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King Kong

Episode 5 of 6

Romesh Ranganathan takes a ramshackle odyssey around Sri Lanka. He tries to fulfil a dream of his mother's by performing in a Sri Lankan Tamil drama.

Comedian Romesh Ranganathan considers himself British through and through. He grew up in Horsham, doesn't speak a word of Tamil, doesn't know any of his relatives, has no idea about his cultural heritage and has almost zero desire to go to Sri Lanka. Like thousands of other British children of immigrants, he knows very little about the land where his parents came from. As his mother Shanthi says - he's a coconut. Sri Lankan on the outside, but British on the inside.

Now Shanthi wants her son to connect to his roots - so she's decided to change all that by sending Romesh on an odyssey around the motherland. Not that he's that happy about it.

Shanthi asks Romesh to fulfil a dream of hers and see him perform in a Sri Lankan Tamil drama. Despite a lukewarm reception on set, Romesh decides he could do a better job. He ignore the requests of his mum to take cooking lessons and climb Mount Sigirya, and spends the week trying to create his own Sri Lankan movie. A movie that ends up involving a cast of snake charmers, dancers, his Uncle Ragu and a dwarf internet sensation.

30 minutes

Clip

Credits

Role Contributor
Presenter Romesh Ranganathan
Series Producer Benjamin Green
Director Benjamin Green
Executive Producer Emily Hudd
Executive Producer Iain Wimbush
Production Company Rumpus Media Ltd

Broadcasts

Featured in...

Does Romesh get his humour from his mum?

Mum Shanthi managed to make Romesh blush in our interview.

The Big British Asian Summer

The Big British Asian Summer

A season of programmes across the 大象传媒 exploring what it means to be British and Asian.