TELEVISION

Pick your celeb:

Anarkali Akarsha

Bathiya and Santhush

Bhanuka Rajapakse

Brian Kerkovan

Brigitte Halpe

Chula Kumarapathirana

De Lanerolle bros

Dinesh Chandrasena

Dinesh Gunawardena

Faizer Mustapha

Gamini Fonseka

Goolbai Gunasekara

Heshan Unamboowe

Jith Pieris

Kaushalya Fernando

Keheliya Rambukwella

Kirth Sri Karunaratne

Kishu Gomes

Lester James Peries

Mariazelle Goonatilleke

Maxi Rosairo

Menaka De Fonseka

Mohamed Adamaly

Nayana Karunaratne

Neidra Williams

Raj Seneviratne

Rajitha

Ravibandu Vidyapathi

Roshan Ranawana

Sarath Amunugama

Sohan Weerasinghe

Soundarie David

Upeca De Silva

Yashodha Wimaladharma

Yoshitha Rajapakse

Listen to Bonsoir's Legendary French Can Can Theme Music:

TELEVISION

Kumar de Silva began his television career in 1986 with ‘Bonsoir’, a weekly French cultural television magazine which was a hit during its time. This, in turn, brought him several opportunities on the small screen – from news reading, hosting talk shows and business programmes … to presenting pop music programmes and hosting Buddhist Dhamma discussion programmes. It’s literally been a quarter century ‘love affair’ with the television cameras.

An earlier generation will probably best remember him as the multi-lingual host on ‘Bonsoir’ and the pop music television deejay on ‘Fanclub’. More recently was his ‘indulgence’ on Prime TV’s “Celebrity Chat”, a popular weekly talk show with Sri Lankan celebrities.

Roundtable’s "Celeb Chat" was telecast on Monday nights. "Celeb-Chat" was a weekly one hour roller-coaster as the host and guests threw caution to the winds and indulged in pointed questions and evasive answers, quick repartees and inaudible asides, non-committal nods and embarassed grins.

There were questions that were answered... and those that were avoided... answers that were pointed... and those that were evasive... there were laughter... and tears... embarassment... niceties... and the works as celebrities from Sri Lankan society left inhibition outside at the studio door and spoke from their hearts.

They were all there... from movie stars to cricketers... fashion models to writers... film directors to hair dressers... beauticians to politicians... singers to swimmers... and more... lots more...

‘Bonsoir’ was born in July 1985, somewhere around the time of Bastille Day and exactly 196 years after the French Revolution. It was a programme that enthralled Sri Lankan television audiences for a full quarter of a century. Its primary raison d’etre was to showcase France in all her dimensions. Well, not only the obvious French gastronomic ‘trinity’ of bread, wine and cheese … but also her technology, her sport, her culture, her foreign relations etc etc etc.

It was a ‘window to France’ on Sri Lankan television and was telecast on ITN, featuring Sri Lankans and Sri Lankan events who had some kind of a link with France. ‘Bonsoir’ was a fine example of a healthy and fruitful co-operation between the French Foreign Ministry, the French Embassy in Colombo and ITN. With Sri Lankans having absolutely no access to the internet and cable TV at that time, ‘Bonsoir’, did enrich the local viewing experience and successfully played its pre-determined role of bringing France into Sri Lankan sitting rooms.

Bonsoir finally wound up at the end of 2010. It has however left behind an indelible memory with the thousands who literally grew up with it. Now I retrospect, I’m very happy that I too was part of that formidable team which contributed to Bonsoir’s success on Sri Lankan television.

"The Bonsoir Diaries' in The Nation every Sunday through 2012, brings to life little known facts of Bonsoir, the 'making of', and its colourful journey through Sri Lankan television.

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After ‘Bonsoir’ came my accidental entry into ‘Fanclub’ – one of the most popular and hit music programmes on Sri Lanka television in the mid 1980s. Its regular host Ayesha Gunasekera took a ‘break’ and I was told to host the show “until a suitable replacement was found”. That was the deal. I quit fourteen years later (with the Sunday Observer’s Golden Clef Award for Music Presenter of the Year 1994) when I felt I had exhausted my creativity on this programme. That “suitable replacement” was never found. Fanclub sadly closed up a few months later.

Just like ‘Bonsoir’, a whole new generation of boys and girls grew up with Fanclub. Came Tuesday nights and we had several hundreds of Sri Lankans glued to ITN. Yes that too was a great era.

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