2015

S1.E1 ∙ Uncle Thiru

Tue, Sep 29, 2015

Romesh is sent to receive a traditional blessing in Kegalle, only to discover after having his head rubbed with a chicken that it might actually have more in common with black magic than the traditional Hindu ceremony he thinks his mother had in mind. He goes to meet his Uncle Thiru, who may or may not be his uncle, and may or may not be related to him at all - in fact what Thiru seems more interested in is getting Romesh to invest in the elephant poo paper factory than in getting to know him. After attempting a potentially character building stint of stilt fishing, Romesh sets up an activity of his own, going rogue in the capital Colombo to perform with local rap act MBZ.

7.1 /10

S1.E2 ∙ Uncle Ragu

Tue, Oct 06, 2015

Romesh is sent to Batticloa to meet his Uncle Ragu who has been given a mandate from Romesh's mum. Keen for him to explore the spiritual side of his background, she's given Ragu a long list of things she wants Romesh to do. They visit the village where his mum grew up and Romesh is slightly taken aback to discover that not only is everyone living there related to him, they're related to each other too. Ragu and Romesh join a 200km barefoot pilgrimage to Kataragama, where there is a holy festival. Romesh finds himself surrounded by people piercing odd, and frankly disturbing, body parts and meeting a man possessed by a snake who he thinks might be able to fix his lazy eye. However, Romesh is quickly leading Ragu astray - persuading him to desert their pilgrimage after an hour because 'his knees hurt' and questioning how good an idea it is to get his mouth speared together at the festival. Is Romesh going to become the good Tamil boy his mother hopes? Will he uncover a deep-rooted spiritual connection with the land of his forefathers? Or will he remain the perpetual teenager and lead his Uncle Ragu astray?

7.7 /10

S1.E3 ∙ Uncle Rubaharan

Tue, Oct 13, 2015

Shanthi uses Romesh's trip to try to settle a long standing bugbear - trying to get him to lose weight. She has entrusted this task to his Uncle Rubaharan, who introduces him to the ancient Sri Lankan martial art known as angapora, which sees Romesh being put through his paces by a 14-year-old martial arts expert. Whilst in the area, Romesh also visits his mother's home which has been taken over by a religious sect, but this is mere respite between having a traditional Ayurvedic enema and joining the hunter-gatherer tribe of the Veddas, to go on one of the most bizarre hunts ever witnessed.

8.1 /10

S1.E4 ∙ Cousin Krishna

Tue, Oct 20, 2015

Shanthi wants Romesh to explore what his life could have been if he'd grown up in Sri Lanka, and in particular what career path he could have taken. To complicate matters, Romesh must also look after his 12-year-old cousin Krishna, who is actually the more grown-up of the two. Following a dangerous attempt at becoming a tuk-tuk driver on the streets of Jaffna, he finds out that working in a busy tourist hotel with his young cousin is an equally stressful experience. To make up for it, Romesh arranges for Krishna to do some Kandyan dancing, which becomes much more public than he anticipated.

8.5 /10

S1.E5 ∙ King Kong

Tue, Oct 27, 2015

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.

8.4 /10

S1.E6 ∙ Shanthi's Return

Tue, Nov 03, 2015

Shanthi heads out to Sri Lanka to join Romesh and find out what he's learnt. Romesh does his best to bluff his way through as a tour guide before the pair of them try to join the family business of arranged marriage brokers. In exchange for Romesh having a go at a traditional Sri Lankan sports day, he asks his mum to take part in a rap video with local Sri Lankan rap group Colombo MBZ. Having now spent six weeks in his mother's homeland, the real issue is now whether Romesh will come clean about all the things he hasn't done. Can he make it up to her? And, most importantly, will he be able to make her proud of him?

7.9 /10