16th Sarasaviya Awards

The 16th Sarasaviya Awards festival (Sinhala: 16වැනි සරසවිය සම්මාන උලෙළ), presented by the Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Limited, was held to honor the best films of 1987 Sinhala cinema on July 23, 1988, at the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall, Colombo 07, Sri Lanka. Minister of National Defense, Trade and Shipping Lalith Athulathmudali was the chief guest at the awards night.

16th Sarasaviya Awards
Date	July 23, 1988
Site	Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall, Colombo 07, Sri Lanka
Directed by	Granville Silva
Highlights
Best Picture	Viragaya
Most awards	Viragaya (12)
Most nominations	Viragaya
Television coverage
Network	Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Limited

The film Viragaya won most number of awards with twelve awards including Best Film, Best Director and Best Actor.

Awards

Category	Film	Recipient
Best Film	Viragaya	Chandra Mallawarachchi
Best Director	Viragaya	Tissa Abeysekara
Best Actor	Viragaya	Sanath Gunathilake
Best Actress	Podi Vijay	Sabeetha Perera
Best Supporting Actor	Mangala Thegga	Jayalath Manoratne
Best Supporting Actress	Viragaya	Sunethra Sarathchandra
Best Emerging Actress		Sanoja Bibile
Best Script Writer	Viragaya	Tissa Abeysekara
Best Cinematographer (black n' white film)	Mangala Thegga	Andrew Jayamanne
Best Cinematographer (color film)	Janelaya	Darren Okada
Best Editor	Viragaya	Lal Piyasena
Best Art Direction	Viragaya	K. A. Milton Perera
Best Makeup Artist	Viragaya	Shesha Palihakkara
Best Sound Effects	Janelaya	George Manatunga
Best Music Direction	Viragaya	Sarath Fernando
Best Lyricist	Viragaya	Sunil Ariyaratne
Best Male Playback Singer	Viragaya	Sanath Nandasiri
Best Female Playback Singer		Not awarded
Most Popular Film	Kavuluwa	A. S. P. Liyanage
Most Popular Actor	People's vote	Vijaya Kumaratunga
Most Popular Actress	People's vote	Geetha Kumarasinghe
Most Popular Emerging Actress	People's vote	Maureen Charuni
Rana Thisara Award	contribution to Sinhala cinema	Vijaya Kumaratunga
		Malani Fonseka
Merit Awards	Viragaya	Asoka Peiris
	Ahinsa	Nadeeka Gunasekara
	Janelaya	Razi Anwar
	Janelaya	Ruby de Mel

Category	Film
Popular films selected by readers
	Kawuluwa
	Viragaya
	Ahinsa
	Janelaya
	Hitha Honda Chandiya
	Raja Wedakarayo
	Obatai Priye Adare