The Story of India: Difference between revisions
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This documentary is full of pretty photography a la NGC and interviews of street vendors and equally ignorant, half-knowing people. It's full of personal impressions and gives very little of factual information. less than what could fit in a 30min documentary. This so called "Documentary" is spectacularly superficial. It hides millions of atrocities that the British caused in south Asia (for example financial frauds with kings, cheatings, forceful conversions by the so called "fathers").More Surprisingly Mr. Wood does not mention one single freedom fighter from India apart from Gandhi, Nehru and Jinnah!! No Phule, No Gokhale, No Tilak. No Ambedkar. No Netaji. No Azad. No Bhagatsingh, No Lajpat Ray, No Savarkar!! |
This documentary is full of pretty photography a la NGC and interviews of street vendors and equally ignorant, half-knowing people. It's full of personal impressions and gives very little of factual information. less than what could fit in a 30min documentary. This so called "Documentary" is spectacularly superficial. It hides millions of atrocities that the British caused in south Asia (for example financial frauds with kings, cheatings, forceful conversions by the so called "fathers").More Surprisingly Mr. Wood does not mention one single freedom fighter from India apart from Gandhi, Nehru and Jinnah!! No Phule, No Gokhale, No Tilak. No Ambedkar. No Netaji. No Azad. No Bhagatsingh, No Lajpat Ray, No Savarkar!! |
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Even Gandhi comes in one sentence without any mention of his three biggest ideas (Civil Disobedience, “Chale Jao, British” (British Leave Now!) or Sattyagraha). And no reflection on how he influenced the world – Non-violence/Influence on American History etc.! |
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It completely neglects the important overseas connections of the freedom struggle - like the Gadar party in USA. It neglects role of social reformist movements like Raja Rammohan Roy, Brahmo Samaj, Vidyasagar, Agarkar, Vivekananda, M N Roy and does not even a passing mention Ravindranath Tagore - the first Indian Nobel prize winner and his role in educating Indians. |
It completely neglects the important overseas connections of the freedom struggle - like the Gadar party in USA. It neglects role of social reformist movements like Raja Rammohan Roy, Brahmo Samaj, Vidyasagar, Agarkar, Vivekananda, M N Roy and does not even a passing mention Ravindranath Tagore - the first Indian Nobel prize winner and his role in educating Indians. |
Revision as of 16:06, 1 February 2009
The Story of India is a TV series that was aired on the BBC in August and September 2007. It was shown as part of the BBC series "India & Pakistan 07" marking the 60 years independence of India and Pakistan. In the United States, PBS will broadcast the series on three Mondays, January 5, 12 and 19, 2009 from 9 to 11 PM.
Narrated by historian Michael Wood, the series shows the 10,000-year history of the Indian subcontinent in six episodes. An accompanying text is available from BBC books.
Episodes
Episode 1 - Beginnings
Michael Wood travels throughout the subcontinent, tracing the richness and diversity of its peoples, cultures and landscapes. Through ancient manuscripts and oral tales Michael charts the first human migrations out of Africa. He travels from the tropical backwaters of South India through lost ancient cities in Pakistan to the vibrant landscapes of the Ganges plain. In Turkmenistan dramatic archaeological discoveries cast new light on India’s past.In Turkmenistan, there they find a civilisation named "Zorashtrian", and there they also find horse drawn carts or chariots called Raths which are mentioned in the Rig Veda.
Wood also attempts to re-create soma, an ancient drink recorded in the Rig Veda.
Episode 2 - The Power of Ideas
The second episode in Michael Wood’s series moves on to the revolutionary years after 500BC - the Age of the Buddha. Travelling by rail to the ancient cities of the Ganges plain, by army convoy through Northern Iraq, and on down the Khyber Pass, he shows how Alexander the Great’s invasion of India inspired her first empire. The Rise of Maurya kingdom.
Episode 3 - Spice Routes and Silk Roads
In this episode he traces India in the days of the Roman Empire. In Kerala the spice trade opened India to the world, whilst gold and silk bazaars in the ancient city of Madurai were a delight for visiting Greek traders. From the deserts of Turkmenistan Michael travels down the Khyber Pass to Pakistan to discover a forgotten Indian Empire (Kushan Empire) that opened up the Silk Route and at Peshawar built a lost Wonder of the World. That wonder nowadays people known as "Bare Raja Ka Tila". Also offers an interesting theory about the death of Emperor Kanishka at Mathura.
Episode 4 - Ages of Gold
The achievements of the country’s golden age, including how India discovered zero, calculated the circumference of the Earth and wrote the world’s first sex guide, the Kama Sutra. In the south, the giant temple of Tanjore and traditional bronze casters, working as their ancestors did 1,000 years ago are shown.
Episode 5 - The Meeting of Two Oceans
The documentary series about the history of India charts the coming of Islam to the subcontinent and one of the greatest ages of world civilisation: the Mughals. Michael Wood visits Sufi shrines in Old Delhi, desert fortresses in Rajasthan and the cities of Lahore and Agra, where he offers a new theory on the design of the Taj Mahal. He also looks at the life of Akbar, a Muslim emperor who decreed that no one religion could hold the ultimate truth, but whose dream of unity ended in civil war.
Episode 6 - Freedom and Liberation
This episode examines the British Raj and India’s struggle for freedom. Wood reveals how in South India a global corporation came to control much of the subcontinent, and explores the magical culture of Lucknow, discovering the enigmatic Briton who helped found the freedom movement. He traces the Amritsar massacre, the rise of Gandhi and Nehru, and the events that led to the Partition of India in 1947.
A Review of the Story Of India
This documentary is full of pretty photography a la NGC and interviews of street vendors and equally ignorant, half-knowing people. It's full of personal impressions and gives very little of factual information. less than what could fit in a 30min documentary. This so called "Documentary" is spectacularly superficial. It hides millions of atrocities that the British caused in south Asia (for example financial frauds with kings, cheatings, forceful conversions by the so called "fathers").More Surprisingly Mr. Wood does not mention one single freedom fighter from India apart from Gandhi, Nehru and Jinnah!! No Phule, No Gokhale, No Tilak. No Ambedkar. No Netaji. No Azad. No Bhagatsingh, No Lajpat Ray, No Savarkar!!
Even Gandhi comes in one sentence without any mention of his three biggest ideas (Civil Disobedience, “Chale Jao, British” (British Leave Now!) or Sattyagraha). And no reflection on how he influenced the world – Non-violence/Influence on American History etc.!
It completely neglects the important overseas connections of the freedom struggle - like the Gadar party in USA. It neglects role of social reformist movements like Raja Rammohan Roy, Brahmo Samaj, Vidyasagar, Agarkar, Vivekananda, M N Roy and does not even a passing mention Ravindranath Tagore - the first Indian Nobel prize winner and his role in educating Indians.
It does not even mention the role Indians played in First and Second world war.
But very "cutely" it showcases a very "adorable" old historian - whose ancestors worked for British and (hence??) he justifies the British raj in one sentence saying the British gave India its geographical unity! Thank God, it does not show that the British built the Himalayas for the sake of poor Indians and brought Monsoon with them!
In a very sugar-coated way, the director, claims to love Indian root culture and completely bypasses the large portions of history. Is BBC bent on re-writing Indian history?
For example, episode 5, completely neglects the Maratha Empire, the Rajput fighters, the Sikh Rebels and Tipu, and the last Mughal emperor who was cheated and forcefully exiled. It mentions Rani Lakshmibai as "Rani Jhansi" (as if her name was Jhansi!) and cleverly hides what happened to her! (Lord Dalhousie annexed her kingdom with a fraudulent claim saying her adopted son cannot be a heir!) ...and hundreds of other kingdoms that were completely eaten up forcefully by the so called "Queen".
British - barring some glaring exceptions - never treated Indians as even a civilization - forget the vast achievements in literally every field of human activity.
...as for the "united" geographical map, it is torn in three pieces courtesy British. Two of those will perhaps never reconcile and both have already gained Nuclear powers!
Some other examples of British "looting" were the Koh-E-Noor and many historically important pieces and jewelry that lie in London's museums and the reduction in India's share in the World Trade ~23% before British (largest in the world) to less than 1%, the vast number of forceful conversions ! No mention of any of these? I wonder why...
The BBC is trying to completely shrug off the burden of historic blunders that the British people have made, but the world knows better and more than a one hour documentary spanning 200 years of "British efforts of building a united India" as the episodes try to portray!