It was 4pm and the two of us, my photographer and I, stood before the huge, imposing black gates in the heart of Colombo, waiting for someone to answer the bell. Its scale made one expect it to open asunder with lightning and thunder, broiling black clouds overhead accompanied by the appropriate sound effects of course, but instead of Count Dracula's minion, a pleasant faced man partially opened a gate to let us in to a fairytale of a courtyard and the sun remained shining brightly in the clear sky. Tall trees formed an inner circle of the thick boundary walls, leaves and white frangipani flowers lay everywhere in a mosaic of fragrant patterns. And a bearded brown dog came bounding out of the house to bark at us, without looking at us directly. A sleek black dog soon followed him, having left the little Ferrey girl with the gorgeous hair up on the balcony, who gave us a big smile of welcome. Popeye and Jules, they were called respectively, we were to learn later and between the two of them made enough noise for a doggie version of a heavy metal ensemble. Soon Ashok Ferrey himself in his characteristic baniama and shorts was shaking our hands and the dogs quieted down and let themselves be petted.

Talk
The first thing you notice about Ashok Ferrey is his blue eyes, especially against the tan skin. The second thing - the seriously toned arms. Once he starts talking however, gets into his groove so to speak, you've forgotten all about the salt and pepper hair as well.

The Ashok Ferrey Show is the latest (ad)venture he's dabbling in, hosting and co-producing the along with ETV. It's an arts show, yes, but he is careful to mention that he makes no big claims -- it’s the Ashok Ferrey Show, and it features artistes that intrigue the host.

“What I’m saying is, here’s an interesting guy, who happens to be an artiste. That is actually my brief. If there was an artiste who was deaf and dumb and boring as hell I sure wouldn’t have him on my show. I want the human face behind the art,” he says, continuing, “Of the thirty, forty people I interview, half of them will turn out to be nothing. That’s the rule of art. Another thirty, forty may lay undiscovered.”

Art is like a lottery he goes on. “We’re trying to record them in the hope -- it’s like winning the lottery, you never know, with art. I only interview people that I personally find interesting. I’m saying here you have somebody who may one day win the lottery.”

He finished his last shoot for the season, Tuesday, so what have the artistes been like? “People really go mad, something about the magic of television. Almost all have said to me, ‘give me two weeks to lose weight’. Every single one has said, ‘oh my god, what am I going to wear?’” “We should smile,” he adds, “It’s so nice [to see that] all these great artistes, they’re all human.”

Fights
His work as a film extra and more in several productions does not seem to have paid off, at least with regards to the show. “It’s quite extraordinary, because I know nothing about cinema. I have certain set ideas about what I want, what it [the shot] should be like. I usually have a big fight with the director and cameraman because they’re like you can’t do that. I’m like never mind let’s do that,” he declares and admits with a laugh, “And I must tell you, [that] I usually loose.” However he contends that he does have “the pragmatism to know that I am wrong.”

The show itself is shot “on an absolute shoe-string” budget. Sometimes, it’s “just one guy with a camera, holding a light.” So some of the shoots have used his house as location (it’s free!) - just different bits of it – something to look out for, eh?

He’s hoping to do a Kandy version next season, in an attempt to feature no less than Carl Muller. The show is all about recording for posterity says Ferrey – “If history does recognise any one of them as true geniuses, they’ll always have at least [some] record of their time” adding, it’s about celebrating the living rather than just the dead.

Mad
"I’m mad", “quite mad”, he keeps telling us, as well as referring to "problems" - "it's a problem really" he repeats. But also adds that he's only as mad as you and I may be. "Sri Lanka has the highest rate of insanity," he says. Say again? "Yes. It’s an island. Lots of inbreeding. We’re all connected. Genetically it is bad, but it also produces geniuses.” Some consolation I guess.

“The good thing,” he continues, “is [that] we're never alone. The bad thing is we're never allowed to be alone. It’s nice to grow old in, but also, one is not allowed to be an individual.”

For a man in retirement, he sure keeps busy. Quite in line with his recipe for life - "grow old disgracefully". A personal trainer, writer (not just books) - he most recently wrote for Avant Garde magazine an article titled Death of a Fashionista – so called because he's the least fashionable person ever. “Ashok Ferrey knows about fashion as much as this dog knows about literature,” he jokes at poor Jules expense.

He is optimistic. He may have written Serendipity in a rage - about fighting what he thought was an unwinnable war, “thank god I was wrong” but he sees brighter prospects for the future of Sri Lanka. Twenty years, he gives it, to really show progress, “I think, I really do think.”

Exciting
He leaves us for a few minutes. It’s his director on the line, about the shoot tomorrow. His landline of course, along with a credit card he also doesn't own a mobile phone - "I live in the stone age".

My thoughts drift to the more mundane (or is it practical?). How much effort and time does it take to clean a house like this I wonder. Never mind that, how much work does it take to open and shut the array of doors and windows that open into the open verandah as we say it here in Sri Lanka, and the courtyard of course?

I manage to catch a glimpse of a black and white cat, one of the four currently in residence, in an ever shifting population of strays that call this their place of residence. He returns and tells us about his last shoot, with the co director of a big movie that will be shot in Sri Lanka. “Who knows, it might win an Oscar,” he postulates.

So what should we expect from Ashok Ferrey next? He's excited, and full of enthusiasm and energy. I say: think "mad"der.