telecast on every Friday at 9.00 p.m.[7]
Kopi Kade | |
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Created by | Thevis Guruge Andrew Jayamanne |
Directed by | Janaka Mahalpath |
Opening theme | Composed by Chandana Welikala |
Country of origin | Sri Lanka |
Original language | Sinhala |
No. of episodes | 1,914 (as of 28 December 2022) |
Production | |
Running time | 30 minutes |
Release | |
Original network | ITN |
Picture format | HDTV |
Original release | 1 April 1987 (1987-04-01)[1] – present |
ITN director Thevis Guruge developed the program as a platform to discuss social issues and convey them to the general public. The series would revolve around a village "kopi kade," because small shops that serve coffee, food and groceries generally serve as the center of town life. Women frequent such establishments to obtain the groceries they need, and men join to play games like draughts while discussing matters of interest.[4]
Andrew Jayamanna was the first director of the program. By 2006, the show had seen six directors, including the Saman Fernando. Sudam Dayarathne and Janaka Mahalpath joined the directing crew after the death of Andrew Jayamanna. Sumith Dias directed the program from 1992 to 1996. Chandika Wijesena and Prabath Dushyantha are now the directors.[15]