We are heading to India soon so we wanted to learn as much as possible about the country-its people, the food and the geography, etc.- before arriving...and this documentary series was part of that research.
Like the title said, it's very well made, it's just very one-sided. It focuses on all of the good without mentioning any of the bad. I'm not saying that's a terrible thing-it was the producers' prerogative to decide what was included and what was left out-but viewers are left with an incomplete picture of the country.
The first few episodes deal with food, ecology/environmental issues, religions and cinema. While those topics are covered pretty well, so many important things are excluded.
The food episode dealt mainly with fancy restaurant cuisine. And while street food and local fare was covered, nothing was said about Delhi Belly.
The religion episode highlighted a half dozen or so prominent religions, implying that everyone gets along just swimmingly...and has forever. Well, that's just not fact based.
The Bollywood episode was pretty good, as well...just very self-promoting. One portion mentioned that anyone can sit in a theatre and watch a movie together. Again, that's not how things really are and certain people (castes) are barred from certain areas....theaters being a particularly touchy subject. And, like the rest of the episodes, Untouchables were complete ignored here.
So, while enjoyable to watch, I should be clear-and the producers should've, too-that this is truly just a multi-episode, live-action tourist brochure.
Like the title said, it's very well made, it's just very one-sided. It focuses on all of the good without mentioning any of the bad. I'm not saying that's a terrible thing-it was the producers' prerogative to decide what was included and what was left out-but viewers are left with an incomplete picture of the country.
The first few episodes deal with food, ecology/environmental issues, religions and cinema. While those topics are covered pretty well, so many important things are excluded.
The food episode dealt mainly with fancy restaurant cuisine. And while street food and local fare was covered, nothing was said about Delhi Belly.
The religion episode highlighted a half dozen or so prominent religions, implying that everyone gets along just swimmingly...and has forever. Well, that's just not fact based.
The Bollywood episode was pretty good, as well...just very self-promoting. One portion mentioned that anyone can sit in a theatre and watch a movie together. Again, that's not how things really are and certain people (castes) are barred from certain areas....theaters being a particularly touchy subject. And, like the rest of the episodes, Untouchables were complete ignored here.
So, while enjoyable to watch, I should be clear-and the producers should've, too-that this is truly just a multi-episode, live-action tourist brochure.
