Reserved, timid and with a persistent stammer, a younger Kumar de Silva fought seemingly unsurmountable odds to become the prominent television personality that he is today. While that may sound like the plot of a hacked success story, Kumar’s experiences are nothing short of inspirational.
In stark contrast to his younger self, Kumar sits before me, wittily describing how one language enriched his life and proffered an assortment of opportunities.
 |
| Pic by Saman Kariyawasam |
 |
| A little bit of Italia in Paree |
 |
| Snails in Garlic Sauce |
 |
| Landscape off Montpellier |
|
| Chilled wine on a hot summer's day |
The journey to where he is today was far from a cushy jaunt though. Clinching the opportunity to host Bonsoir, the French language and culture show presented by the French Embassy in 1986, tested Kumar’s determination. “I had a bad stammer when I went for the screen test at ITN. I stuttered through it and failed.
I went back for a second and third screen test and the results weren’t any different. Finally the Director of Programmes at the time, Nanda Jayamane said she would give me one more try and I told myself this was it. And on the fourth try I managed to scrape through,” he says triumphantly, explaining how from that pivotal moment his life took a defining turn.
Hosting a TV show is undoubtedly demanding but making the show successful and appealing to a large audience adds a dimension of challenge to the task. Kumar certainly had the proficiency in the French language being a degree holder in French from the Kelaniya University, but what gave him an edge was his dedication and creativity. Describing how he and his co-host, Yasmin Rajapaksa, brainstormed and came up with ways to retain their viewers’ interest, Kumar relates “Half an hour on air is a really long time and keeping the viewers interested requires some creativity.
I remember one show in which we discussed photography where we presented portraits and you could hear our thoughts. Usually you would just pause the scene and play the track, but back then we had ancient equipment that couldn’t facilitate this. So instead we were filmed absolutely frozen in position while the voice recording played.”
With the effort put into it, the show grew to be exceedingly popular. Kumar recalls receiving fan mail in such bulk that the postman found it difficult to deliver the load. Among the thousands of letters they received a particularly emotive letter from a viewer residing in the boondocks of the country. The writer explained how his village had one community centre at which the only television was set up, and in the evenings the entire village would assemble there especially to watch Bonsoir.
While Kumar helped take Bonsoir to greater heights, the show in turn gave him opportunities to travel to France. It became his second home, a place where he had many fantastic experiences and met interesting people.
Kumar left Bonsoir 10 years ago as he believes when it comes to television you have to leave when you’re at the top instead of burning out. Since then he has established his own Public Relations company with his wife Tharindra and now hosts a talk show with popular personalities from politicians to musicians on Prime TV.
However, Kumar still cherishes his French connection and will be celebrating the 25 years of his life he dedicated to bringing French culture to Sri Lanka, this month with an exhibition of his photography.
Clicked during his travels across the country over the years, Kumar will share a set of 30 black and white photographs, whittled down from his stock of 300. He enjoys taking portraits of people, he says, and one of his favourites is of a man fully dressed in chef’s attire setting up his pizzeria.
“I was passing by and I thought it would make for a nice picture so I asked the man if I could take a picture of him setting it up and he actually took it back down and redid the whole thing for me.” Other photographs include sleeping bottles of vintage Dom Perignon champagne taken in the low light of a cobweb-filled cellar. Another of the Parisian landmark- the Eiffel Tower in which he breaks away from the hackneyed composition of the monument with the lawn in front by snapping his picture from the eighth floor of an apartment building, creating an image of the Eiffel tower emerging from a sea of chimneys.
The exhibition titled ‘Nostalgie’, will be open to the public from next Sunday, January 23 till February 6 at the Alliance Francaise de Kotte, on weekdays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and on weekends from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The photographs will take you through places in France and experiences that hold dear to Kumar, from cosmopolitan Paris to rustic Britanny, charming Auvers-sur-Oise which is where painter Vincent van Gogh resided to snails cooked in white sauce. |
E-mail
