Srilanka, Feb. 27 -- If Richard de Zoysa's life was associated with speculation during the best period of his life, a recent film made on him adds fuel to the fire of controversy that surrounds this character. Much has been written about this former media personality, rights activist, actor, scriptwriter and poet, but all those are first-person accounts of an individual, who no longer lives. As much as some of those facts do bring to light unknown titbits about Richard, some of them can be contested.

All who are interested in Richard de Zoysa's life and times must first come to grips with the fact that he was a celebrity. The issue with celebrities is that their lives are associated with a good amount of cooked-up stories and a load of...